bilaterals.org logo
bilaterals.org logo
  1. Negotiations

Asia & Pacific


Bilateral deal-making involving governments of Asia and the Pacific region.

BIMSTEC, SAFTA unlikely to meet July 1 deadline
21-Mar-2006     New Age
The member countries of the BIMSTEC and South Asian Free Trade Area may not be able to meet the July 1 deadline for implementation of the pact mainly due to different degrees of opposition from Thailand, India and Sri Lanka.
SAARC countries signing bilateral, multilateral FTAs one after another
26-Feb-2006     The Independent
The South Asian economies including Bangladesh are becoming more and more regional trade-prone and they are going for bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) alongside regional arrangements like South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA).
Asia risks spaghetti bowl trade deal mess: ADB
9-Feb-2006    
A proliferation of bilateral free trade deals in Asia risks creating a "spaghetti bowl" of overlapping measures that could actually harm companies, the head of the Asia Development Bank (ADB) said today.
FTA vital for East Asia says ADB
9-Feb-2006     Gulf Daily News
East Asia should set up a unified region-wide free trade pact to help boost trade and investment and further promote regional economic integration, the president of the Asian Development Bank said yesterday.
The great maze: Regional and bilateral free trade agreements in Asia
30-Dec-2005     UNDP
This UNDP paper is divided into four main parts. Parts I, II and III examine the phenomenon of FTA proliferation and the underlying forces and motivations of key players at work. Part IV builds on the analysis to address the impact of the FTA explosion on human development policy choices in key areas such as agriculture, textiles, rules of origin, intellectual property, trade in services, and investment.
Tangled web we weave
30-Dec-2005    
The hundreds of bilateral and regional trade deals around or being crafted is creating a brave new world for business, reports Daniel Hilken
What is the cost for missing the WTO train?
18-Dec-2005     VietNamNet
Is Vietnam capable of signing an FTA when the essence of such an agreement is WTO++, with rules based on WTO rules? If we have not joined the WTO yet, how can we reach an FTA with Japan?
FTA must cover at least 90 percent of trade: Asean Sec-Gen
15-Dec-2005     Bernama
A quality free trade agreement (FTA) between countries should cover 90 to 95 per cent of their trade, Asean Secretary General Ong Keng Yong said Wednesday, adding that India's long exclusion list of products hampered such a pact with Asean.
Bilateral trade deals not good for developing Asia: UNESCAP
14-Dec-2005    
The proliferation of bilateral trade deals among Asian countries is an undesirable fallout of the slow progress in global trade talks and against the interests of the poorest countries in the region, according to the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP).
ASEAN+3 leaders urge efforts for regional free trade bloc
13-Dec-2005     Asia Pulse
South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and leaders of the 10 ASEAN countries, Japan and China held a one-day "ASEAN Plus Three Summit" in the Malaysian capital on Monday and adopted a joint statement calling for redoubled efforts for the formation of the so-called East Asia free trade agreement.