Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
ASEAN Integration Monitoring ReportThe Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a community of more than 600 million people living in ten countries in one of the most dynamic regions of the world. Consistent with this, ASEAN's share of world GDP and world trade has sharply increased over the past decades. In 2003, ASEAN's regional integration agenda was significantly deepened when ASEAN Member States adopted the ambitious goal of forming an ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by 2015. These goals were crystallized in the highly specific targets set for creating a 'single market and production base' in the ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint of 2007, signed by the Heads of the Governments of the ASEAN countries. The focus of the report is on policy and market integration outcomes achieved in ASEAN Member States (AMS) as part of the Pillar One of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) formation process. The aim is to assess progress drawing on evidence from a large range of indicators on policies and outcomes. The report then suggests priorities for future actions for implementing the AEC 2015 goals. This report is based on the inception report presented to and endorsed by the Senior Economic Officials' Meetings of the ASEAN last year and on the presentation on early findings also to the SEOM. The earlier version of this report was also presented to the 45th ASEAN Economic Ministers' Meetings in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam in August 2013. This report is intended to complement the recent mid-term review report by the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA, 2012), which has focused more on progress with agreements and commitments for achieving AEC 2015 goals.
-
Regional Economic Integration in the Middle East and North Africa : Beyond Trade ReformLimited integration has stifled the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region's ability to tap into its significant potential for economic growth and job creation. The MENA region is among the least integrated in the world economy. Although home to 5.5 percent of the world's population (on average for 2008-10) and 3.9 percent of the world's gross domestic product (GDP), the region's share of nonoil world trade is only 1.8 percent. By contrast, countries that have opted for a liberal trade and investment regime most notably in East Asia have experienced a significant increase in trade, employment, and per capita income. If petroleum and gas are taken into consideration, the MENA region is far more integrated in the world economy, with total exports accounting for 6.2 percent of total world trade. Exports of oil and gas represent about three-quarters of MENA's total exports. This study shows that, in spite of commendable reform efforts in recent years, the MENA region continues to face constraints to economic competitiveness in general, and trade barriers in particular. Of critical importance is the need to improve trade-related infrastructure and strengthen trade facilitation activities. Moreover, this study demonstrates that preferential trade agreements (PTAs), though helpful in many respects, do not significantly expand exports. Instead, the focus in must be on opening up to the rest of the world, which may require that individual countries aggressively pursue unilateral liberalization policies. While regional cooperation and integration can bring benefits, these efforts can also pose significant costs if not carried out in a manner that is compatible with broader global integration trends. Finally, while there is reasonable potential to enhance trade in goods, trade in services is a major untapped source of trade growth within the region and between the region and the rest of the world. The main objective of this report is to assess the achievements in, opportunities for, and challenges of deeper regional economic cooperation and integration within the MENA region and between the region and the rest of the world.
-
Financial Services and Preferential
 Trade Agreements : Lessons from Latin AmericaThis book deals with financial
 liberalization issues in the context of trade negotiations.
 The liberalization of trade and investment in financial
 services is only a subset of the broader financial
 liberalization agenda. The purpose of trade and investment
 liberalization is to increase financial market access and
 remove discriminatory and other access-impeding barriers to
 foreign competition. By contrast, the main purpose of
 financial liberalization is to remove distortions in
 domestic financial systems that impede competition and the
 allocation of capital to its most productive and profitable
 uses. In turn, financial liberalization can be divided into
 domestic financial reform and capital account opening, and
 there is a rich literature on its appropriate speed and
 sequencing. The first part of the book covers the
 fundamental principles that affect trade liberalization in
 financial services at both the multilateral and the regional
 levels. It analyzes the various models of preferential trade
 agreements (PTAs) used by negotiators and the architectural
 differences of these models. The second part of this book
 provides concrete examples of how countries have negotiated
 these agreements by focusing on the specific country
 experiences of Chile, Colombia, and Costa Rica. These case
 studies provide the reader with a thorough understanding of
 how countries strategize, negotiate, and implement regional
 trade agreements in financial services.