The free trade agreement Vietnam signed last week with the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) has significant meaning for local exporters as the trade pact is the first of its kind for both parties involved, industry insiders and experts have said. The FTA with Vietnam, closed by the prime ministers of the five EEU member countries and their Vietnamese counterpart, Nguyen Tan Dung, in Kazakhstan on Friday, was the first such deal struck by the Moscow-led body with a third party, according to Reuters.

The European Union's top trade official on Monday said member states need to show more leadership in persuading citizens about the benefits of a massive and controversial free trade agreement with the United States. "Some (EU members) should engage much more to convince (citizens) why they think this is good for their country and for Europe, so I would ask for more leadership," EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem said in Riga, Latvia, which currently holds the EU's rotating presidency. Talks on the mammoth agreement will resume in July, she said.

Negotiators from the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) nations – Norway, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, and Iceland – and Vietnam recently met for a 12th round of free trade talks.

A regional body to be charged with enforcing laws that protect and promote free and fair competition among businesses with cross-border presence will be operational as from June. The EAC Secretariat is in the final stages of setting up the organisational structure of the EAC Competition Authority, to be headed by a board of commissioners – one from each of the EAC partner states.

NEW DELHI: A major step was taken last week towards economic integration between Eurasian region and Southeast Asia that is significant for boosting India's trade in the region ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's proposed visit to Russia and Central Asia this July. 

The Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) signed a free trade agreement (FTA) with Vietnam on Friday, the first such deal struck by the Moscow-led body with a third party as it seeks to boost its presence on Asian markets. The EEU, which includes Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, was launched in January to promote trade and economic integration. It has a combined population of 181 million and gross domestic product of around $2 trillion. Some see the Moscow-dominated grouping as a regional counterbalance to the European Union.

HANOI – Enterprises and business associations, speaking at a seminar in Hanoi on May 28, expressed concern over Vietnam’s deeper integration into the regional and global economies. Businesswoman Nguyen Nga described Vietnam’s intensified integration drive as a house with too many doors opened at the same time, which allows strong winds to blow into all the rooms of the house. “How can we survive the strong winds? Are we taking risks,” asked Nga, who has been living in France for 40 years and has a plan to restore Long Bien Bridge in Hanoi.

(VOVworld) – Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung will arrive in Kazakhstan on Friday to attend the signing ceremony of the Vietnam-Eurasian Economic Community Free Trade Agreement. The free trade agreement with Vietnam - the Community’s first – creates a stable and favorable legal framework for economic ties between Vietnam and the Eurasian Economic Community.

Chancellor Angela Merkel tried to drum up support in Germany for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) ahead of the G7 summit she is hosting in June, saying in an interview on Saturday she hopes it will be finalised by 2017. Merkel told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper it was important that talks between the European Union and United States lead to an accord before U.S. President Barack Obama leaves office in January 2017.

TOKYO: Japan and the European Union on Friday (May 29) agreed to speed up talks over a long-stalled Free Trade Agreement, while voicing concerns over China's territorial claims in the South China Sea. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and European Council President Donald Tusk in the latest annual get-together between the leaders of the two big trading partners.