Date: January 2021 Implementing unit: Hon Gai Port Border Gate Customs Branch

Turkey is seeking to enhance ties with ASEAN and the Asia Pacific region to potentially help revive its economy, plagued by prolonged high inflation, widening deficits, as well as the pandemic.

Investment opportunities were at centre stage of a press conference held in Bangkok, on January 26 as part of a series of events marking the 45th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Thailand and Vietnam.

The Vietnam Maritime Administration (VMA) plans to set up a working group to inspect the hike in freight rates among shipping companies that have routes to Europe and America.

The first 60 tonnes of jasmine rice shipped to the UK under the UK-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (UKVFTA) hit the shelves in London on January 26.

Since China-South Korea Free Trade Agreement went into effect in December 2015, zero-tariff trade has accounted for 55 percent of the total trade between the two East Asia countries, data from China's General Administration of Customs (GAC) showed on Thursday

With uncertainties and disruptions due to COVID-19, Việt Nam’s economic growth declined to just 2.91 per cent in 2020 compared to the pre-crisis forecast of 6.5 – 7 per cent, according to the General Statistics Office of Việt Nam. The growth target for the 2016 – 2020 period has not been achieved. However, Việt Nam is one of the few countries to post positive growth last year.

Effectively exploiting the Polish market is one of the ways to help Vietnamese goods make inroads into the EU market, experts told a workshop held by the Ho Chi Minh City Investment and Trade Promotion Centre (ITPC) on January 28 on the prospects for Vietnam’s exports to the EU through the Polish gateway.

The COVID-19 pandemic continued to be at the centre of discussions when the WTO’s Committee on Trade Facilitation met for its first 2021 meeting on 26-27 January. Experiences of both the public and private sector in facilitating trade for pandemic-related medicines and medical equipment were shared with the committee.

It is too early to talk of the direction US-India relations will take under US President Joe Biden’s administration