The WTO’s new Agreement on Trade Facilitation (ATF) will help to reverse the region’s deceleration of overall export growth and, when implemented, could add as much as 3 percent to regional GDP and lift employment across the region by 1.2 percent. In the region’s developing economies,...

Laos benefits from the ASEAN-India Free Trade Agreement in Goods (AIFTA) by gaining preferential access to the large Indian market. Under the Agreement, India commits to eliminating customs duties on imports for 90% of its tariff lines under two separate lists: one being completed by the end of...

The study suggests that the entrepreneurs in the Indian clothing industry is all set to take on the challenges and opportunities created by the signing of the GATT-94's Final Act by the Government of India. Small and medium enterprises in the industry are confident about their inherent...

The paper explores the role of the gravity variables in explaining the FTA-s formation. We develop a new theoretical benchmark for the use of the gravity equation modeling them as fixed resources in the budget constraint of the Nash equilibrium definition of an FTA. We show the existence of an...

Laos benefits from the comprehensive ASEAN-Korea Free Trade Agreement (AKFTA), which in large part has supported the fast growing exports of Laos to Korea. Since Laos became a member of ASEAN in 1997, its exports destined for Korea have increased 10-fold. That expansion is nearly twice as large...

The ASEAN-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (AJCEP) offers duty-free treatment on most of Japan’s imports to Lao producers and exporters. This type of preferential treatment has contributed to the rapid rise of Lao exports to that country – nearly 30% a year in the last...

Trade under Contractual Development Area (FTCDA) to give up the dilemma Free-Trade vs Protectionist Policy which are second and third best (resp.). In such an area national economies would respect the current existing rules of the W.T.O. which would add the rule that each national economy would...

Abstract The paper describes the joint policy of Brazil and Argentina regarding the currency use in bilateral trade. The Local Currency Payment System (SML) framework is investigated as an instrument of reducing trade costs by providing new financial integration mechanisms and its implications...

EU- Africa Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) are on the brink. In February 2014 West African leaders agreed in principle to conclude an agreement. However, last-minute objections of the heavy-weight Nigeria which wants to protect its infant industries as well as promising trade relations...

Most existing commitments are confined to guaranteeing the levels of access that existed in the mid-1990s, when the Agreement entered into force, in a limited number of sectors. The only significant exceptions are the accession schedules of recent WTO Members and the negotiating results in two...