Free trade agreements (FTAs) have become a prominent feature of the multilateral trading system and an important instrument of trade policy for members of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The proliferation of FTAs is the result of a number of factors, from the economic to the political. East...

Since the mid-1980s, more regional trade arrangements (RTAs) have arisen between developing and developed countries than before. The evidence shows that MNCs are the major driving force of the new regionalism. The puzzle presented in this paper is why MNCs would like to propel new RTAs between...

China has achieved great success in its economic development since it has conducted economy-wide reforms and opened itself to the outside world. Within less than three decades, China has now become a leading economy in the world, the second largest in FDI inflow, the third largest in foreign...

A Four Member delegation of experts from the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) undertook a WTO Tracking Mission in Geneva during March 14-20, 2008. The Tracking Mission was undertaken as part of CPDs Trade Related Research and Policy Development (TRRPD) programme. Under the TRRPD programme CPD...

The 14th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders Meeting was held in Hanoi, Viet Nam on November 18-19 under the theme of Toward a Dynamic Community for Sustainable Development and Prosperity. The theme conveys two messages : One is to enhance trade and investment in a rapidly...

Since the 1990s, regional economic integration has become an unstoppable trend throughout the world. As the most telling feature of that, regional trade agreements (RTAs) have expanded explosively in the past fifteen years (see figure 1). According to the latest WTO data, the number of RTAs of...

The present study is an attempt to explore the potentials for expanding trade and investment under the ambit of sub-regional cooperation comprising four contiguous countries of Eastern South Asia which includes the two fast growing economies -India and China and the two developing economies of...

The present paper investigates the trade creation and trade diversion effects of a number of RTAs, with special focus on the SAFTA, by using a gravity model. Apart from the traditional gravity variables, the model is augmented by some other import variables (e.g. bilateral exchange rate,...

The global economic crisis has affected the East Asian economies via trade and investment. The export-led model which had been responsible for the East Asian Miracle now must redirect the basis of growth from exports sent to the US and Europe to regional and domestic demand. Regional trade...