(Reuters) - Senior agricultural experts from all 28 European Union countries will hold an emergency meeting next Thursday to analyse the impact of a Russian ban on EU food imports, the European Commission said on Friday. Moscow banned most food imports from the EU and the United States on Thursday in retaliation for Western sanctions imposed over Russia's actions in Ukraine. The Commission, the EU executive, has already said it reserves the right to respond and will set up a task force on Monday to assess the situation.

BEIJING - The Ministry of Commerce launched an anti-dumping probe for methyl methacrylate(MMA) from Singapore, Thailand and Japan on Friday. The probe will try to determine whether imports from the countries have damaged domesticproducers' interests and to what extent their interests have been affected, a statement on theministry's website said. The investigation will end on August 8, 2015, but may extend to February 8, 2016 under specialcircumstances, the statement said. MMA is a colorless liquid widely used in producing glass and plastics.

India’s Minister of State for Commerce and Industry (MoCI), Nirmala Sitharaman has proposed anti-dumping duties charged to foreign solar imports could be reimbursed to developers.

(Reuters) - China lost an appeal at the World Trade Organization in a case brought by the United States, the European Union and Japan to challenge China's restrictions on exports of rare earths, according to a WTO Appellate Body ruling published on Thursday. "... China has not demonstrated that the export quotas that China applies to various forms of rare earths, tungsten and molybdenum by virtue of the series of measures at issue are justified ... " the document's conclusion said.

China lost an appeal on Thursday of a World Trade Organization ruling that found it had broken international trade law by restricting exports of raw materials used in hybrid car batteries and other energy-efficiency products.

NEW DELHI: PM Narendra Modi on Saturday justified India's tough stance on WTO saying the decision had to be taken in the interest of India's poor. He likened the situation to India's nuclear test during the AB Vajpayee government when despite international pressure India went ahead with the tests in the interest of the country. 

NAY PYI TAW (MYANMAR): India and the 10-nation ASEAN are likely to sign the long-delayed free trade agreement in services and investments later this month when their economic and trade ministers meet here.  Foreign Ministers of all ASEAN countries as well External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj have hoped that the pact will be finally signed during the four-day-long meeting of Economic Trade Ministers of India and ASEAN beginning August 25. 

NAY PYI TAW  (VNS) — Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh reiterated Viet Nam's commitment to stay closely engaged with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for the successful building of an ASEAN Community by 2015.

Earlier this year Laos celebrated the first anniversary of its WTO membership. Laos’ accession to the WTO has been less talked about than that of its neighbours China and Vietnam, who joined the organisation in 2001 and 2007, respectively. This is partly due to Laos being a small, landlocked economy whose accession would not be expected to make a big impact on international trade. But Laos’ clout is more than may first appear.

SEJONG, Aug. 8 (Yonhap) -- The latest round of negotiations for a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) between South Korea and New Zealand has ended without a significant breakthrough as the countries remained divided over the agriculture market, the South Korean government said Friday. The countries, having agreed on some areas, decided to "narrow their differences over other areas by exchanging their views through letters," the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said in a press release.