(Reuters) - A top senator on Friday urged the United States and Colombia to quickly craft a plan to resolve concerns about workers rights and anti-union violence that have long blocked approval of a free trade pact. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, in a speech to the American Chamber of Commerce in Bogota, said he was committed to winning approval this year of the trade deal, which is strongly opposed by U.S. labor groups.

VIENNA, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- The daily oil price of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) jumped 5.13 dollars, breaching 110 U.S. dollars a barrel, the Vienna-based cartel said on Friday. OPEC's benchmark basket of 12 crude oils stood at 111.01 U.S. dollars a barrel on Thursday, a sharp increase compared with 105.88 dollars the previous day, according to OPEC Secretariat calculations.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. government is "making progress" in eliminating trade barriers with China as the Obama administration pursues its goal of rapidly growing American exports, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said Thursday. Mr. Locke, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, cited advances with China on several fronts, ranging from eliminating discriminatory technology policies to removing redundant regulation of medical equipment to overhauling other non-tariff barriers.

Trade ministers representing Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua recently met with Miriam E. Sapiro, Deputy Trade Representative for the United States at the first meeting in San Salvador of the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States (CAFTA-DR) Free Trade Commission.

Ireland is willing to share experiences and invest in construction projects in Vietnam , the Irish ambassador to Vietnam , Maeve Collins has said. At the Vietnam-Ireland Business Forum held in Hanoi on February 24, Ambassador Collins said that this third forum is part of the Irish Aid Development Experience and Sharing programme (IDEAS) to Vietnam, confirming that Ireland will continue to develop the programme and consider it an important part of its bilateral cooperation strategy with Vietnam over the next five years.

(Reuters) - International trade picked up in the last three months of 2010 when growth in Chinese imports far exceeded its exports, reducing the country's trade surplus, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said on Thursday. Merchandise exports from the Group of Seven industrialised countries plus Brazil, Russia, India and China rose 8 percent in the fourth quarter from the previous three months while imports gained 7 percent, the OECD said. In the third quarter, exports and imports had both grown 1 percent.

It has been announced that the double tax agreement (DTA) between Hong Kong and Hungary, which was formally signed on May 12, 2010, came into effect on February 23, 2011, following the completion by both countries of their respective approval procedures. The DTA sets out the allocation of taxing rights between the jurisdictions and the relief on tax rates on different types of passive income, and also incorporates the internationally-agreed Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development standard on the exchange of tax information.

Summarizing the discussions of the World Trade Organization's Trade Negotiation Committee (TNC) in their latest, informal meeting, the Organization's Director-General, Pascal Lamy warned that “a major acceleration – multilaterally, plurilaterally, and bilaterally – is needed," and that the window of opportunity to conclude the Doha Round is narrowing every day.

TEHRAN, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Deputy Oil Minister Alireza Zeighami said the country had begun marketing plans for the imminent exports of its gasoline, local satellite Press TV reported on Wednesday. Zeighami said Tuesday that neighboring countries were Iran's top priorities, according to Press TV. The National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company ( NIORDC) has issued a permit for the export of one billion liters of gasoline, Zeighami was quoted as saying. Zeighami expressed hope that four shipments of Iran's gasoline would be dispatched by March 20.

(Reuters) - The Treasury Department wants a proposed pan-Asian free trade pact to reduce non-tariff barriers that prevent many small businesses from participating in global trade, a senior U.S. Treasury official said on Tuesday. Charles Collyns, Treasury assistant secretary for international affairs, said that the Trans Pacific Partnership should be a "living agreement" with the capacity to add additional countries."