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  1. Negotiations

Asia & Pacific

Bilateral deal-making involving governments of Asia and the Pacific region.

Change or risk losing market share, New Zealand told
10-Apr-2006
Asean has told New Zealand, whose big dairy and meat product trade to the regional grouping has slowed in recent years, that it risks losing market share to newer competitors muscling their way into the area unless its exporters turn more creative and move quickly to meet changing regional consumer needs.
Asian FTA would simplify trade rules
10-Apr-2006
Thai business leaders have welcomed a Japanese proposal to create an East Asian Free Trade zone to integrate economies in the region, but they were sceptical about whether Japan would liberalise its sensitive agricultural sector. If Japan’s idea comes true, they said, it would help countries in the region overcome the ’’spaghetti bowl’’ effect of proliferating bilateral free trade agreements with different trade rules.
US in relentless bid to forge FTA with Southeast Asia
7-Apr-2006 AFP
More than three years after President George W Bush unveiled an initiative to forge free-trade agreements with Southeast Asian nations, a deal aimed at prising open the 500-million-strong regional market remains elusive.
ADB attacks bilateral trade deals
7-Apr-2006 Financial Times
“A lot of these bilateral deals have nothing to do with economics. Instead, they [Asian Development Bank’s members] are mostly doing it for diplomatic reasons, including efforts to gain access to natural resources.”
Japanese govt to propose big Asian free-trade zone
4-Apr-2006 AFX
The Japanese government plans to propose the formation of an Asian free-trade zone which could include half the world’s population and rival the EU and NAFTA, an official of the trade ministry said.
BIMSTEC, SAFTA unlikely to meet July 1 deadline
21-Mar-2006 New Age
The member countries of the BIMSTEC and South Asian Free Trade Area may not be able to meet the July 1 deadline for implementation of the pact mainly due to different degrees of opposition from Thailand, India and Sri Lanka.
SAARC countries signing bilateral, multilateral FTAs one after another
26-Feb-2006 The Independent
The South Asian economies including Bangladesh are becoming more and more regional trade-prone and they are going for bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) alongside regional arrangements like South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA).
Asia risks spaghetti bowl trade deal mess: ADB
9-Feb-2006
A proliferation of bilateral free trade deals in Asia risks creating a "spaghetti bowl" of overlapping measures that could actually harm companies, the head of the Asia Development Bank (ADB) said today.
FTA vital for East Asia says ADB
9-Feb-2006 Gulf Daily News
East Asia should set up a unified region-wide free trade pact to help boost trade and investment and further promote regional economic integration, the president of the Asian Development Bank said yesterday.
The great maze: Regional and bilateral free trade agreements in Asia
30-Dec-2005 UNDP
This UNDP paper is divided into four main parts. Parts I, II and III examine the phenomenon of FTA proliferation and the underlying forces and motivations of key players at work. Part IV builds on the analysis to address the impact of the FTA explosion on human development policy choices in key areas such as agriculture, textiles, rules of origin, intellectual property, trade in services, and investment.

    Links

  • ABAC
    APEC Business Advisory Council is pushing for an FTA among APEC members
  • ASEAN Briefing
    ASEAN Briefing is a platform dedicated to the various and increasing number of trade treaties and agreements throughout the ASEAN region, produced by tax and legal professionals Dezan Shira & Associates.
  • Asia Regional Integration Center
    Database of bilateral and plurilateral FTAs with at least one of Asian Development Bank’s 48 regional members as signatory.
  • Australia-ASEAN-New Zealand FTA
    An Australian government webpage on the Australia-ASEAN-New Zealand FTA negotiations, agreed to end 2004 and begun early 2005.
  • Macau-China FTA
    Official website on the Macau-China Closer Economic Partnership Agreement
  • PANG
    The Pacific Network on Globalisation (PANG) plays the role of the Pacific regional “peoples’ watchdog on trade issues”.