ASEAN Australia New Zealand Free Trade Area (AANZFTA)

Course summary ASEAN Australia New Zealand Free Trade Area (AANZFTA):

The 23rd ASEAN-Australia Forum was held in Singapore, on 19 March 2010, with the participation of representatives from Australia, ASEAN Member States and the ASEAN Secretariat. The Forum welcomed the entry into force of the Agreement establishing the ASEAN-Australia and New Zealand Free Trade Area (AANZFTA).

Australia is an important trading partner of ASEAN. The ASEAN total trade with Australia has grown from USD 41.9 billion in 2007 to USD 43.8 billion in 2009. Total Australia Foreign Direct Investment to ASEAN grew from USD 303 million in 2006 to USD 700.9 million in 2009.

The total trade between ASEAN and New Zealand in 2009 was $5.37 billion, an increased from US$ 4.5 billion. On the foreign direct investment (FDI), the inflow from New Zealand to ASEAN Member States was US$ 239 million in 2009, accounting for 0.6% of total FDI in the region.

The AANZFTA Agreement hopes to create a trans-Pacific free trade zone comprising a market of around 600 million people with a combined GDP of US$ 2.7 trillion. The Agreement is the single most comprehensive economic agreement entered into by ASEAN to date.

It covers trade in goods and services (including financial services and telecommunications), investment, electronic commerce, movement of natural persons, intellectual property, competition policy and economic cooperation.

It was the first region-to-region arrangement for ASEAN and the first FTA that Australia and New Zealand have jointly negotiated. The AANZFTA Agreement entered into force on 1 January 2010 and is now being implemented by all Parties (Brunei Darussalam,  Myanmar, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam), except Cambodia, Indonesia and Laos PDR.

Example of the course ASEAN Australia New Zealand Free Trade Area (AANZFTA):

Topic: Globalization and regionalization