In one of his most significant policy addresses to date, Ma Ying-jeou, president of Taiwan, hailed his country's new Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) with China. Signed Tuesday, the ECFA is the most significant manifestation of a thaw in bilateral ties between Taipei and Beijing.

Going beyond the notion of "economic peace," Palestinians are purposefully building and preparing for political independence...the Palestinians aim for a convergence between the program of building the essential elements of statehood and the diplomatic negotiating process to end the occupation, and the conflict, in order to achieve a sustainable peace.

The Kenya government has initiated a new strategy that will use diplomacy to attract and boost investments and forge closer links with the West. It has shifted its policy to embrace the concept of economic and trade diplomacy, which demands that Kenya aligns itself with economic blocs of strategic importance.

In Turkey, diplomacy and commerce go hand in hand: when ministers travel abroad, they take a train of businessmen...A new pipeline running from Russia to Turkey might carry gas onwards to Syria or Lebanon – but not Israel.

Now that the once strait-laced communist country has adopted a capitalist economy, it has become a major world business player. China’s rise into a world power came at a time when the US was beginning to wear crutches...

South Korea has enjoyed greatly enhanced international status in recent years...For most of the 20th century, South Korea had never been truly included in the core of global discussions. So the country being picked as the 2010 chair country of the G-20 certainly qualifies as a dramatic turn around.

Whatever the fate of the euro, the prevarication and long arguments over how to help it have damaged the EU in at least four ways...a tardy and muddled response to the euro crisis has greatly tarnished the EU’s soft power and global standing.

In a joint statement issued in Seoul yesterday following a summit held at president's office at Cheong Wa Dae, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Korean President Lee Myung-bak agreed to boost economic ties and cultural exchanges between the two countries.