SEOUL, June 3 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's Cabinet approved Friday a ratification bill on a free trade accord with the United States that was temporarily withdrawn from parliament for translation errors. The newly endorsed bill fixed translation errors in the Korean text and included supplementary agreements Seoul and Washington reached last December over auto trade. South Korea and the United States have faced domestic opposition against legislative endorsement of the trade deal, originally signed in 2007, due to differences over auto trade imbalances and U.S. beef imports.

Colombia and Turkey have begun formal negotiations for a free trade agreement, which, if successfully concluded, it is hoped, will herald new trade and investment opportunities, and provide substantial economic benefits. The talks began on May 30, and were scheduled to continue until June 3. They follow an initial high level meeting, which took place on March 15. Then, the negotiation framework was agreed upon by team leaders, and two further meetings scheduled, due in July and September.

OTTAWA, (Xinhua) -- Canada and Russia on Thursday signed here a joint ministerial statement to strengthen bilateral trade relations. The statement was signed by Canadian International Trade Minister Ed Fast and Russia's first deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov at the conclusion of the 8th Canada-Russia Intergovernmental Economic Commission (IEC) session in Ottawa.

Vietnam will raise the export duty on iron ore to 40 percent in early July from 30 percent now to ensure raw material for its domestic steel industry, the government said last Wednesday. The new rate will come into effect on July 2 following a Finance Ministry circular, the government said in a statement. “The export of iron ore in recent years has led many domestic steel manufacturing enterprises to face shortages of the raw material and forced them to import,” the government statement said.

SEOUL, June 2 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's oil product exports surged 74 percent on-year in April due to growing demand from Asian nations, a government report showed Thursday. Overseas shipments of oil products, including gasoline, diesel, kerosene, naphtha and Bunker-C oil, reached 5.15 billion U.S. dollars in April, up 74 percent from 2.96 billion dollars a year earlier, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said in a statement.

The Doha Round has precious little negotiating time left to it, and, while members have begun to accept the gravity of the situation, more must be done, according to Pascal Lamy, who has advocated a "three lane" approach to prioritizing the issues left on the table.

SINGAPORE: Germany supports a speedy conclusion of the proposed free trade agreement between the European Union and ASEAN. This was in view of the non-conclusion of the Doha round of talks, which has been going on for the past 10 years. Speaking at the 31st Singapore Lecture, the German Chancellor, Dr Angela Merkel, hoped that the EU-ASEAN FTA would spur even greater levels of cooperation between German and Singapore companies which are working closely in the areas of research and development and scientific matters.

The agreement on the establishment of a free trade area between Ukraine and the European Union is almost ready, although there are three unresolved issues remaining, Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov has said. "The agreement is virtually ready. Three unresolved issues remain, for which Ukraine will offer compromise approaches," he said at a meeting with Greek Foreign Minister Dimitrios Droutsas in Kyiv on Wednesday. Azarov noted that First Vice Premier Andriy Kliuyev, who is currently in Brussels, has been given the green light to reach compromises.

GENEVA (Reuters) – Japan asked the World Trade Organization on Wednesday to form a legal panel to decide whether Canadian provincial backing for solar and wind energy projects gives an unfair advantage to domestic equipment makers. Japan has given up direct attempts to resolve a spat over an Ontario scheme that guarantees prices for renewable energy as long as it is generated with Canadian-made equipment, Japan's ambassador to the WTO said in a letter to the chairman of the WTO's disputes division.

Geneva: India Tuesday called for two-stage process to conclude the moribund Doha trade negotiations, stressing those members focus on issues concerning the poorest countries and developmental priorities in the first stage. The second stage should address all other outstanding issues to conclude the Doha Round "at some future date", said India’s trade envoy to the WTO Jayant Dasgupta. He said this approach will help finalise the "early harvest" package by December.