ECIPE-GEM Lunch Seminar: Free Trade Agreements in Asia and the Pacific – Where to Now?

The number of bilateral free trade agreements involving economies in East Asia has surged. Yet their utilisation remains relatively low. In the context of the so-called ‘noodle bowl’ of agreements and its effects on business costs, of slow progress in the WTO, and of the greater focus on barriers to international business which operate ‘behind the border’, economies in the region are now looking for new paths to integration. These include the Trans-PacificPartnership (TPP) and also arrangements with ASEAN at their centre. What are the prospects of these different paths, how do they sit alongside existing regional institutions like APEC and also the WTO process, and what are the implications for trade and investment? These questions are discussed in this talk. Some implications for and opportunities for cooperation with the EU will also be noted.