The first round of talks between the European Union and Vietnam for a bilateral FLEGT Voluntary Partnership Agreement will be held from November 29-30 in Hanoi, said a Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development official.Tran Kim Long, deputy head of the ministry’s International Cooperation Department, was speaking outside a seminar on the impacts of a Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) deal on Vietnam’s wood product exports to the EU.

The European Union (EU) is very likely to pressure China on currency appreciation at the upcoming Sino-EU summit in Brussels.The EU hinted in a document released at the end of a one-day summit on Thursday that currency policy was high on the list of strategic interests the EU planned to pursue when Chinese and EU leaders meet in October."In view of the EU-China summit in particular, the European Union should actively pursue its strategic interests, (including) the dialogue on exchange rate policies," the document said.

BRUSSELS — The European Union said Thursday that it would sign a sweeping free-trade agreement with South Korea, its first with an Asian trade partner.Officials welcomed the deal as proof that protectionist pressures were being resisted despite the temptations of governments to shield their industries from competition at times of economic uncertainty.

TOKYO (Kyodo) --Japan and Peru are set to agree in principle on concluding a bilateral free trade agreement this week when their leaders meet on the fringes of a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, sources close to the matter said Monday.The Japanese government hopes that the agreement will give impetus to its ongoing negotiations on free trade with Australia and its stalled talks with South Korea.

Mexico CityMexico and Brazil are starting negotiations on a free trade agreement between Latin America's two largest economies.Mexican Economy Minister Bruno Ferrari says the talks offer a chance for Mexico to boost trade with Brazil's vibrant and growing economy. He says both countries will benefit from the transfer of technology as well as shared growth and new jobs.Ferrari says the governments will work product by product, tariff by tariff to figure out how to work together.

Amid the recent rout of the US dollar, fears of an all-out trade war have been stoked globally. The G20 finance heads are now struggling to find common ground on current account imbalances that will avert the inevitable. The point should not be lost on anyone that none of these leaders is really concerned about why these imbalances exist, but rather they're only focusing on avoiding the negative consequences of poor fiscal behavior stacked up over the past several decades. It is for these reasons that any accords that are reached now will fail.

SANTIAGO, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- The Chilean Senate on Thursday ratified a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Turkey signed last year.Chile became the first Latin American country on signing a FTA with Turkey, which represents an access to southeast Europe, Russia and west Asia.Senator Hernan Larrain, president of the Senate Foreign Affairs Commission, said the agreement will mainly benefit the mining, agriculture, fishing and forestry sectors.

GYEONGJU, SOUTH KOREAA summit of the world's major economies is moving closer to an agreement on policies to reduce currency tensions that threaten the global recovery, a U.S. official said Saturday.But any accord from the meeting of Group of 20 finance ministers and central bank governors is unlikely to include specific targets for reducing the vast trade surpluses that emerging nations, China particularly, have with the West.

BEIJING, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- China welcomed the World Trade Organization's (WTO) ruling that United States imposition of anti-dumping and countervailing duties on four types of Chinese imports was inconsistent with WTO regulations, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Saturday.The four categories of Chinese imports include standard steel pipe, rectangular steel pipe, laminated woven sacks, and off-road tires, according to an online statement posted on the MOC's website.

Taiwan Textile Federation (TTF) has recently inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the European Textile and Clothing Confederation (EURATEX). This deal is likely to aid clothing producers both from Taiwan and Europe to strengthen their competitiveness in China and in other world markets.TTF Chairman William Wong and EURATEX Chairman Dr. Peter Pfneisl signed this MoU on behalf of their respective organizations.