Thailand is planning to seal a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Hong Kong, particularly in areas of services, cyber security, and green financing.

Given this context, India’s decision to withdraw from RCEP, designed to be the world’s largest trading bloc, was a landmark decision, notwithstanding official comments that we will rejoin if our concerns are addressed.

Vietnam’s agricultural sector is gearing up to prepare for the major changes expected with the entry into force of two unique, new-generation trade agreements - the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the European Union-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA).

In the medium-term, Vietnam’s economic outlook is positive, said Jacques Morisset, World Bank (WB) Lead Economist, at a recent press conference held in Hanoi to announce the WB’s latest East Asia and Pacific Economic Update.

Japan’s colonial rule over the Korean Peninsula ended more than seven decades ago, yet that legacy still roils everyday politics on both sides of the strait. South Korea and Japan, major trading partners and both U.S. military allies, have been at loggerheads over what constitutes proper contrition and compensation for two groups of Koreans: those conscripted to work in factories and mines that supplied Japan’s imperial war machine, and those euphemistically called “comfort women” who were forced to work in military brothels. Japan contends all claims were settled under a 1965 bilateral treaty and a fund set up in 2015. Seoul argues Japan hasn’t atoned enough. Some of Japan’s largest companies and the former emperor have been dragged into the fray.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Prak Sokhonn urged South Korea to finalise the comprehensive economic partnership for Asean countries as soon as possible.

More than 700 enterprises of Vietnam and the Republic of Korea (RoK) took part in a business forum in Seoul on November 28 that was expected to help trigger a new wave of Korean investment in Vietnam.

More than 100 Vietnamese enterprises and 15 enterprises from the Republic of Korea (RoK), operating in the fields of software, medical equipment, technology solutions and applications, and construction, had business-to-business (B2B) transactions on October 23 in Hanoi. The event was organized by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) in collaboration with the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) to support businesses from both countries in investment and trade cooperation.

After receiving an EU yellow card against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, Vietnam’s seafood exports to that market dropped sharply. Nguyen Thi Thu Sac, chairwoman of the VASEP Marine Product Committee (VMPC), talked about the issue in an interview with Vietnam Economic News’ Mai Ca and Hau Ty.

ASEAN was the fifth-largest economy in the world with a gross domestic product (GDP) of around US$3 trillion last year, according to the latest ASEAN report, a significant increase from the seventh place it had five years ago.