These could become the basis of a pan-Asian trade bloc, reckons Kiat Sittheeamorn, Thailand's chief trade negotiator.
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They are pushing for a trade bloc with Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.
The UK in particular is trying to renegotiate its relationship with the 27-nation trade bloc and has promised a referendum on EU membership by 2017.
The 10 country Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is progressively converting the four decade old mutual defense organization, into a free trade bloc by 2015.
Argentina has managed to anger several of its trading partners including China, the EU, and even members in MERCOSUR, the South American free-trade bloc, such as Brazil and Uruguay. (Read Best Steaks Coming Your Way:Beleaguered Argentine Beef Industry Set To Rebound).
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The scandal has created a split between nations like Britain which see further rules as a protectionist hindrance of free trade under the bloc's single market, and those calling for tougher regulation.
You have an absolute right to trade right across the whole bloc from just one office.
Turkey made its application to join the EU in 1987 and has had a customs and trade union with the 27-nation bloc since 1996.
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But in 2013, continued weakness in southern Europe will weigh on China even as trade increases with countries in the ASEAN bloc and with Brazil.
The measures introduced by the EUTR form part of the Bloc's Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) action plan, which was published in 2003.
In a statement Tuesday evening, the EU's trade commissioner, Karel De Gucht, and the bloc's foreign-policy chief, Catherine Ashton, said they were "very concerned" about labor conditions in Bangladesh.
The U.S. had indicated interest in joining the bloc last year but later put negotiations on hold as the Obama administration reviewed its trade policies.
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