ISDS Case Map
FTAAP
Free Trade Area of Asia-Pacific (APEC)
Pacific Rim economies are debating whether to change the informal Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum so that it can negotiate the creation of a Pacific-wide free trade zone.
At the annual APEC summit meeting in Yokohama on Nov. 13 and 14, the 21-member forum is planning to specify for the first time in its declaration the possible efforts to realize the long-term goal of creating a Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific.
The Japanese government is set to include a reference to Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations in its economic partnership agreement guidelines that are soon expected to receive Cabinet approval.
A business advisory body to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum called on APEC leaders Thursday to recommit themselves to create a region-wide free trade zone, saying it is the "most practical means" to realize trade liberalization.
In less than two months, Pacific Rim countries are expected to present a clear picture on how they will pursue their long-term vision of creating a regionwide free-trade zone.
APEC's business lobby, the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Business Advisory Council, will urge 21 government leaders to set a timetable for the creation of a regional free trade area later this year
A US commitment to the P4 through a wider trade pact would indirectly inject new life into the fading Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), which veered off course into security issues during the George W Bush administration and which is now struggling to achieve its market-liberalizing goals set out in Bogor, Indonesia, in 1994.
Those who favour a big push for regional integration in Asia now have their day in the sun. They say that the global economic crisis has accelerated the decline of America and the rise of China, India and other emerging powers. Power is shifting inexorably from the West to Asia.
Leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum will set Japan, the next APEC chair, the task of identifying ways for the 21-member grouping to create a free trade bloc in the future, according to a draft statement they are expected to issue at their Nov. 14 to 15 summit in Singapore.
Businesses are becoming less interested in the World Trade Organization’s attempts to forge a global deal as long-standing talks have yet to yield results, a private sector group affiliated with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation warned late last week.
