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NEW DELHI: Trade Ministers of India, US and India, US, among other countries, will meet on January 24 on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum Summit at Davos to discuss the road-ahead for the WTO, including the post-Bali programme. "It will be a kind of WTO mini-Ministerial meeting. About 20-22 trade ministers may attend the meeting. Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman would participate besides WTO Director General Roberto Azevedo and others," an official said.

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A free trade agreement (FTA) between Singapore and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) entered into force on January 1, 2015. Singapore and the GCC – comprising Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates – jointly announced the launch of FTA negotiations in November 2006, and the FTA was signed on December 15, 2008.

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While bilateral free trade agreements, as a means to further the market-opening and rule-making agenda, have been globally picking up steam, there have also been parallel efforts to usher in a plethora of regional trade agreements and economic unions. Given the uncertainty of the multilateral agreement under the ambit of the World Trade Organization, which has been dragging on for years, efforts to form regional agreements are picking up. Although many of them are overlapping, 2015 could see some progress being made on at least some of the deals.

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Pakistan raised the difficulties its local industries have in exporting to China despite reduced tariffs, during recent discussions on the performance of the Pakistan-China Free Trade Agreement (PCFTA). The PCFTA has been in operation since 2006, and the latest meeting was discussing its next phase, which had been expected to produce a further round of import duty reductions. However, Pakistan's Government is resisting talk of further tariff concessions until its concerns are addressed.

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A paper from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) has urged US President Barack Obama to begin discussions immediately with the US Congress on Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), with the aim of achieving its passage by June this year and the completion of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement shortly thereafter.

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Among the goals of the Foreign Trade Ministry is an agreement between the Mercosur bloc and the European Union. SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – During the next four years Brazil will work toward strengthening its commercial ties with the United States, expanding its accords with Mercosur partners as well as finalizing trade agreements with Central and South American countries such as Mexico, Peru, Colombia and Chile, stated the new Development, Industry and Foreign Trade (MDIC) Minister, Armando Monteiro Neto, during his first speech as minister Wednesday, January 7th.

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On occasion of special Summit to celebrate 25th anniversary of ASEAN – Korea dialogue establishment, in the witness of Prime Minister of the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Nguyen Tan Dung and President of Korea Park Geun Hye, on December 10th, 2014, in Bussan, Korea, Minister of Industry and Trade of Vietnam Vu Huy Hoang and Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy of Korea Yoon Sang-jick signed MOU on Vietnam – Korea FTA negotiation conclusion (VKFTA).

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Vietnam’s Minister of Industry and Trade, Vu Huy Hoang and Eurasian Economic Commission Minister for Trade cum Head of the Customs Union’s Negotiator Delegation, Andrei A. Slepnev, signed the joint statement announcing the conclusion of negotiations of the Free Trade Agreement between Vietnam and the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan (VCUFTA) at the Kien Giang Convention Centre, Kien Giang province on December 15, 2014.

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Last year it was thought that the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) could get wrapped up by the end of 2013 and passage of Trade Promotion Authority looked promising in 2014. A year later, we’re left with neither but the tide could be changing with Japan who has been dragging its feet on lowing tariffs and restrictions on agricultural and auto markets.

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President Obama is preparing a major push on a vast free-trade zone that seeks to enlist Republicans as partners and test his premise that Washington can still find common ground on major initiatives. It also will test his willingness to buck his own party in pursuit of a legacy-burnishing achievement. Already, fellow Democrats are accusing him of abandoning past promises on trade and potentially undermining his domestic priority of reducing income inequality.

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