International relations will be pegged on the concept of economic and trade diplomacy and strategic alliances with global economic blocs, President Mwai Kibaki said in Nairobi last week. The President affirmed that Kenya must align itself with economic blocs of strategic importance and forge deep ties with strong economic powers internationally.

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.

Turkey signed a deal Thursday with its Arab neighbors of Syria, Jordan and Lebanon to establish a cooperation council to create a zone of free movement of goods and persons among them.

"We now see a huge number of possibilities from South-South trade and a lot of our effort is being deployed there," [Trade and Industry Minister Rob] Davies told a news conference. The weakness of the euro and the European economy in general was encouraging this process, he said.

A warming of once-chilly Turkish-Syrian ties has unleashed a one-way trade boom...Turkey's popularity in Syria soared after an Israeli raid on Gaza-bound aid ships in which nine Turks were killed on May 31."Turkey now has a stake in the Palestinian cause, and Syria stands to gain," a diplomat said. "It will be more difficult for Israel to launch any military action against Syria."

It's the first time the EU has been represented at a world fair outside Europe: for 6 months (starting 1 May), the bloc will have its own pavilion in Shanghai - at the specific invitation of China, its second biggest trade partner.

Last week, Russia delivered 15 additional batteries of S-300 surface-to-air missiles to China, making good on an about 2 billion dollar deal signed in the mid-2000s. Yet despite the publicity surrounding the sale, the Russian-Chinese arms transfer relationship is in trouble.

Reports that the East African Community is close to signing an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union may be a mirage.