HA NOI (VNS) — Viet Nam and Italy expect to reach 3.5 billion euros (US$4.4 billion) in trade turnover this year, Italian Ambassador to Viet Nam Lorenzo Angeloni said yesterday in Ha Noi while announcing that an Italian mission would visit Viet Nam to boost economic relations. Official discussions will be held under the Strategic Partnership agreement signed by the Italian and Vietnamese governments. Additionally, a forum will give Italian companies the chance to meet with potential Vietnamese partners.

The race is on between the United States and China to dominate the rules-setting game for trade by being the first to be able to announce plans for a free trade area in the Pacific Rim. China hopes to use its position as chair of APEC this year to propose that a feasibility study on a Free Trade Agreement for the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP), first mooted in 2006, be pursued. In other words, negotiations towards an FTAAP would commence, for all practical purposes.

(Reuters) - Japan will make efforts to break a deadlock in a proposed Asia-Pacific regional trade deal ahead of a key weekend meeting of trade ministers, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Thursday. Saturday's meeting in Beijing "will be important for an early conclusion" of the multilateral Trans-Pacific Partnership trade talks, Abe told a meeting of Japanese cabinet ministers on the subject. "Japan will actively contribute to an early conclusion," he said.

(Reuters) - Leaders will agree to launch a study on a China-backed free trade area at next week's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Beijing, an APEC official said, amid controversy over competing U.S. and Chinese visions for regional trade. China is pushing the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) at APEC, but some see the proposal as a way to divert attention from the more comprehensive U.S.-backed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) plan being negotiated by 12 countries, not including China.

(Reuters) - Mexico would seek "hundreds of millions" of dollars in trade retaliation against the United States if Washington does not change meat labeling laws, a Mexican official said, as Mexico and Canada kept up pressure on the United States to act. The World Trade Organization ruled last month that the United States had failed to bring its meat labeling regulations fully in line with international fair trading rules after a complaint by its two neighbors. The ruling would be a step toward potential retaliation if packaging laws are not changed.

The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with the EU is Canada's most ambitious trade initiative to date. Almost all tariffs between Canada and the EU will be removed and there will be greater market access for services and investments. This Canada - EU trade deal will eventually eliminate European tariffs of up to 10% on wood composite panels, including particleboard, OSB and plywood.

While Japanese and U.S. officials expect little change in the U.S.-Japan relationship following Tuesday’s midterm elections, experts are divided on what a Republican-controlled Congress means for Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations and, ultimately, for reaching a deal before the 2016 presidential election.

Since the 1980s, seven Asian economies have grown at a scale and speed of development unmatched in history. Pessimism is journalism’s lifeblood. Violent crime may be way down but “micro-aggression”—you know, people making unfriendly sidelong glances — is way, way up. Woe is all of us!

HCM CITY (VNS) — The potential impact of the World Trade Organisation Trade Facilitation Agreement that Viet Nam signed in 2013 on its businesses and the customs-to-business partnership under the agreement were among the issues discussed at a workshop in HCM City yesterday. According to Nguyen Toan, director of the Viet Nam Customs' International Cooperation Department, the TFA was an agreement binding on all WTO members that seeks to simplify customs procedures by reducing costs and improving their speed and efficiency.

The latest official statistics show that in the 10 months leading up to November, seafood exports mushroomed from 15 to 45% in 166 markets around the globe to gross US$6.5 billion in revenue. Secretary General of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) Truong Dinh Hoe said the statistics are encouraging, and predicted exports this year to surpass last year’s figure of US$6.7 billion by US$600-700 million. By the end of November, seafood exports are likely to reach US$7 billion, he added.