HA NOI — Petrol imports totalled 6.5 million tonnes and reached a cost of US$5.9 billion in the first seven months of the year, accounting for 10.2 per cent of the nation's total imports, according to the General Department of Customs. The figure represents a decrease of 42 per cent in volume and 8.6 per cent in value, however, in comparison with the same period last year. In July alone, Viet Nam imported about 533,500 tonnes of petrol, valued at $512 million – a decline of 39.2 per cent in volume and 37 per cent in value compared to the previous month.

Foreign Minister Urmas Paet and Finland’s Minister for Europe and Foreign Trade Alexander Stubb discussed further enlargement of the European Union, the state of the world’s economy and Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO). Paet said Estonia and Finland shared the same objectives in European Union affairs and that their positions largely overlapped. “Together with Finland, we are contributing to the development of the Baltic Sea strategy and the digital market. We also consider it important that the EU’s internal market function better as a whole,“ Paet added.

Canada and China are to conclude a Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (FIPA) in the near future as the two countries look to boost bilateral trade and investment. Canada's Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway, Ed Fast made the announcement after having participated in a round table with members of the Canada China Business Council (CCBC) in Toronto. There, he underscored the government's commitment to boosting trade and investment with China.

While a dispute resolution panel of the World Trade Organization (WTO) has decided that the excise taxes applied by the Philippines on imported distilled spirits are discriminatory, it has been indicated that the Philippine government will appeal its ruling.

The United States House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp and the Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus have expressed bipartisan concern at the effect on American exporters of the entry into force of the Canada-Colombia free trade agreement (FTA) on August 15. It has been pointed out that, as of that date, Canadian wheat and wheat flour exports can enter Colombia duty-free. In contrast, similar exports from the US to Colombia must pay a 13% tariff, while the pending US-Colombia FTA would eliminate that duty immediately upon entry into force.

The Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement which took effect on Monday August 15 is Canada's fourth bilateral trade deal with a Latin American country and eliminates tariffs on a range of goods and services in an effort to facilitate trade and investment.

A senior public servant in Vanuatu has warned that moves to join the World Trade Organisation could reduce job opportunities for indigenous people. Labour Commissioner Lionel Kaluat says he is concerned commitments required by Vanuatu's WTO accession package will prompt a continuing influx of foreign workers into jobs that can be done by Ni-Vanuatu. He says more discussion of the package is needed and has called for a nationwide referendum on WTO membership.

Peru’s Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism Jose Luis Silva noted that he met with ambassadors of some countries of the European Union (EU) with the main purpose to speed up the approval of the bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) signed between Peru and the European bloc. Minister Silva said that the agreement is still being translated into all 21 official languages of the European Union. Then, the agreement must be approved by their respective congresses.

TORONTO — Canada is discussing an investor-protection agreement with China, Trade Minister Ed Fast said Tuesday in an interview. “We are working on something right now with the Chinese,” Fast told Bloomberg News in Toronto. Such agreements spell out “a clearly established set of rules, under which people invest in another country.”

CANBERRA, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- Biosecurity Australia on Wednesday gave approval for the importation of New Zealand apples into Australia. Biosecurity Australia said in a statement that the import conditions require that New Zealand growers be registered to export to Australia. Under guidelines proposed by the director of Animal and Plant Quarantine, only commercially mature fruit will be allowed to be imported, in a move to prevent the spread of diseases such as fire blight and European canker.