The pig industry plays an important role in the Asia Pacific, but, like other sectors, is facing challenges such as price volatility, food safety concerns and recently reported outbreaks of African swine fever. Therefore, solutions are needed to promote smallholder pig production in a sustainable way, experts said.

Uzbekistan and South Korea intend to work on the issue of concluding a free trade agreement to expand bilateral trade and economic relations.

Indonesia and Australia have signed a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (FTA) – the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IA-CEPA) – to open up their economies to mutually beneficial growth. Both nations are expected to benefit greatly from the new arrangement. Australia is promised better access to a highly restricted and regulated import market mainly for resource exports but also opportunities to sell its educational products. Indonesia on the other hand will gain from the elimination of most tariffs on exports to Australia as well as increased Australian investments in the local economy.

With global firms rushing into Vietnam in the era of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, there is an urgent need for the country to develop its own supporting industries.

With the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership in effect, more opportunities will open up for Singaporean-based multinationals currently investing or looking to pour money into Vietnam in a wide range of sectors.

European Union governments are struggling to reach consensus on a mandate to begin trade talks with the U.S., risking a delay that would further provoke Donald Trump’s ire after the bloc’s refusal to include agriculture in the negotiations.

Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung has urged the fisheries sector to build a safe and high-quality seafood brand, continue increasing the quality of products, maintain traditional markets and develop new ones.

Japan and the United States are likely to hold their first round of trade talks in Washington on April 15-16, a Japanese government source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.

The Vietnamese government sets to promote the growth of foreign direct investment (FDI) firms, considering it an important driver to deal with the country’s economic slowdown.

The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) took effect in Vietnam in January this year. Lam Thi Quynh Anh, division head under the Office of the Inter-agency Steering Committee for International Economic Integration, writes about the CPTPP’s numerous impacts on the country’s economy, including its support for Vietnam to expand trade and attract more investment.