APEC eases bottleneck in wine trade

SINGAPORE: Wine lovers and exporters around the Pacific Rim will have reason to pop the cork on Thursday after officials slashed red tape on shipments in the region that will ease an expensive bottleneck.

The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group said in a statement that the 21 member economies had agreed on a standard, simplified certificate, replacing the multi-layered system that had led to losses of about $1.0 billion a year in the industry.