SINGAPORE, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- A senior trade official of Singapore on Wednesday called for the World Trade Organization (WTO) to explore new ways to overcome issues causing a logjam in the Doha round of trade talks. Speaking at a dialogue session here, Singapore's Minister of State for Trade and Industry Lee Yi Shyan asked if there was a need to scale down the complexity of trade negotiations by reducing the number of issues. Talks over the Doha Developmental Agenda have been deadlocked for ten years.

SEOUL, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- Trade officials of South Korea and Vietnam are set to meet later this week to finalize a joint report on the feasibility of a two-way free trade agreement between the two countries, the trade ministry in Seoul said Wednesday. The two-day meeting will open Thursday in Danang, Vietnam, according to the ministry. The two sides have held five rounds of talks since June 2010 over the feasibility of the trade pact.

Oct. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee said they oppose legislation for a Colombia free-trade agreement submitted by President Barack Obama because it does too little to protect that nation’s workers.

President Barack Obama sent trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama to Congress on Monday, capping months of tense negotiations and setting the stage for a heated if brief fight between free-trade advocates and labor unions before the deals’ likely approval. The 4 p.m. arrival Monday on Capitol Hill of three oversized envelopes addressed in calligraphy and bearing the president’s wax seal—plus 16 boxes of documents—offers Congress an opportunity to pass the three pacts, plus a related worker-assistance program, by mid-October.

SEOUL, Oct. 4 (Yonhap) — The implementation of the signed free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States will likely cause billions of dollars in damages to South Korea’s farming industry, a government report showed Tuesday. According to the report from the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the Korea-U.S. FTA will lead to a reduction of 12.67 trillion won (US$10.5 billion) in production by the country’s agricultural, farming and fisheries industries in the next 15 years.

JAKARTA, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- Indonesian Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu is scheduled to meet Indian Trade Minister Anand Sharma on Tuesday to sign a trade agreement, local media quoted a senior official as saying. India is currently a strategic trade partner for Indonesia, given its status as Indonesia's second-largest export market after China. "In terms of the size of its population, India has become an interesting market for our exporters," deputy trade minister Mahendra Siregar was quoted by the Kompas.com.

European Union farmers could suffer losses ranking from one to three billion Euros if a trade agreement is finally agreed with Mercosur according to a European Commission evaluation paper on the impact. The sector most affected would be the meat industry. These numbers, (from less ambitious to most ambitious scenarios) only refer to the hypothetical result of current negotiations for a trade agreement based on concessions from both sides.

RIYADH – The Council of Ministers Monday approved the Free Trade Agreement between GCC member states and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) signed in Hamar in Norway on June 26, 2009. The Free Trade Agreement covers a broad range of areas including trade in goods, trade in services, investment, government procurement, rules of origin, intellectual property, and dispute settlement.

MANILA, Philippines — The European Union continues to seek a free trade agreement with the Philippines as it is seen to be the key in increasing foreign investments into the Philippines, including the green and renewable energy sector. During the membership meeting of the Filipino-Chinese General Chamber of Commerce Inc., head of the EU delegation to the Philippines Ambassador Guy Ledoux said though that getting to an FTA is a lengthy process but, “if the Philippines and the EU sign the free trade agreement, there will be a big boost in foreign investment for the Philippines.”

(Reuters) - Trade Representative Ron Kirk on Monday told a top Russian official he was confident that Russia would be able resolve remaining issues in order to join the World Trade Organization this year. "We had a very productive conversation about Russia's bid to join the World Trade Organization. Russia has made great progress on its accession bid," Kirk said in a statement.