Vietnam and Japan yesterday concluded bilateral negotiations over the former's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) while agreeing to hold preliminary talks on a bilateral free-trade agreement (FTA).
Japan plays a key role in promoting economic integration in Southeast Asia by helping to narrow the gap between developed and less developed countries in the region, scholars from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations told a recent symposium in Tokyo.
South Korea and Southeast Asian nations on Tuesday inked a tariff-slashing Free Trade Agreement (FTA), with Thailand choosing to be excluded from the pact which does not include rice in its list of items.
South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and leaders of the 10 ASEAN countries, Japan and China held a one-day "ASEAN Plus Three Summit" in the Malaysian capital on Monday and adopted a joint statement calling for redoubled efforts for the formation of the so-called East Asia free trade agreement.
Aids patients are unlikely to gain access to cheaper drugs after the free trade agreement between Thailand and the United States is signed, as the planned Thai-US FTA is likely to protect only American patented drugs.
Pakistan and Malaysia are signing agreement on Early Harvest Programme (EHP) next week, reducing tariff on 239 industrial and agricultural products, to be effective from next calendar year.
Investment opportunities will continue to increase in the UAE, according to the principal of one private Equity fund, who pointed to anticipated changes in the federal Company Law as further indication of the country's liberal economy.
The Heads of State and/or Government of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS), during the Panama Summit held in July of this year, recognised in its Declaration, “the importance of having a Framework Agreement for the Promotion and Reciprocal Protection of Investments among ACS members, an instrument that will help to promote, protect and confer legal certainty on investments ...”
Australian Ambassador Colin Heseltine left Seoul two days ago for home at the end of his assignment with one major bit of unfinished business - he was not able to push the excellent bilateral relations between both countries to an even higher level with a free trade agreement.
With the preliminary Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations with Asean, South Korea is expected to compete with China and Japan on a level playing field, a South Korean minister said Monday.
Saying that India was examining ways to develop regional trading arrangements with China, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today gave an affirmative commitment here that India will dismantle ''unwarranted'' barriers, expand global capital flows and bring down tariff rates to levels prevalent in ASEAN countries, as a build-up to creating an East Asian Community.
