Economics Minister Johann Schneider-Ammann is keen to demonstrate that Switzerland’s foreign trade strategy for emerging markets is not just empty talk. After visits to India and Russia in the first half of 2011, he is off to Brazil and Chile this week accompanied by a large business delegation. One of the main aims of the visit from October 12-18 is to stimulate negotiations for a free trade agreement with Mercosur, the trade block of South American nations, similar to the one between the European Free Trade Association (Efta) and Chile.

SEOUL, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's exports of food and agricultural products topped 5 billion U.S. dollars in the first nine months of this year due to solid demand from emerging countries, a government report showed Monday. Overseas shipments of food and farm goods amounted to 5.29 billion dollars during the January-September period, up 30.4 percent from the same period of last year, the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said in a statement.

BRASILIA (Dow Jones)--As Brazil gives up on any agreement being reached over the Doha round of global trade talks this year, it is expanding its team at the World Trade Organization to meet what it expects will be a surge in trade disputes. "The Doha round talks are likely to end this year without any concrete results," said the ministry's subsecretary for economic affairs, Waldemar Carneiro Leao. "There is more unemployment, which has generated more protectionist and defensive measures, and negotiations have become much more difficult."

Colombia’s Agriculture Minister Juan Camilo Restrepo said Monday the country is not prepared for the effects of the free trade agreements with the United States and the European Union. "We are not ready, we’ve still got a long way to go," said Restrepo in an interview with the Caracol Network and newspaper El Espectador.

WASHINGTON -- The United States said Thursday it has enlisted the World Trade Organization to obtain detailed information on subsidy programs in China and India. U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Ron Kirk said that Washington had submitted information to the WTO identifying nearly 200 subsidy programs that China has failed to notify as required under WTO rules, as well as information on 50 subsidy programs in India not previously notified.

VNEconomyNews.com - German Chancellor Angela Merkel will push for the conclusion of a free-trade accord between the EU and Vietnam during her visit to the Asian country next week. The AFP on Oct. 7 quoted a German government source as saying that Germany "is a very strong supporter" of a free-trade deal between Vietnam and the EU, adding that Vietnam has a very dynamic growth rate, which is of great interest to German firms.

(Reuters) - Talks between bitter rivals Georgia and Russia over Moscow's bid to join the World Trade Organization (WTO) ended without agreement on Saturday, and Georgia said it would block Russian accession unless Moscow's position changes. The failure to resolve a dispute rooted in a 2008 war between the ex-Soviet republics undermines Russia's chances of joining the WTO this year, a target set by Moscow and the United States, and could worsen Russia's relations with the West.

TOKYO (Kyodo) — Japanese and U.S. business leaders on Friday jointly urged the government to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade talks soon, as the nine countries involved in the multilateral free trade framework aim to reach agreement on a broad outline in November.

KIEV, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, passed a bill Friday on canceling duties imposed earlier on wheat and corn exports. A total of 272 lawmakers in the 450-seat parliament voted for the bill. Ukraine started taxing its grain exports on July 1 this year. It was initially planned that export duties of 9 percent for wheat and 12 percent for corn will be applied until Dec. 31. But Ukrainian farmers were in favor of immediate abolition of such fees. The parliament maintained the export duties for barley, soybeans and rapeseed.

World Trade Organization members have supported an early accession of Serbia to the WTO and welcomed its progress in the implementation of new legislation to comply with the Organization's rules. Members reviewed the draft Working Party report containing the reforms undertaken by Serbia to its trade regime. They requested clarifications on issues related to policies affecting trade in goods, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, intellectual property rights and regional trade agreements.