Mexico and five Central American nations, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Honduras, and Guatemala have agreed to the signing of a new consolidated Free Trade Agreement, to unify existing bilateral arrangements under one pact. Following negotiations which began in 2008 and concluded on November 22, 2011, Mexico and the five nations signed an agreement at the 13th summit of the Tuxtla Mechanism of Dialogue and Coordination on December 5 to give effect to the new accord.

The Aerospace Industries Association of America (AIA) on Monday hailed a move by the U.S. Trade Representative to reopen the U.S. case in the World Trade Organization against the European Union over subsidies to Airbus. The association signaled the decision to examine whether EU member states have complied with a past WTO ruling is also important for setting precedents for new entrants into large civil aircraft market such as Canada and China.

China's entry to the World Trade Organization (WTO) a decade ago opened the floodgates to foreign investment in a variety of areas, but the retailing sector is surely the most potent symbol of how foreign businesses have come, competed and conquered on the levelling field. The days have long gone when neighborhood shop keepers would man their counters, ready to dispense to customers whatever their little shops would hold, and when buyers had to go to separate places for groceries, electronics and other products.

Interfax-Ukraine/Chisinau- The European Union has officially announced that it is preparing to start negotiations to form a free trade zone with Moldova and Georgia, the Moldovan Foreign Affairs and European Integration Ministry said in a press release, received by Interfax on Tuesday. "The aim of this zone is to step up economic growth and investment in Eastern Europe’s partner-states. A wide range of economic and trade issues will be raised during the talks in order to achieve closer integration with the EU," the ministry said.

As China gears up to celebrate 10 years since it joined the World Trade Organization (WTO), Beijing says it has met all the pledges it made. Thursday's People's Daily says China has opened up markets in manufacturing, agriculture and service industries, citing a White Paper released by the State Council.

A World Trade Organization Working Party has approved Montenegro's accession package to allow the nation to join the global trade club, subject to the approval of ministers at the WTO Ministerial Conference on December 15-17, 2011. As part of its accession commitments, Montenegro's authorities have agreed to further liberalize the nation's trade regime and accelerate its integration in the world economy. The country has also pledged to provide a transparent and predictable environment for trade and foreign investment.

BRUSSELS: Malaysia’s free trade agreement (FTA) with the European Union (EU) is crucial for the country to achieve its goal of becoming a high-income economy by 2020, says a European Commission spokesman. A successful outcome of the Malaysia-EU FTA would also prompt other Asean countries to clinch similar pacts with Europe, the spokesman, requesting anonymity, said. He also said that the FTA would help financially-troubled EU economies recover from the debt crisis, as they can increase exports, to both Malaysia and Asean.

Trade talks on opening the huge market for government contracts to wider international competition face a deadline on Friday, with the United States and EU still haggling and a Chinese bid to join the club falling far short of expectations. The world's biggest trading powers are conceding little as time runs out for a deal on the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) potentially worth hundreds of billions of dollars at the World Trade Organization.

Since he took office, President Medvedev has espoused his dreams of a modern Russia: economically advanced, innovative, and democratic. Yet most observers would agree that Medvedev’s Russia remains more of a mirage than a reality. Russia’s economy is highly dependent on raw material extraction, elections are uncompetitive, and despite the great legacy of Soviet education and science, Russia ranks among the least inventive countries per capita.

LONDON, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- Britain is to launch a campaign to encourage more British companies to export to Asia's high growth and emerging markets, the Foreign Office said on Wednesday. As part of the campaign, UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), a government department that helps Britain-based companies to succeed in the global economy, has joined forces with the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) to deliver a series of programs that will demonstrate key business opportunities across 12 Asian markets to British firms, the Foreign Office said in a press release.