The head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said Friday he is hopeful a major trans-Pacific trade pact will be completed in 2013, but not this year as originally planned.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday said Europe must step up its efforts to establish a free trade pact with booming Southeast Asia.

Wealth preservation is what matters most to the majority of Asia's rich families.

High rates of poverty among Myanmar's ethnic groups could foment unrest and undercut the reform process in the formerly army-ruled nation, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said Sunday.

Factory activity weakened across Asia in May, indices showed Friday, with China's manufacturing sector slowing sharply as fears grow for the global economy.

Ten Chinese and Indian commercial airlines have failed to abide by EU law requiring them to offset their carbon emissions, while all other international carriers have complied with the scheme, the European Union's climate chief said on Tuesday.

The United States is being as open as possible about international negotiations to create a nine-nation free trade agreement in the Asia-Pacific region but has to maintain some secrecy in the talks, the top U.S. trade official said.

China, Japan and South Korea agreed at a summit on Sunday to launch negotiations for a three-way free trade pact they said could help fend off global economic chills, saying it would boost the economies of the entire region, but the talks are expected to be long and difficult because of decades of rivalry.

Dismal data from China and India on Friday may signal a further weakening of the global recovery, undermining hopes the dynamic emerging economies of Asia can help prop up growth.

China, Japan and South Korea took steps on Thursday to tie their markets closer and agreed with their smaller Asian neighbors to boost their emergency protection against financial shocks.