SEOUL, Feb. 26 (Yonhap) — The absence of a free trade deal between South Korea and Canada is the weakest link in their bilateral relations, and the two countries need to conclude one this year to deepen their partnership in a wider range of areas, Canada’s visiting governor general said Tuesday.

The New Zealand Prime Minister John Key is to lead a trade delegation to Mexico, Colombia, Chile and Brazil, in an effort to capitalize on trade opportunities and strengthen bilateral relations.Key's trip will begin on March 4, and he will be accompanied by the Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy. Taken together, Mexico, Colombia, Chile and Brazil have a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of around USD4 trillion.

Will NATO become a key factor in the US pivot to the Asia-Pacific? Some leading circles in the US and in Europe see it as part of a system to contain a rising China.

China's Foreign Ministry has stressed that the integration of the Asia-Pacific economies should be carried out on the principle of openness and transparency.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday sought the support of New Komeito, the Liberal Democratic Party's coalition partner, regarding Japan's participation in Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade talks.During a meeting with Komeito leader Natsuo Yamaguchi, Abe explained that he and U.S. President Barack Obama had confirmed that eliminating all tariffs would not be a precondition for joining the TPP talks at their meeting in Washington on Friday.

The G20’s role in trade reform is to deal with systemic issues that are not well handled by the WTO under a ‘business as usual’ approach. So the forum must deal with the current danger: if the WTO is allowed to muddle through, the existing trade rules that have underpinned globalisation and growth for decades could unravel.If that happens, then even the WTO dispute settlement process will no longer provide protection to members — because there will be no rules to protect.

GENEVA – The World Trade Organization is calling on Japan to make bold structural reforms while offering broad support for its current money-easing policies.“Members felt that the accommodative macroeconomic policies being pursued, particularly by the new government, can help Japan to recover from the recent economic downturn, but that they need to be accompanied by far-reaching structural reforms,” the chairman of a biennial WTO review said.

WASHINGTON--Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Feb. 22 that he confirmed with U.S. President Barack Obama that tariff exceptions were possible under the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade arrangement.Having received the reassurances he was looking for, Abe could make an announcement that Japan will join the TPP talks in early March at the earliest.

(Reuters) - The United States and Japan on Friday agreed on language aimed at giving Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe political cover to bring the world's third-largest economy into negotiations on a U.S.-led free trade agreement in the Asia Pacific region.

CAPE TOWN, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- The Western Cape Provincial Government, anticipating significant job losses following the recent farm worker strikes and unrest, is trying to promote the province's wine and fruit in new markets such as China and Africa, Premier Helen Zille said on Friday in her State of the Province address.South African wine exports to China have been growing by 50 percent annually for the past three years, Zille told MPs.