Canada, EU launch sixth round of free trade talksOTTAWA, Jan.

India's External Affairs Minister SM Krishna says he is pleading with the Australian government to reconsider its ban on uranium sales to his country.SM Krishna has told Australia's foreign minister Kevin Rudd that the growth of India's nuclear power industry is crucial to combating climate change."I would only plead, and I have pleaded with Mr Rudd," he said."I want Australia to go in for a larger public debate on this question."Australia has a ban on selling uranium to India because it has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Brazil, which saw imports from China surge 61 percent last year, may ask the World Trade Organization to look into what action can be taken against countries that weaken their currencies, a Finance Ministry official said.

BEIJING - China should strengthen its trade-remedy mechanism as part of an effort to meet the challenges brought by developed countries, as trade protectionism is gaining ground in a global market still suffering economic turmoil, experts said.

JAKARTA, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- Secretary General of the Association of the Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN) Surin Pitsuwan said that the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA) effective in Jan. 2010 has been resulting in significant increase of trade and investment."While it's still too early to assess the impact of ACFTA in both China and ASEAN, the economic potential in terms of expanding trade and investment opportunities can be huge," Surin told Xinhua recently.

MOSCOW, Jan. 19 (UPI) -- With only a few issues hanging, Russia may complete talks on joining the World Trade Organization as soon as April, the Economic Development Ministry said.Maxim Medvedkov, head of the ministry's Trade Negotiation Department, said a new round of talks will begin in Geneva, Switzerland, next week, The Moscow Times reported Wednesday."It's technically possible to complete the talks in April," Medvedkov said, which would allow accession by early 2012.

GENEVA (Reuters) - A World Trade Organization panel backed South Korea on Tuesday in a challenge to a controversial U.S. method for calculating duties on unfairly priced imports, after the United States offered no defense in the dispute. The ruling is the latest in a series of defeats for the United States over zeroing, a method of calculating anti-dumping duties that is opposed by all other WTO members.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Top negotiators from the world's largest trading powers will meet next week to push for a global trade accord, a signal that political momentum may be building for completion of the stalled talks.European Commission spokesman John Clancy said on Monday that the meeting, the first at such a high level since talks at the World Trade Organization broke down in 2008, would take place on January 28 during a conference in Switzerland.