(Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter on Monday threw his weight behind the Obama administration's bid to clear the way for a pan-Pacific trade pact, arguing that time was running out and that without a deal, U.S. influence and Asia-Pacific stability were at risk.

Russia Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev is on a 2-day visit to Vietnam. It could be an important one as Medvedev has raised a number of prospects for closer economic ties: To begin with, a free trade deal between Vietnam and the Eurasian Economic Union is on the horizon and could be signed later this year:

Vietnam's potential free trade agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) will be the first of its kind, ensuring the Asian country's access to a huge market, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said. The EEU was established in May 2014 by Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, with Armenia joining in October and Kyrgyzstan signing its accession treaty in December of that year.

Ahead of his visit to Vietnam Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev gave an interview to the local media. Answering journalists' questions, the head of the Russian government disclosed details of cooperation between the two countries in the development of the Vietnamese shelf, in science and high technologies, and stated the need to search for new promising forms of cooperation.

HA NOI (VNS) — Worried about a significant drop in agricultural exports, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has decided to establish a steering committee that will gather information on problems faced by traders and identify possible solutions.

For the ASEAN member states, the benchmark of successful regionalism has been ASEAN’s effectiveness in bringing the region closer. The lack of interstate conflict has been credited to ASEAN’s success in moulding a greater regional consciousness among policymakers. But while the region has been performing well since it adopted the ASEAN Charter in November 2007, integration is still an aspiration that remains unfulfilled.

Vietnamese businesses must urge the government to make its negotiations for the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership transparent and also raise their concerns over the deal, an expert has said. Pham Duy Nghia, a lecturer at the Fulbright Economics Teaching Program, said while there have already been 20 rounds of talks since 2010, Vietnamese enterprises do not seem to know how the US-led trade pact would affect them.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and his Australian counterpart Tony Abbott have agreed to build a joint action plan for realising the declaration on strengthening the Vietnam-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in the 2015-17 period.  The two PMs had a telephone conversation on April 1, during which they concurred to assign the two Foreign Ministries to coordinate with one another in implementing the outcomes of PM Dung’s visit to Australia on March 17-18. 

(VOVworld) – On Wednesday, National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung held talks with Swedish Parliament Speaker Urban Ahlin,  who is in Vietnam to attend the IPU 132. Mr. Hung said Vietnam always attaches importance to developing ties with time-honored friends like Sweden. He expressed his hope that Sweden will continue to support Vietnam to finalize the Free Trade Agreement between Vietnam and the EU, recognize Vietnam’s market economy status, and further assist Vietnam in healthcare, education, training, and technology.

South Korea is weighing when and how to participate in a U.S.-led multilateral free trade agreement, known as the Trans Pacific Partnership, though its final decision has yet to be made, a senior trade official said Tuesday. The move comes as the ongoing negotiations for the TPP are approaching an apparent end, according to Deputy Trade Minister Woo Tae-hee.