A new study by Policy Support Unit of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group of countries has concluded that free trade agreements (FTAs) give rise to a significant boost to a country's exports in the first years after their introduction.

The WTO has launched a new website which will serve as a focal point for members, donors, and others seeking information on the new Trade Facilitation Agreement Facility (TFAF).

HA NOI (VNS)  — Wood exports were the biggest earners in Viet Nam's farm export sector in the first quarter of this year, hitting nearly US$2.1 billion; a year-on-year increase of 6.2 per cent. According to the General Department of Viet Nam Customs, the US continued to be the largest importer of Vietnamese wood and wooden products, with a value of $762 million. Japan and China followed with import values of $306 million and $289 million respectively.

Casting around for a good reason to pass the Trans-Pacific Partnership into which Barack Obama’s administration has put so much lobbying effort, some economists have alighted upon the potential development benefits to the pact’s poorer members and particularly Vietnam.

HA NOI (VNS) — Viet Nam exported agricultural, forest and fisheries products worth US$11.4 billion in the first five months of this year, the agriculture and rural development ministry's latest report said. This is a year-on-year decrease of 7.3 per cent. In May alone, the sector recorded an export turnover of $2.37 billion.

Chief negotiators from countries involved in the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade initiative wrapped up their latest round of negotiations in Guam on Wednesday, without setting a date for a ministerial meeting to reach a broad agreement. The 12 countries in the negotiations have called off a ministerial meeting scheduled for this month, amid uncertainties over passage of a key U.S. bill for fast-tracking the trade deal, seen as necessary before reaching a TPP deal.

MOSCOW, May 27. /TASS/. Russia intends to continue reconciling its economic policy with norms and principles of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Wednesday. "The norms that the Eurasian Economic Union is sticking to today, consider various international rules, including the WTO principles; the legal groundwork for Russia’s economic policy will be further tied with implementation of a number of WTO and EAEU principles at the national level," he said.

According to this latest free trade deal, the RoK will eliminate import tariffs on a total of 409 goods while Vietnam will lift tariffs on 272 goods, all phased in over the next 15 years. Seoul currently imposes a 5% import duty on all foreign rice imports collectively up to 409,000 tonnes a year effective as of the beginning of 2015 and the FTA has no immediate effect on this quota.

May 26 (Reuters) - China's drive to create a Beijing-led Asian development bank seen as a threat to U.S. and Japanese regional clout is adding to a sense of urgency among Japanese officials keen to get a 12-nation pan-Pacific trade pact off the ground. Japan hopes the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will help anchor ally Washington in Asia and create a rule-based regime that would eventually draw in China. Beijing, for its part, is seeking to reshape Asia's economic architecture with institutions such as the new Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

As regional free trade agreements proliferate in the Asia-Pacific, a new APEC Policy Support Unit report confirms that these agreements do make a difference in boosting exports. These preliminary findings were submitted to APEC Trade Ministers in Boracay over the weekend.