Chile and the Dominican Republic expect to formally start negotiations towards a free trade agreement (FTA) in April this year, Chile's General Director of International Economic Relations, Andrés Rebolledo said. A Chilean delegation led by Rebolledo traveled to the Dominican Republic on January 12, 2015, to lay down the foundation for FTA talks.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) announced on Jan. 18 that the sixth round of negotiations for a trilateral free trade agreement (FTA) between South Korea, China, and Japan was held in Tokyo, Japan from Jan. 16 to 17. South Korean Assistant Commerce Minister Woo Tae-hee, Chinese Assistant Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen, and Japanese Deputy Foreign Minister Yasumasa Nagamine attended the event as chief negotiators. This is the first time for the chief negotiators to hold talks.

In the first eleven months of 2014, the country’s shrimp exports to EU rose by 71.7% compared to the same period in 2013. Last year, Vietnamese shrimps were more advantaged than those from Thailand and India. The Thai prawn industry was badly affected after the Guardian UK carried adverse information in June 2014 accusing Thailand of slavery in its fishing industry. "If you buy prawns or shrimp from Thailand, you will be buying the produce of slave labour," says Aidan McQuade, director of Anti-Slavery International.

WTO should be more responsive to needs of developing and least-developed countries: Nirmala Sitharaman WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement to boost South-South trade by reducing trade costs by 15 per cent: WTO Director General The Minister of State for Commerce & Industry (Independent Charge), Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman has appreciated the goof work of World Trade Organization (WTO) in stemming protectionism and urged it to be more responsive to the needs of developing and least-developed countries.

NEW DELHI, Jan 16 (Bernama) -- Malaysia is hopeful that negotiations for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) can be concluded by year-end, International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said. "It is a crucial year for Malaysia as we hold the chairmanship of Asean in 2015 and our target is to conclude the RCEP negotiations," he said. However, there are challenges in achieving it as it involved 16 countries, he said.

The landmark free trade agreement between Australia and Japan entered into force on January 15, 2015. When it is fully implemented, more than 97 percent of Australian exports will receive preferential or duty-free access to Japan.

(Reuters) - Japan's deputy chief trade negotiator Hiroshi Oe said on Wednesday he got the impression during talks that the United States intends to wrap up overall TPP discussions within a few months. Oe, speaking to reporters after talks with his counterpart Wendy Cutler, acting deputy U.S. trade representative, said he felt the United States is seriously trying to find common ground in their discussions. Japan and the United States are pushing for a two-way trade deal, a crucial part of a broad U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

As domestic industries are at risk of being wiped out due to dumping of cheap Chinese products, Pakistan has offered to eliminate duties only on half of the total product lines in the second phase of the free trade agreement (FTA) instead of 90% under the original plan. Both the countries agreed on four broad principles for implementing the second phase of FTA, which would protect the interest of local industries, said Khurram Dastgir Khan, the Minister of Commerce.

Major farmers’ organisations have raised concerns over increasing duty-free imports from India, demanding the withdrawal of duty-free import of 137 items through Wagah border Pakistan farmer organisations have held a rally in Lahore this week, opposing the import policy of agri and food products from India which has led to a surge in agri and food imports from India in recent years.

Concerns are growing in India over proposed poultry imports from USA. US poultry industry says that HPAI virus has not infected commercial poultry so far, but reports contradict the claim In a move that is expected to hit the US poultry industry hard, the Chinese government has banned all imports of US poultry and egg products, effective January 8, 2015, after the detection of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in some parts of USA last month.