Asian News Outlook

As the European Community strategic paper 2007-2013 for Mongolia outlines, ‘Mongolia has repeatedly expressed interest in upgrading its relations with the EU and in going beyond the current focus on traditional development cooperation.’

On 29 April 2013, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe arrived in Moscow, marking the first visit to Russia of a Japanese Prime Minister in the past ten years.

The EU has taken the decision to permanently lift all sanctions on Myanmar with the exception of the arms embargo during a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg on 22 April.

Iceland and China have signed a free trade agreement on 15 April 2013 making Iceland the first developed European state to sign a free trade agreement with China, after six years of negotiation. The agreement, which aims to remove most trade tariffs, was signed by trade officials in Beijing during a stave visit by Prime Minsiter Johanna Sigurdardottir of Iceland.

The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan has deposited its instrument of accession to the Kyoto Protocol on 25 March 2013, becoming the 192nd contracting party.

China’s newly elected president Xi Jinping embarked on his first international trip after his official appointment on March 15.

After the latest nuclear tests by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) in December 2012 and February 2013, the European Parliament (EP) voted in favour for a joint motion for a resolution ‘on nuclear threats and human rights in North Korea’ in it

Exactly two years have passed since the North-East part of Japan was wrecked by the most powerful earthquake in recorded history which triggered numerous waves that surged through local towns and villages.

The arrival of Myanmar's President Thein Sein in Oslo on 26 February inaugurated the president’s first trip to Europe. After Norway, he will visit Finland, Austria, Belgium and Italy.