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World Business Quick Take

■ TRADE

El Salvador FTA launched

Taiwan and El Salvador on Saturday launched a free-trade pact. El Salvadoran President Elias Antonio Saca called the deal historic and said it would give his country new access to the highly competitive Asian market. The official launch ceremony was held at a plant in El Salvador set up with capital from Taiwan, with Ambassador Carlos Liao (廖世傑) on hand.



■ SHIPPING

Maersk shares ships

AP Moeller-Maersk A/S' container shipping line, the world's largest, will begin sharing vessels with its two biggest rivals on some North American routes as slowing US economic growth reduces shipments. Starting next month, Maersk Line will share three routes from Asia to North America with Mediterranean Shipping Co and CMA CGM SA, the Copenhagen-based company said on Friday. Maersk Line, which lost money in 2006 from lower container rates, expects strong demand this year on all routes except those serving the US, CEO Eivind Kolding said in January.



■ BRAZIL

Hike in minimum salary

The government raised its minimum monthly salary by 9.2 percent on Saturday to 415 reals (US$248), boosting millions of salaries and pensions based on multiples of the base salary. The increase from 380 reals was more than twice the rate of inflation last year. But the Union Statistics Department, or Dieese, said the raise was insufficient to cover a family's basic needs. An adequate minimum income for a family of four is 1,924.59 reals per month, Dieese said. "That's an estimate of how much the minimum wage should be to adequately compensate labor," economist Jose Mauricio Soares said.



■ TRADE

WTO hopeful about Doha

The Doha round of world trade talks could be concluded by the end of the year, the head of the WTO said on Saturday, despite a European warning of a "high risk of failure." "We are nearing the end game. Whether it's a success or failure I can't say, but it's doable," WTO Director General Pascal Lamy said after meeting South African President Thabo Mbeki. The talks, launched in the Qatari capital in 2001 and aimed at liberalizing world trade, were due to be completed by 2004, but have floundered on disagreements between developed and emerging economies. EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said on Friday that he feared Doha was now "facing a high risk of failure." But Lamy said doubts were normal at this point in the process. "We are at a crunch-time ... It's not surprising that positions stiffen," he said.



■ AUTOMOBILES

Daimler goes lithium-ion

Daimler AG is planning to roll out a hybrid version of its Mercedes-Benz flagship S-Class luxury sedan that uses a kind of battery already widely used in consumer electronics. Daimler said that it has adapted lithium-ion technology to meet demanding automotive requirements. Daimler said on Friday the new battery would be used in the S 400 BlueHYBRID beginning next year. "What we have here is a groundbreaking key technology that is going to be a decisive factor for the future success of the automotive industry," Daimler board of management member Thomas Weber said in a statement.
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