Since countries have continued to liberalize trade both unilaterally and as part of the implementation of preferential trade agreements during the past decade, import tariff costs now often account for a very small share of the overall trade costs faced by traders in Asia and the Pacific –...

The publication aims to assist countries in addressing the non-physical barriers in international trade and transport in a sustainable way through establishing or strengthening of national facilitation mechanisms. It lays down broad principles, salient aspects and main requirements for national...

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is widely accepted as the business sector's contribution to inclusive and sustainable development. Thus, government can harness the CSR agenda in pursuit of this goal. There are several reasons why governments should seek to promote CSR: greater social and...

Managing climate change caused by greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions has been recognized as one of the world’s greatest challenges in current times, in particular in Asia and the Pacific which accounts for most of the world’s GHG emissions. Such temperature rises in turn are expected to result...

The growth of agricultural trade has direct implications for the Asia-Pacific region. Agricultural supply chains employ millions of people and there is a growing need for food commodities and high-value food products. The Asia-Pacific region is both a major consumer and producer of agricultural...

This book is a synthesis of the results and implications from a series of product-specific import and export process analyses conducted in selected Asian countries. It provides a unique set of micro-level information on the nature, as well as the time and cost, of trade procedures involved in...

Trade in the Asian and Pacific region has recovered strongly since the first quarter of 2010. While world trade is still struggling towards a full recovery, monthly trade values for Asia and the Pacific have already returned to the pre-crisis level. Merchandise trade in the region grew by more...

Only 20 RTAs involving at least one member from the Asia-Pacific region were in force in 1995. By May 2011, this number had grown to 122. Furthermore, the contribution of Asia and the Pacific to the global trend towards regionalism has also become dominant; since 2005, the region has contributed...

With the start of the global economic crisis, world foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows decreases by 16% in 2008, then dropped sharply by 37% in 2009 and gained a marginal 1% increase in 2010. The decrease was relatively more pronounced in the developed countries. For the first time,...

During the past two decades import tariffs have decreased significantly and the importance of non-tariff measures aimed at further reducing international transaction costs, i.e., trade facilitation, has become more apparent. Even if international shipping and other non-tariff costs are excluded,...