Preferential trade agreements (PTAs) in the Asia-Pacific region have proliferated rapidly over the past five years and are creating a complex web of intersecting bilateral and regional trade agreements. This paper describes the proliferation of these PTAs, discusses their characteristics and...

In March 2013, a group of 23 like: minded WTO Members, including the EU, started negotiations for a plurilateral Agreement on Trade in Services. This paper aims to address the ongoing talks from several angles. First, it explores the motivation behind these negotiations and highlights the...

This paper analyses the ongoing plurilateral negotiations for a new Agreement on Trade in Services. Its aim is to answer to the following set of questions: (1) What are the motivations behind these negotiations as well as the objectives of the new plurilateral trade in services agreement? How...

A general review of the Philippine-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (PJEPA or the Agreement) was originally scheduled in December 2011. Accordingly, it was deemed that an assessment on how the Agreement affected the Philippine economy after three years of implementation would be helpful not...

While it is too early to undertake rigorous quantitative analysis on the impact of the Philippines-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (PJEPA) on the Philippines, this initial ex-post study concludes that based on several key indicators the country has not suffered major adjustment costs...

Agricultural support levels are at a crossroad with reduced distortions in OECD countries and increasing support for agricultural producers in emerging economies over the last decades. This paper studies the determinants of distortions in the agricultural markets by putting a specific focus on...

Agricultural support levels are at a crossroad with reduced distortions in OECD countries and increasing support for agricultural producers in emerging economies over the last decades. This paper studies the determinants of distortions in the agricultural markets by putting a specific focus on...