SEOUL (Yonhap) — South Korea’s exports to the European Union (EU) fell after the implementation of the Seoul-Brussels free trade deal due to the region’s deepening debt crisis, a report showed Monday. According to the report by the Korea International Trade Association (KITA), South Korea’s shipments to the EU in the July-November period fell 8.5 percent on-year to 15.21 billion euros after the free trade agreement (FTA) between South Korea and the EU went into effect on July 1, 2011.

TOKYO (Kyodo) — Japan and Mongolia are expected to agree to launch negotiations on a bilateral free trade agreement when their leaders meet Monday, as the two countries mark this year the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties. Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and his Mongolian counterpart Sukhbaatar Batbold, who is on a six-day visit to Japan from Saturday, are also expected to agree that the two countries will boost cooperation in the development of natural resources and the peaceful use of nuclear power.

PHNOM PENH, March 12 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia had exported footwear products in equivalent to 264 million U.S. dollars last year, a 49 percent rise from 177 million U.S. dollars in a year earlier, a report by the Ministry of Commerce showed on Monday. It said that the main markets for Cambodia-made shoes are the United States, European countries, Canada, Japan and some Asian countries. According to the report, the country has 40 footwear factories employing 62,470 workers - 90 percent of them are female.

Why do India and Pakistan trade so little with each other despite the existence of a common history, language and culture, as well as a long common border? Theory would predict that trade between the two largest economies in South Asia would be much greater than its current level of around US$2 billion per year. While both sides are aware of the merits and advantages of trade, a variety of political and infrastructural (physical, legal and regulatory) impediments have paralysed bilateral trade relations between the two neighbours for several decades.

TEHRAN, March 10 (Xinhua) -- Iran is ready to export natural gas to Jordan, the local satellite Press TV reported on Saturday. The Iranian ambassador to Amman has expressed his country's readiness to export natural gas to Jordan through pipelines currently being used to supply Iraq and Turkey, said the report. Mostafa Moslehzadeh said that natural gas could also be delivered to Jordan via ships.

(Reuters) - The World Trade Organization has broadly upheld a ruling that Boeing Co (BA.N) took billions of dollars of unfair subsidies, breathing new life into an epic trade spat that has already faulted European aid to Airbus, people familiar with the matter said.

Though trade agreements like Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) or Free Trade Agreement (FTA) are yet to be signed Pakistan and Turkey despite the claims from both sides for the last eight or so years, visiting Turkish steel exporters have stressed the need for just such agreement in order to boost bilateral trade. Expressions of interest 14 leading steel companies of Turkey, which held detailed meetings with at least 40 companies’ heads here on at local hotel on Friday, expressed interest in investing in Pakistan’s steel sector.

The Russian government is considering the introduction of a significant new tax concession to make expensive extra-heavy crude extraction and refinement projects more viable, to boost the nation's export capacity. Extra-heavy oil is significantly more expensive to refine than less viscous oil, and generally can only be refined to produce less valuable hydrocarbon forms such as gasoline and diesel.

TOKYO (Kyodo) — Japan and Canada are preparing to begin negotiations on a free trade agreement and may possibly reach an initial accord by the end of this month on holding the talks, sources close to the matter said Wednesday. The Japanese Foreign Ministry released the same day a report on the two countries’ joint study on a possible FTA, which said there is still room for Japan and Canada to strengthen their bilateral relationship.

Colombia’s Business, Industry, and Tourism minister has announced the first round of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) talks to be held with Israel next week, said Colombian business newspaper Portfolio, Thursday. Sergio Diaz-Granados said an FTA with Israel was the first step in Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos’s bid to increase Colombian-Middle East trade. Colombia already has a strong friendship with Israel, in recent years buying planes, drones, weapons and intelligence systems from the Jewish nation.