LUXEMBOURG, June 14 (Xinhua) -- French trade minister on Friday has stated the country's opposition to granting the European Commission the negotiating mandate on a free trade deal with the United States, an EU diplomat told Xinhua. "France is rejecting this mandate and it is going to reject any mandate which will not include the protection of the cultural services and a clear and explicit exclusion of the audio-visual sector," French Minister for Foreign Trade Nicole Bricq told a meeting of EU officials.

(Reuters) - Senate Finance Committee leaders on Friday urged U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to press India to reverse government actions they said threaten millions of U.S. jobs in pharmaceutical, information technology and creative industries. "We cannot afford to sit back and watch as India adopts policies that adversely impact U.S. innovative and creative industries, and threaten the greater stability of the international trading system," the top Democrat and Republican on the panel said in a letter.

SEOUL, June 14 (Yonhap) — South Korea on Friday revealed its new policy on free trade agreements (FTAs) that again highlighted its role as a bridge between advanced and developing nations, or more specifically the United States and China. "Based on its existing network of FTAs, the country will seek to become a linchpin that links the integrated market of East Asia centered around China and the pan-Pacific market led by the United States," the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said in a press release.

We’ve just learned that the secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations have come to Canada for an intersessional round of talks.

A high-level panel appointed by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon released its recommendations last month for a global development agenda when the Millennium Development Goals expire at the end of 2015 and when approximately one billion people will still be living in extreme poverty.

The India–EU FTA has been on the anvil for a long time, with no major breakthroughs in sight. A week-long intergovernmental meeting in Delhi from 13–15 May failed to iron out differences and ensure progress towards striking a deal.

The economic growth strategy endorsed by the Cabinet on Friday included bold agricultural plans to boost crop exports and raise income among farmers, but fell short of allaying their worries about joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade talks. Under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s “third arrow” to lift the economy out of long-standing deflation and kick-start growth, his government pledged to double crop exports to ¥1 trillion and agricultural earnings to ¥6 trillion by 2020.

It may not surprise you that the Obama administration is planning something big, keeping Congress and the public largely in the dark, and withholding information that would resonate and directly impact not only all Americans, but also a large portion of the world’s population. And that the effort will be led by a former U.S.

KIEV, June 13 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine expects its grain exports to grow to 26 to 27 million tons in the next marketing year starting July 1, up from the current marketing year's projected figure of 23 million, according to Agriculture Minister Mykola Prysyazhnyuk. "Ukraine is expected to harvest 53 to 54 million tons of crops in 2013," Prysyazhnyuk told an international business conference here Thursday. The country's grain harvest amounted to some 46.5 million tons in 2012. June 13, 2013

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwan hopes to participate in international activities and regional economic integration as soon as possible, Kuomintang Honorary Chairman Wu Po-hsiung told China President Xi Jinping in Beijing Thursday.