Asia & Pacific


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


Asean enhances trade in services
Senior officials from Asean member countries are working on the arrangements and adoption of protocol in relation to the trade in services and to ensure the region is fully integrated into global supply chains in goods and services.
APEC ministers: Free trade area study on path to conclusion
Trade ministers from the United States, China and other Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum nations say a study on the proposed "Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific" agreement is on track.
Nepal, United States scheduled to sit for talks next month
The upcoming council meeting will cover raft of issues related to trade and investments. Nepal has been preparing to lure investors from the US by showcasing various projects in hydropower, tourism, industry and service sectors.
Financial fissures weaken ASEAN community
The economic gap between high flyers like Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia and laggards like Laos and Myanmar is too wide to be easily bridged.
Maldives, Hong Kong to establish free trade agreements
Negotiations are underway to establish a free trade agreement between Maldives and Hong Kong.
ASEAN cautiously speeds steps toward financial integration
ASEAN finance officials have adopted a new timeline for integrating financial services across the regional bloc, aiming to tear down market barriers more quickly.
Harmonising IP laws across ASEAN: Is it possible?
The economic integration of the ASEAN Economic Community leads to many challenges in the harmonisation of trade-related laws across ASEAN’s 10 member nations.
Obama to push trade agenda at summit with Southeast Asian nations
A summit between Southeast Asian leaders and President Barack Obama is unlikely to deliver any big economic prizes, but will allow the American side to press the advantages of joining a Pacific trade pact that doesn’t include China.
AEC not so sweet a deal: sugar exporter
The sweet promise that the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) would pave the way for a single market among the 10-member bloc of more than 600 million people at the end of last year has so far excluded sugar exports from Cambodia.
No fanfare as AEC era begins
Southeast Asian nations officially launched an EU-inspired economic bloc aimed at boosting the region’s trading clout and attracting more investment. But analysts said a true single market was still a long way off.

Referenced sites

ABAC

APEC Business Advisory Council is pushing for an FTA among APEC members

ASEAN Briefing

ASEAN Briefing is a platform dedicated to the various and increasing number of trade treaties and agreements throughout the ASEAN region, produced by tax and...

Asia Regional Integration Center

Database of bilateral and plurilateral FTAs with at least one of Asian Development Bank’s 48 regional members as signatory.

Australia-ASEAN-New Zealand FTA

An Australian government webpage on the Australia-ASEAN-New Zealand FTA negotiations, agreed to end 2004 and begun early 2005.

Macau-China FTA

Official website on the Macau-China Closer Economic Partnership Agreement

PANG

The Pacific Network on Globalisation (PANG) plays the role of the Pacific regional “peoples’ watchdog on trade issues”.