BRUSSELS, BELGIUM —The European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and the Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyễn Tấn Dũng announced on Dec. 3 that they had officially concluded negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the E.U. and Vietnam. The agreement will give the E.U. access to one of Asia's most promising markets. Vietnam is a fast growing economy and became a World Trade Organization (WTO) member in 2007. With its 90,000,000 inhabitants and growing middle class, it arises as an interesting market for E.U. exporters.

Despite slowing growth, China will expand its influence on the global trading system, favoring bilateral exchanges and its own international institutions over the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the WTO, according to the report "At a Crossroad: What China’s New Economic Diplomacy Means for Business," conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit.

Sponsored by Standard Chartered Bank, the report is based on interviews with professionals in academia, industry and trade organizations, and examines how China’s global economic influence will shape international trade.

India's big dream of doubling exports of goods and services and achieving an ambitious target of $900 billion by financial year 2020 is at risk, thanks to a global economic slowdown, structural challenges of the global trade and infrastructure issues in the domestic economy. India's exports hit the $470 billion in financial year 2015 but this year the slowdown in global demand scenario and a dip in prices of petroleum products have dented external trade volumes.

#Focac: Intra-Africa trade accounts for 16 percent of Africa’s global trade compared with about 40 percent in North America and about 60 percent in Western Europe. Africa remains economically fragmented with 54 small markets.

WTO members have continued to show some restraint in introducing new trade-restrictive measures and have also adopted a record number of trade facilitation measures during the period of October 2014 to October 2015 according to the Director-General’s annual report on trade-related developments. However, the report, which was discussed at the 9 December meeting of the Trade Policy Review Body (TPRB), raises concerns over the increase in the stockpile of trade-restrictive measures recorded since 2008.

Leaders from the 12 Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) countries met on Wednesday in the Philippines to discuss next steps in implementing the trade pact, pushing for its swift approval while highlighting the interest of potential new entrants from the Asia-Pacific region.

Manila plays host this week to global leaders, including U.S. President Barack Obama, for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. The 21-member group accounts for roughly 57 percent of global GDP and 47 percent of worldwide trade. COA Vice President Eric Farnsworth provides an overview of summit priorities, how it relates to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and Latin America’s role.