Asia Pacific Region Free Trade Agreements FTA RTA

Course summary (Asia Pacific Region Free Trade Agreements FTA RTA)

Convergences and Divergences in APEC © RTAs/FTAs. Market Access Provisions in the Region. Technical Barriers to Trade

APEC © recognises the important role Regional Trading Agreements (RTAs) and Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) can play in trade liberalisation in the Asia Pacific Region region. Accelerating regional economic integration (REI) remains a priority.

APEC © was followed by the 1992 establishment of the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (AFTA). Today, however, many Asian economies—first and foremost Singapore, South Korea, Japan, and China -have also set out to pursue bilateral agreements both within and beyond the region.

Singapore has been Asia’s integrator juggernaut par excellence, having concluded 13 FTAs. Some of the regional economies’ bilateral agreements include the Japan-Philippines, Japan-Thailand, Japan-Singapore, and Japan-Malaysia, China-Hong Kong, China, Korea-Singapore, and New Zealand-Thailand FTAs. Further negotiations are being pursued for China-Singapore and Japan-Vietnam FTAs, among others.

Members in Asia and the Americas have also formed agreements across the Pacific. In 2003, South Korea and Chile signed Korea’s first comprehensive bilateral FTA, and in 2005, Brunei Darussalam, New Zealand, and Singapore concluded negotiations for a four-partite FTA with Chile. An FTA between China and Chile—China’s first extra-regional FTA—went into effect in October 2006. The Mexico-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), Japan’s first extra-regional free trade agreement, took effect in 2005. In September 2007, Japan-Chile EPA entered into force.

Singapore and the United States reached one of the first agreements of Singapore’s now extensive network of FTAs in 2003, and the US-Australia FTA entered into force in 2005. The same year, Peru and Thailand signed a bilateral FTA. Panama concluded FTA negotiations also with Singapore in 2006, and Peru and Singapore finalized talks in 2008. Trans-Pacific agreements are poised to expand: the United States has concluded negotiations with Korea, and is amid negotiations with Malaysia and Thailand, while Malaysia and Chile are pursuing negotiations.

There have also been plurilateral FTA initiatives in the Asia-Pacific region. China has entered into an FTA with ASEAN, and the chapter on trade in goods of the ASEAN-Korea FTA (AKFTA) entered into force in June 2007. Agreement between Japan and ASEAN was signed in April 2008. Further ASEAN plurilateral initiatives include a proposal for an ASEAN-India economic partnership, and a recent decision to convert the long-standing trade cooperation between ASEAN and Australia and New Zealand into a genuine FTA. China is currently negotiating with Australia and New Zealand.

Example of the course APEC © Free Trade Agreements (FTA) and Regional Trading Agreements (RTA):

Mains RTAs/FTAs:
1- Australia - New Zealand
2- Peru - Mexico
3- Australia - Papua New Guinea
4- ASEAN
5- NAFTA
6- Canada - Chile FTA
7- Chile - Mexico
8- Singapore - New Zealand (FTA)
9- Singapore - Australia (SAFTA)
10- Singapore - Japan (JSEPA FTA)
11- ASEAN - China
12- Australia - US
13- Mexico - Japan
14- Chile - US
15- US - Singapore FTA
16- South Korea - Chile FTA
17- China - Hong Kong, China
18- Japan - Malaysia
19- Japan - Thailand
20- Singapore - Korea (KSFTA)
21- P4
22- Australia - Thailand
23- New Zealand - Thailand
24- US - Peru TPA
25- Chile - China
26- Japan - Philippines
27- Chile - Peru
28- Peru - Thailand
29- Chile - Japan
30- Korea - US
Australia - Chile FTA

 Indonesia, Russian Federation, Taiwan. Economy, Trade and Investment -  Telecommunications and Information ICT - TPP - PECC

Other FTAs: Singapore - Jordan (SJFTA), Singapore - Panama (PSFTA)

Source: APEC ©

Topic: Globalization and regionalization