Eurasian Economic Union to sign free trade deal with Vietnam soon — Russian official The agreement is expected to be signed in the next two months. A free trade deal between the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) and Vietnam will be signed in the coming two months, Eurasian Economic Commission Trade Minister Andrey Slepnyov said on Monday. "We hope the first pilot project will be launched in the next couple of months, namely, an agreement on a free trade zone with Vietnam will be signed," the Russian official said.

(Reuters) - Acting Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Wendy Cutler said on Monday that "significant gaps" in the trade negotiations remain between the United States and Japan regarding access for U.S. automobiles in the Japanese market.

The Committee on Regional Trade Agreements, on 30 March 2015, considered and concluded the oral review of three regional trade agreements covering both goods and services.

HA NOI (VNS) — Tax-related policies are among key measures the Government has taken to improve the business community's capacity to cope with competition when the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) begins operations late this year. The establishment of the AEC provides both opportunities and challenges for Viet Nam's business community. It will help Viet Nam expand markets, but at the same time attract fiercer competition at home, particularly in industrial and agricultural sectors.

Viet Nam signed eight free trade agreements by the end of 2014 and is partaking in talks on seven others, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Particularly, TPP is a high-standard and comprehensive one as it covers intellectual property, labor and environmental norms, procurement, and e-commerce which are believed to play an important role in shaping a business environment in the first half of the 21st century. It is the first time Viet Nam joins a FTA in which members commit to reducing import tax to zero.

The first round of free trade agreement (FTA) talks between the Philippines and the members of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) – Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland – was held on March 24-27, 2015, in Makati, Philippines. The FTA negotiations were launched four months after both sides agreed on deal parameters. Various working groups have been convened to discuss trade in goods and services, investment, intellectual property rights, competition, government procurement, trade and sustainable development, and legal and institutional issues.

World Trade Organization chief Roberto Azevedo said Thursday efforts are intensifying to end more than a decade of stalemate in negotiations for global trade liberalisation. "The negotiations are changing gears, very visibly, very clearly," Azevedo told reporters in Geneva. The WTO launched the Doha Round of trade liberalisation talks in 2001, with the stated aim of underpinning development in poorer nations.

A delegation of senior executives from 29 leading US companies organised by the US-ASEAN Business Council including Coca-Cola, eBay, ExxonMobil, Ford, General Electric, Google, Halliburton, IBM, Johnson & Johnson, MasterCard, Mead Johnson Nutrition, Monsanto, Qualcomm, AT&T and Suntory PepsiCo, wrapped up its nearly week-long trip in Vietnam last week.

HA NOI (VNS) — Exports of agricultural, forestry and fisheries products dropped sharply during the first quarter of this year, with major export products posting declines in both volume and value. According to data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the export value for March was pegged at US$2.12 billion, bringing the country's total export value to US$6.13 billion in the first quarter, reflecting a year-on-year decline of 13.2 per cent.

WASHINGTON – Some of the 12 countries negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade pact demanded they be exempted from the proposed litigation rule involving corporation and state, according to a purported negotiation text released by anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks. It’s not known whether such demands remain on the table as the text was dated Jan. 20 and chief negotiators have met twice since then. WikiLeaks published the text on Wednesday.