Capacity Building for the New International Architecture in Trade and Investment
From APEC HRDWG Wiki
Capacity Building for the New International Architecture in Trade and Investment is an APEC activity aimed at the promotion of understanding of emerging trends in international trade and, consequently, the need for increased technical capacity among stakeholders.
In the first phase of the project, an international symposium entitled “WTO at 10 – Dispute Settlement, Multilateral Negotiation, Regional Integration” convened in October 2005 at the United Nations University in Tokyo, Japan. The focus of this meeting was to review the achievement of the World Trade Organization (WTO) over the course of the previous decade and to identify the issues of the current WTO negotiations and the prospect of increased use of free trade agreements (FTAs) and regional trade agreements (RTAs) worldwide. Following the event, an experts’ workshop was held in Hawaii, United States in October 2006 to further discussions initiated at the symposium and to more specifically identify the current status of FTAs/RTAs negotiations, trends, and strategies among selected APEC members.
APEC has collected papers from nine experts from member economies to address the distinctive situations of FTA/RTA negotiations in their own economies as well as shared issues arising from the complex set of multilateral, regional and bilateral trade agreements. Results of the discussions held at the symposium were summarized in the project report, available below.
In context to Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
An important objective of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is to liberalize trade and investment among members for sustainable development in the region. APEC promotes trade liberalization through its voluntary Individual Action Plan (IAP) for each member economy. APEC has also supported negotiations under the WTO. However, due to stalled WTO negotiations, many APEC members have shifted their attention from the WTO-based multilateral framework to FTAs, RTAs, and Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs), which offer new options for international trade and investment. Accordingly, it is essential to understand the role and nature of FTAs/RTAs, which will be essential for parties involved in trade negotiations and analysis, particularly the business sector.
This publication is a compilation of the papers from the APEC working groups at the Bangkok and Hawaii workshops, and is intended to enhance understanding of the current status, issues and implications of regional agreements which may form a new international architecture for a liberalized regime.
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Title |
Economy |
Summary |
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The New International Architecture in Trade and Investment: Current Status and Implications |
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Complete report from the APEC Project: The New International Architecture in Trade and Investment. Includes a preface, synthesis, economy reports (available individually below), and issue papers relating to the project. |
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Canada (Charles A. Barrett) |
Canada’s approach to trade policy shifted from multi-lateral liberalization under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), to a dual track approach with both bilateral and multilateral elements. Topics include: | |
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China ( Henry Gao) |
With the signing of the CEPA with Hong Kong, China, on 30 June 2003, China adopted RTA. As of 1 September 2006, China has signed or is negotiating RTAs with trade partners such as Hong Kong, China; Macau, China; Chile; Pakistan; Australia; New Zealand; ASEAN; Iceland; India and the Gulf Cooperation Council Topics covered in this paper include: | |
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Japan (Takashi Iwamoto ) |
In the near future Japan will face decreasing population due to a very low birthrate. It has become a crucial issue whether Japan will be able to sustain its social and economic structure. This paper considers whether Japan should plan with EPA partners for personnel exchanges to prepare for a future crisis. As many economies are now making more efforts to promote FTAs and RTAs. Topics include: | |
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Korea (Dukgeun Ahn) |
Korea’s economy previously relied upon foreign export markets. It has been traditionally reluctant to enter into regional trade arrangements (RTAs). Korea, instead, has participated in regional economic cooperation arrangements such as APEC and limited the number of preferential tariff arrangements such as the Global System of Trade Preferences (GSTP), Trade Negotiations among Developing Countries (TNDC), the Bangkok Agreement Among Developing Member Countries of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. Since 2000, unilateral tariff concessions have been extended by Korea to the least developed countries. The Korean government has a wide variety of experience with the GATT/WTO system, but less with FTA negotiation. Whereas the Korean government takes advantage of abundant FTA experience of other countries, it also has numerous problems to cope with - political as well as economic - being a recent entrant in the FTA race. Topics include: | |
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Malaysia (M. Supperamaniam) |
The emergence of RTAs and Free Trade Areas (FTAs) has led countries in particular regions to establish regional groupings and bilateral pacts to enhance their mutual interests. There are growing fears that RTAs/FTAs could lead to the weakening of the WTO system and the emergence of a new system as an alternative to the WTO which is based on bilateralism/pluralism. Topics include: | |
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Chinese Taipei’s (Chaw-Hsia) |
Chinese Taipei, in its process of economic development has benefited from a liberalized multilateral trade system. Although Chinese Taipei was not a signatory to the GATT/WTO until 2002, Chinese Taipei did consider signing FTAs and attempted to seek targets for consultations. As Chinese Taipei was not yet a member of the WTO at that time, it was not possible to offer guarantees to its negotiations. Thus no negotiations leading to the signing of FTAs were consummated. Upon Chinese Taipei’s WTO accession in January 2002, it again sought FTA negotiation partners. Central American countries with which it had diplomatic ties signed FTAs with Chinese Taipei. FTA negotiations with Nicaragua have just been completed; ongoing FTA negotiations include those with Honduras, El Salvador, and the Dominican Republic. Topics include: | |
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Thailand (Lawan Thanadsillapaku) |
In recent years, the global trading system has become much more liberalized and the world economies have become increasingly integrated. This is due not only to rounds of trade negotiations under the auspices of the World Trade Organization (WTO), which have resulted in the progressive liberalization of both traditional and new sectors, but also the establishment of RTAs and FTAs. Thailand, like many other countries, will encounter difficulties and obstacles in restructuring and adjustment processes to keep pace with the rapid changes of the more open trading environment. With adjustments, there can be considerable gains, provided that the FTA texts are elaborated and mutually agreed based on bargaining power. Topics include: | |
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US-ASEAN Free Trade Agreements in the Context of Emerging East Asian Regionalism |
US-ASEAN (Seiji Naya) |
US trade policy had traditionally focused on multilateral liberalization, rather than bilateral or regional agreements, and while the United States entered into minor free trade agreements (FTAs), these were clearly exceptions. US policy has began to shift. NAFTA was created with the goal of creating a “Free Trade Area of the Americas”(FTAA) emerged in the early 1990s. Since then, the United States has been pushing for free trade (and investment). Asia in general and ASEAN in particular have become important targets of this new thrust in US commercial policy. Accordingly, this study discusses the economics of US-ASEAN free trade agreements that are contained in a proposal to form a series of bilateral FTAs between the United States and ASEAN countries has become a reality. Topics include: |
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“A MEGA JUMBO-JET”: Southeast Asia’s Experiments with Trade and Investment Liberalization |
ASEAN (C.L. LIM) |
This paper discusses trade design and legal doctrine. It describes the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Free Trade Area, current efforts towards building an ASEAN Economic Community, and ASEAN’s move toward building a “mega jumbo jet,” with ASEAN as the fuselage, East Asia as one wing and South Asia the other through a complex network of free trade agreements (FTAs). Topics include: |
