The Secretariat of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the East Asia and Pacific Region of the World Bank have signed an agreement for the World Bank to provide advisory services to ASEAN to strengthen its capacity to monitor progress towards achieving the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC).

(Reuters) - A World Trade Organization appellate panel on Wednesday said U.S. "dolphin safe" tuna labeling rules unfairly discriminate against Mexico, raising the possibility of sanctions on U.S. goods if the rules are not modified or dropped. The decision is the second time in less than two months the WTO has found fault with U.S. consumer legislation, sparking some U.S. criticism that the WTO is interfering with U.S. law.

(Reuters) - U.S. rules on tuna labeling are inconsistent with World Trade Organization rules, the WTO's Appellate Body said on Wednesday, in a judgment that largely backed Mexico's original complaint against "dolphin friendly" labeling in the United States. The Appellate Body found the U.S. labeling rules were not even handed and meant that competition on the U.S. market was "to the detriment of Mexican tuna products". May 16, 2012 Source: Reuters  

VNEconomyNews.com - Vietnam’s tuna exports to the Middle East reached nearly US$9 million in three months until mid-April, up 16.6 percent compared to the same period last year.Israel, Sudan and Lebanon are the three biggest importers with a total volume worth US$6.4 million.According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), Vietnam’s tuna exports are likely to pick up to meet the growing orders from the region.  

The latest round of negotiations on the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between China and Switzerland, which was held in Beijing on May 8-10, is said to have reached some consensus and made significant progress. The two sides exchanged views on such issues as goods trade tariff reductions, trade in services, rules of origin, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, intellectual property rights, competition policies and trade dispute remedies.

On 13 March 2012, the US, the EU and Japan filed separate but coordinated complaints against China to the World Trade Organization. China’s export controls on rare earth metals and non-rare earth metals such as tungsten and molybdenum, which have many industrial uses, are at the heart of the complaint.

INCREASED "INTERDEPENDENCY" in global production networks for electronics requires greater multilateral cooperation, the World Trade Organization (WTO) said, warning against supply chain disruptions for exporters including those in the Philippines.In a publication titled "15 Years of the Information Technology Agreement" released on Monday, the WTO said countries have become more vulnerable to shocks due to the tendency to specialize in production tasks in which they have comparative advantages.

The interim Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the European Union (EU) and four Eastern and Southern African states, Mauritius, Madagascar, the Seychelles and Zimbabwe, went into effect on May 14, 2012. The interim EPA provides import duty and quota free access to the EU market for exports from those countries, and, in turn, they will gradually open their markets to European exports over the course of 15 years, with exceptions for certain products the countries consider sensitive.

BEIJING, May 15 (Xinhua) -- China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) urged Tuesday the U.S. government to live up to its promises on loosening restrictions over hi-tech exports to China. At the fourth round of the China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogue, which concluded early this month, the U.S. government pledged to relax controls on exports of hi-tech products for civilian use, encourage Chinese enterprises to apply for Validated End-User status, and reform its exports regulatory system to promote exports to China.

BEIJING, May 15 (Xinhuanet) -- China will work to strike a balance in its agricultural trade with Japan and South Korea by providing reasonably priced agricultural products as a long-discussed free trade agreement among the three countries is poised to come into existence, according to the Ministry of Commerce.