Sixteen Asia-Pacific nations including Japan and China held the first round of negotiations Thursday toward the creation of one of the world's largest free trade blocs. During the five-day meeting through Monday in Brunei, the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and their six regional partners will discuss the scope and method of talks on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership as they aim to conclude a deal by 2015.

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PARIS — Roberto Carvalho de Azevêdo, the next head of the World Trade Organization, said on Wednesday that the institution needed to adapt as the United States and other nations turn away from the multilateral forum to regional trade agreements.

BRUSSELS, May 8 (Reuters) - Canada threatened on Wednesday to take the European Union to the World Trade Organisation over its plans to label Canadian oil sands as dirty, but promised not to delay a bilateral trade pact. The issue has overshadowed relations as Canada and the EU try to deepen economic ties through a trade deal that could generate $28 billion a year in new business and commerce.

BRUSSELS, May 8 (Xinhua) -- Over 450 companies in the European solar industry on Wednesday voiced strong opposition to a potential decision by the European Commission to impose provisional anti-dumping duties on imports of Chinese solar panels. The statement was made amid a number of media reports in recent days that the Commission plans to propose provisional anti-dumping duties with rates ranging between 37 percent and 68 percent on imports of Chinese solar panels.

The US and the 10-member ASEAN have discussed a wide range of pressing regional issues, including maritime security and transnational crime, during the just-concluded annual dialogue here between the two sides.

KIEV, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine on Tuesday issued a temporary ban against pork imports from Belarus due to a reported outbreak of African swine fever (ASF). The State Veterinary and Phyto-Sanitary Service said in a statement that the decision was made in consideration of media reports about the death of pigs in Baranovichi region, west Belarus. The last time Ukraine imposed a ban on pork imports from Belarus was in March last year.

Japanese agriculture minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and his Indonesian counterpart Suswono on Monday confirmed the two countries' cooperation in establishing a proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, or RCEP.  The RCEP, a free trade agreement covering wide areas of the Asia-Pacific region, would help create a Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific, or FTAAP, Hayashi told Suswono at their meeting here. A total of 16 Asia-Pacific countries, including Japan and Indonesia, are set to hold the first round of RCEP talks in Brunei from Thursday.

India has been constantly enhancing its trade partnership with a number of countries and regions, including Russia, Costa Rica, Commonwealth Nations, and West Asia- GCC, said Minister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry D. Purandeswari.

(Reuters) - Cuba has launched a legal challenge to Australia's tobacco packaging laws at the World Trade Organization, the Geneva-based trade body said in a statement on Monday. Cuba has never before launched WTO litigation. Its challenge follows similar complaints about Australia's tough tobacco packaging rules by Ukraine, Honduras and Dominican Republic.