ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is likely to get chair of the General Council the highest level decision making body of the Geneva-based World Trade Organisation for a period of one year, it is learnt.As a result of this historical decision, Pakistan will replace Norway currently holding the chair of the General Council. The decision in this regard is expected to be announced in February.

SINGAPORE, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Singapore is keen to begin exploratory talks on a free trade agreement with Turkey, local media reported on Saturday.Foreign Minister K Shanmugam will bring up the issue on a three- day official visit to Turkey, the reports said.He said there will be tremendous opportunities for Turkey to tap into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which is on track to create an economic community by 2015.

Congressional leaders from the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee have introduced, on a bipartisan basis, a bill to provide temporary import tariff relief and, thereby, lower the cost of manufacturing inputs and some finished products not made or available in the United States.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Commerce Department on Friday preliminarily determined that producers and exporters from China and Austria sold xanthan gum in the U.S. market at less than fair value, signaling that it may impose punitive duties on the products.

Vietnam’s Ministry of Finance has issued a communication extending the agreement to provide preferential duty rates on certain imports from Laos for a further year to December 31, 2013.The provisions of its Circular No 36/2012/TT-BTC, dated March 2 last year, which provided a 50% deduction in, or an exemption from, import duties for selected goods imported into Vietnam from Laos, are to be continued to be applied from January 1, 2013 to the end of the year.

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- The top priority for the future development of Taiwan-United States relations should be the resumption of long-stalled Taiwan-U.S. Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) talks and the nation's ultimate inclusion to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Taiwan's top envoy to U.S. said Tuesday.

Jan 2 (Reuters) - Six countries have banned imports of Brazilian beef, including No. 6 importer Chile, since a case of atypical mad cow disease was confirmed last month, Brazil's foreign trade secretary Tatiana Prazeres said on Wednesday.

Here's a new year's resolution for the World Trade Organization (WTO): make sure prevailing trade law does not prevent countries from enacting policies to prevent a next financial crisis.   

HANOI, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU), replacing the United States America, has become the largest consumer of Vietnamese goods, Vietnam's state-run media reported on Wednesday.Vietnamese exports to the European Union (EU) hit 20.3 billion U.S. dollars in 2012, increasing 22.5 percent against 2011 and accounting for 17.7 percent of the country's total exports, the Communist Party of Vietnam Online Newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The comprehensive bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) between Malaysia and Australia, a complement to the existing regional agreement between Australia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Malaysia was one of the original members, entered into force on January 1, 2013.