Both Indonesia and Vietnam, as members of ASEAN, have negotiated a free trade agreement with China (ACFTA). ASEAN Member States can independently negotiate their tariff reductions. Both countries are generally aware of the opportunities access to the large Chinese market may present, but both...

Trade negotiators are frequently concerned about the possible negative effects of trade liberalisation on employment in specific sectors. The agricultural sector in developing countries has characteristics that make it different from industrial or service sectors. These characteristics are an...

The WTO negotiations on agriculture remain deadlocked after four years of discussion, and efforts to find a solution at Cancún failed. Analysis shows that the recent draft Cancún text offers more flexibility than earlier proposals, and such flexibility most likely implies a lower level of...

Aiming to support downstream processing, the Indonesian government announced an export tax in May 2010. Using a partial equilibrium approach, this paper therefore attempts to analyse: (i) whether the Indonesian government has imposed optimal taxes on cocoa beans; (ii) the impacts of cocoa export...

Trade negotiators are concerned about the possible negative effects of trade liberalisation on employment in specific sectors. The agricultural sector has characteristics that make it different from industrial or service sectors. These are an informal labour force, low productivity, relative...

The global financial crisis in 2008-2009 has affected almost all countries. Vietnam was hit by a large fall in export demand and foreign direct investment. Many governments quickly prescribed stimulus packages and Vietnam was no exception. It reduced taxes and increased government spending,...

The interests of developing countries in multilateral trade negotiations will need to be given greater consideration than previously if progress is to be made in the current round of multilateral trade negotiations. Modelling the impacts of policy changes on individual developing countries...

In 2011 the Thai Government pledged to pay rice producers 50 per cent more than the going market price. The surplus has gone into Government stocks. While supporting local farmers, the Government also hoped to drive up world prices by withholding supplies from the world market and make a...