Hong Kong, Southeast Asian nations sign free-trade pact

Hong Kong has signed a free-trade agreement and an investment deal with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in pacts that it says are a vote against protectionism elsewhere.
ASEAN officials say the free-trade agreement they signed with Hong Kong on Sunday in Manila is the sixth such deal forged by the 10-nation bloc after concluding similar pacts with China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand.
The Philippines is hosting an annual summit of ASEAN heads of state with Asian and Western leaders that opens tomorrow.
Hong Kong Commerce Secretary Edward Yau Tang-wah said the new free-trade accord is "a loud and clear vote from all of us here for freer and more open trade" amid protectionist tendencies in other parts of the world.