The domestic textile and garment industry was still striving to reach its export revenue target of US$40 billion this year despite facing many difficulties, said Vũ Đức Giang, chairman of the Việt Nam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS).

A seminar titled “Opportunities and Challenges arising from CPTPP agreement for Vietnam’s seafood – fruits, vegetables – animal husbandry, meat processing industries” was held in the Mekong city of Can Tho on November 27.

Foreign direct investment inflows into Vietnam’s textile and garment industry mounted to 19.5 billion USD over the last three decades with the Republic of Korea (RoK) being the top investor.

It is definitely in the interest of UK businesses to replicate (or “roll-over”) as many of the EU’s trade deals as possible after Brexit. But some relations are so economically vital that they require some thought.

In an interview on November 29, Japan's Deputy Minister for Economy, Trade and Industry Hideki Makihara indicated that Japan may refrain from signing an India-less Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). This ostensibly shocking statement in fact surprised few who are familiar with the history of RCEP and that of East Asian regionalism more generally – Japan has consistently been wary of China-led integration endeavors.

Thailand is planning to seal a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Hong Kong, particularly in areas of services, cyber security, and green financing.

Given this context, India’s decision to withdraw from RCEP, designed to be the world’s largest trading bloc, was a landmark decision, notwithstanding official comments that we will rejoin if our concerns are addressed.

Vietnam’s agricultural sector is gearing up to prepare for the major changes expected with the entry into force of two unique, new-generation trade agreements - the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the European Union-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA).

In the medium-term, Vietnam’s economic outlook is positive, said Jacques Morisset, World Bank (WB) Lead Economist, at a recent press conference held in Hanoi to announce the WB’s latest East Asia and Pacific Economic Update.

Japan’s colonial rule over the Korean Peninsula ended more than seven decades ago, yet that legacy still roils everyday politics on both sides of the strait. South Korea and Japan, major trading partners and both U.S. military allies, have been at loggerheads over what constitutes proper contrition and compensation for two groups of Koreans: those conscripted to work in factories and mines that supplied Japan’s imperial war machine, and those euphemistically called “comfort women” who were forced to work in military brothels. Japan contends all claims were settled under a 1965 bilateral treaty and a fund set up in 2015. Seoul argues Japan hasn’t atoned enough. Some of Japan’s largest companies and the former emperor have been dragged into the fray.