Canada's Minister of International Trade is leading a trade mission to Russia, taking around 30 companies with him and holding bilateral meetings with key officials in an effort to promote trade ties.

JAKARTA, June 4 (Xinhua) -- The Indonesian government plans to control the shipping of coal to overseas and considers applying export tax on the commodity, local media reported Monday. Energy Minister Jero Wacik made the statement on his speech at the opening of the 18th Coaltrans Asia Conference in Bali on Monday that the government aims to control the exports to meet the rising demand of domestic market.

The Council of the European Union on May 31, 2012, adopted a decision approving the signing, and provisional application, of a tripartite free trade agreement with Colombia and Peru. According to the European Union, the agreement, initialed in March, provides for the elimination of high tariffs, including total trade liberalization in industrial products and fisheries, tackles technical barriers to trade, and opens up the countries' services and public procurement markets.

Australia’s Trade and Competitiveness Minister Craig Emerson has given a keynote speech at the Tokyo Chamber of Commerce to mark the 50th anniversary of the Japan-Australia Business Cooperation Committee and its Australian counterpart, in which he committed Australia to a conclusion of the long-discussed free trade agreement (FTA) with Japan as soon as possible. Emerson remarked that Japan is Australia's second-largest trading partner, and its third-largest source of foreign investment with a total stock of investment in Australia of over USD120bn.

Argentina has accepted the request for consultation on the part of the European Union before the World Trade Organization (WTO) on the current foreign commercial policy measures undertaken by Argentina although it rejected each and all of the questioned items, informed the Foreign Office this morning.  The National Government "once again expressed its willingness to talk and proposed to the European counterpart the beginning of consultations in the city of Geneva", read a press release. 

BAGHDAD, June 3 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi crude oil exports slightly decreased in May compared to the previous month which recorded their highest levels for the country in more than two decades, an Iraqi Oil Ministry official said on Sunday. Iraq exported a total of 75.95 million barrels over the 31 days of May, bringing in around 8 billion U.S. dollars in revenues, the ministry spokesman Asim Jihad told Xinhua.

A newly published report from three of the world's leading trade and development organizations seeks to remind G-20 nations of their commitment, made in November 2011, to resist protectionist measures in recognition that freer trade can speed the global economic recovery. The report - from the World Trade Organization, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development - has noted a recent deterioration in the trade policies of G-20 nations.

HAVANA, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Cuba would soon reimpose taxes on imported food after four years of exemption, the country's customs office said Friday. The new regulation would come into effect on June 18, the General Customs Office said in a statement. Imported food had been taxed since 1979, but the levy was suspended in 2008 as an "exceptional" measure after Hurricanes Gustav, Ike and Paloma caused billions of dollars in losses to the Caribbean nation.

Two months after a meeting between the European Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht and the Vietnamese Minister for Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang, the European Council (EC) finally gave the green light on May 31 for the European Commission to start negotiations with Vietnam on a free trade agreement (FTA).

(Reuters) - Countries that oppose the European Union's move to include airlines in its scheme to control carbon emissions would find it difficult to bring a dispute to the World Trade Organization (WTO), an official with the global trade body said on Friday.