NEW DELHI: India is working with WTO members to ensure a permanent solution at the "earliest" on the issue of food security, Parliament was informed today.  Ending months-long deadlock, the WTO in November last year acceded to India's demand to remove constraints on the food stockpiling issue."India is working with the WTO members to ensure a permanent solution at the earliest," Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha. 

Vietnamese agro-produce will have many chances to penetrate deeper into South Korea following a free trade agreement signed Tuesday, an official said after the signing. South Korea will cut import duties on many products that are Vietnam’s export staples, which will increase their competitiveness in the East Asian country, said Le An Hai, deputy head of the Asia-Pacific market department under the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade.

The government of China has pledged to contribute USD 500,000 (CHF 465,093) to the WTO’s Least Developed Countries and Accessions Programme (also known as the China Programme) for 2015. Initiated in July 2011 under the WTO’s Aid for Trade initiative, the China Programme aims to enable least-developed countries (LDCs) to better integrate into the global economy by strengthening their participation in WTO activities and helping those not yet members to join the Organization. The China Programme provides financing to support:

Minister of Trade, Industry & Energy Yoon Sang-jik and Vietnamese Industry & Trade Minister Vu Huy Hoang signed the Korea-Vietnam FTA in Hanoi on May 5 in the presence of Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyễn Tấn Dũng. According to the agreement, Korea and Vietnam will eliminate 94.7 percent and 92.4 percent of their tariffs based on the amounts of imports, respectively.

May 5 (Reuters) - Vietnam signed a free trade agreement (FTA) with South Korea on Tuesday which is expected to boost its exports to the Korean market and more than double bilateral trade over the next five years, the Vietnamese government said. The agreement with Seoul is among a series of trade deals Vietnam has been chasing as part of its ambitions to become a regional manufacturing dynamo and lure investment to strengthen its $184 billion economy.

Negotiations on the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement have reached their final discussions, with talks expected to be wrapped up by June. EU-MUTRAP technical assistant team leader Claudio Dordi analyses the hallmark agreement’s potential impacts on Vietnam’s economy.

Hoang Thanh Van, head of the Animal Breeding Department, tells Kinh Te and Do Thi (Economy and City) newspaper about opportunities and problems the sector will face when Viet Nam joins the TPP. Viet Nam will most likely participate in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) this year. Could you tell us about the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead for Viet Nam's animal-breeding sector?

Berton B.C. Chiu, a counselor for Regional Economic Integration Projects at Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Bureau of Foreign Trade, told VIR that a bigger wave of Taiwanese investors would come to Vietnam to invest in, as they saw enormous investment and trade benefits from the country’s multilateral and bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs).

In 2014, Vietnam gained US$ 3.99 billion from export to Australia, up 13.7% year on year. Seafood exports from Vietnam to Australia reached at US$ 239 million, revealing an increase of 16%. Imports of Australia in 2014 valued US$ 228.7 billion, seafood imports alone were estimated at US$ 1.6 billion, up 5% year on year.  Vietnam is known as the third largest seafood supplier to Australia, with 13.7% of the market share, followed by Thailand and China, which accounted for 22.9% and 18.1%, respectively.

Korea and Vietnam signed a free trade agreement (FTA) in Hanoi, the trade ministry said Tuesday. The pact, when ratified by the respective parliaments of the two nations, will make the Southeast Asian country Korea's 15th tariff-free trading partner and boost Seoul's exports of automobiles, electronics and beauty products. The two nations aim to have the pack go into effect this year.