Ross stressed on Tuesday that the US will seek bilateral deals to reduce its trade deficit.

The US pulled out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership in January. The remaining 11 member countries, including Japan, are pursuing the possibility of getting the deal implemented without the US.

The Pacific-Rim countries will hold a ministerial meeting in Vietnam in late May to discuss the trade deal.

An NHK correspondent says the US administration is eager to not only protect domestic manufacturers, but also to boost exports of US farm goods.

He also said that the administration may start pressuring trade partners to enter bilateral negotiations.

The forum in Beijing next week will draw heads of state to discuss Xi's plan to expand trade links between Asia, Africa and Europe through billions of dollars in infrastructure investment.

Representatives from more than 100 countries will attend China's biggest diplomatic event of the year, though only one leader from the Group of Seven (G7) industrialized nations, Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, is set to join.

China says between 2014 and 2016, its businesses signed projects worth $304.9 billion along inland and maritime corridors of the plan, also known as the New Silk Road. But some of the projects could be in development for years.

Judging by recent precedent in China's political system, Xi is slated to step down from the presidency in early 2023 at the end of his second five-year term.

Asked what guarantee the world had that the initiative would go on after Xi's second term, Vice Minister of Commerce Qian Keming told a news briefing that its vitality lay in countries' hopes for development and not in the idea of "who proposed it or what term in office there is later".

"The Belt and Road initiative was proposed by President Xi in 2013, but this initiative is not an individual proposal, or merely left at a proposal level. Rather it is an initiative that has been widely received by the whole world. It is jointly owned by everyone," Qian said.

China has repeatedly rebuffed concern that the plan is part of a grand strategy to expand its economic interests for selfish gain and to seek global dominance, saying that anyone can join the plan to boost common prosperity.

Xi has used the initiative to help portray China as an open economy, distinct from a rising wave of global protectionism.

However, the government has faced criticism from foreign business groups and governments alike, who say it has done little to remove discriminatory policies and market barriers that favor Chinese companies.

Foreign business groups have questioned whether multinational companies would be able to compete with Chinese firms through the plan in transparent bidding processes.

Zhang Xingfu, an official from the Commerce Ministry's cooperation department, played down such concerns.

"Chinese enterprises conducting investment and cooperative business in countries along the Belt and Road initiative will ... actively participate in project bidding, and cooperate and compete with international enterprises in the same industries on the same platform," Zhang said.

(Reporting by Michael Martina; Editing by Robert Birsel)

Rosneft executives will receive a 1.5 billion ruble ($25.8 million) bonus, one hundred times more than the same period in 2016, Russia's Vedomosti newspaper reported Wednesday. The sum also equals more than half of the total executive bonuses received in 2016.

The decision comes despite a small slump in the company's revenue, which fell from 1,485 billion rubles ($25.6 billion) in the final quarter of 2016 to 1,410 billion rubles ($24.3 billion) in the first quarter of this year.

Rosneft said that the premiums were linked to the company's successful privatization and acquisition of Russian oil company Bashneft.

“The deal was conducted in an unprecedentedly difficult situation in the shortest possible time," a Rosneft representative told Vedomosti.

The company is yet to announce how the bonus will be divided among top executives.

Rosneft was privatized in December 2016, when the Russian government sold its 19.5 percent stake in the company to a consortium consisting of the British-Swiss commodities trading firm Glencore and the Qatari Sovereign Wealth Fund. The sale generated 10.5 billion euros ($11.3 billion) for the Russian budget, the Kremlin announced.

Vice President D​ang Thi Ngoc Thinh presents educational tools and equipment to High School No.14 's teachers and students
The meeting was co-organised by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mongolian Employers’ Federation, and Vietnamese Embassy in Mongolia.

The Vice President told local firms about Vietnam’s advantages in attracting investors such as political stability and convenient geographical location.

The same day, the Vice President received S.Dashtsevel, President of the Mongolia-Vietnam Friendship Association, during which she urged the two countries’ friendship associations to continue their close coordination and intensify friendship exchanges and popularization of information on the two countries to strengthen mutual understanding between the two peoples.

S.Dashtsevel confirmed that his association will work to contribute to boosting mutual understanding and cooperation between the two countries.

Also on the day, Vice President Thinh met the management board and students of the High School No.14 named after President Ho Chi Minh.

She presented educational tools and equipment to the school’s teachers and students.

Thinh also visited the Vietnamese Embassy and met representatives of the Vietnamese community in Mongolia.

On May 10 morning, the Vice President is scheduled to leave Mongolia for Tokyo to attend the 27th Global Summit of Women (GWS) and pay working visit to Japan from May 10-16.

The report’s country briefing note on Mongolia reads, “Economic growth in Mongolia slowed to 1.2 per cent in 2016 from a growth rate of 2.3 per cent in 2015 and average growth of 12.3 per cent during the period of the mining boom in 2011-2014.

The plunge in global commodity prices and weaker demand in China mainly accounted for lower economic growth in 2016. Domestic demand was also subdued, as private consumption and fixed investments decreased.

The unemployment rate increased to almost 9 per cent at end-2016.

The mining sector, which had propelled the economy in the past, experienced a drastic fall in foreign direct investment due to waning confidence and investor disputes.

The decline in mining revenues pushed up government debt to nearly 90 per cent of GDP, raising concerns over debt repayments. In this regard, the Government introduced austerity measures in August 2016 and availed itself of external financing assistance. An immediate policy priority is to demonstrate a credible fiscal consolidation plan and effective macroeconomic management.

Growth is projected to pick up to 2 per cent in 2017 and 3.5 per cent in 2018.

An expected increase in global prices of coal and copper, higher coal export volumes to China and the expansion of a major copper and gold mine are some of the contributing factors.

In addition, railway construction under China's Belt and Road Initiative and the signing of a transit transport agreement with China and the Russian Federation are expected to facilitate cross-border trade in this landlocked country.

Beyond exports, the 25 per cent minimum wage hike that became effective in January 2017 could help ease the impact of fiscal tightening and support consumer spending.

To promote medium-term economic development, the Government launched an economic recovery programme for the period 2016-2020, which includes the policy aim of diversifying the country's income sources to non-mining sectors, such as tourism and agriculture”.
Kh.Aminaa