This book reviews progress with regional cooperation and integration in Asia and the Pacific and explores how it can be reshaped to achieve a more resilient, sustainable, and inclusive future. Consisting of papers contributed by renowned scholars and Asian Development Bank staff, the book covers four major areas: public goods, trade and investment, financial cooperation, and regional health cooperation. The book emphasizes how the region can better leverage regional integration to realize its vast potential as well as overcome challenges such as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

Economic ties between Asia and Latin America are growing as a part of a global shift toward more South–South cooperation. Yet trade costs remain high, which may impede future interregional trade and integration. Furthermore, an emerging trans-Pacific trade architecture based on free trade agreements (FTAs) carries risks of a noodle bowl effect. This book examines new frontiers in Asia–Latin America integration through interregional comparative studies in three key areas: trade facilitation, logistics, and infrastructure; production networks, supply chains, and small and medium-sized enterprises; and FTAs. The chapters contributed by Asian, Latin American, and international experts provide new insights on regional integration, impediments, and policy issues.

This book investigates the appropriate relationship between regionalism and multilateralism, with a special reference to recent FTAs in Asia. It is undeniable that past trade multilateralism-regionalism debates centered on the trade-in-goods aspect.

This book presents an analysis of the state of trade facilitation in member countries of the South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) program. It includes country-level studies and identifies four common trade facilitation priorities among SASEC countries: (i) implementation of the Trade Facilitation Agreement and other international conventions; (ii) logistics and infrastructure development, and related regulatory reforms; (iii) coordinated border management; and (iv) institutions and capacity building.

This book is an important contribution to the policy debate on the future of regional integration around the world, and in Asia in particular. The complex linkages between regional integration and regional cooperation, soft and hard integration, trade facilitation and regional infrastructure are all addressed competently in different chapters of this publication, which should be read by all of those concerned with the future of regional integration and cooperation in Asia. Antoni Estevadeordal, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) As we emerge from the worst global economic setback in two generations, the momentum of Asian economies suggests that this region will redefine the geography of trade and growth even more quickly and decisively than expected. Because Asia offers the largest emerging markets, superior growth rates, and new patterns of trade diversification, this region is becoming the leading edge of the global economy for the next generation. This volume addresses the essential issues related to Asian trade and regionalism with intellectual authority and essential timeliness. Brooks and Stone have assembled leading experts, distilled evidence, and synthesized policy lessons on the salient issues and trends that will drive the world s most dynamic economic region. Their book should be a desk reference for policy-makers and leading private sector players who want to respond effectively to the momentous challenges and opportunities presented by the Asian century. David Roland-Holst, University of California, Berkeley, US This insightful book collects empirical analyses and case studies to clarify issues and draw policy recommendations for facilitating greater regional trade through increased cooperation. Asia s rapid development has been heavily dependent on markets external to the region. However, given the unlikely timely recovery of the United States or Europe there is an urgent need to develop domestic and regional markets. While greater integration has long been a regional goal, its importance has never been more pressing. To facilitate trade and promote growth and regional integration, and to counteract declining markets in other regions, Asian countries have announced large expenditures for developing infrastructure. Thus, a look at how investment in regional infrastructure promotes and supports interregional trade growth has never been timelier. While the focus is on informing policy-making in Asia, the findings also have relevance for other regions. The detailed studies in this book will be of particular interest to academic economists, policy-makers, and the broader development community.

This book examines the economic, political and institutional dimensions of pan-Asian integration. With little progress made in the Doha Round, there is heightened interest in deeper regional integration in Asia. The book explores regional patterns of trade and investment and the potential for deeper integration.

The Asia-Pacific region has emerged as a dominant player in trade and will continue to be an influential component of world trade and economics. This book presents an informative outlook on the various regional and trade agreements (RTAs) and their beneficial effects on bilateral trade. In particular, the authors concentrate on India and China, the two major rising powers, and the impact of exchange of information and sharing of resources between these two countries in wide-ranging areas. It provides an incisive analysis and a roundup of all major RTAs and also presents an overview of all major agreements between the countries involved, which might propel their trade numbers and influence future economic engagements. The book also discusses possible obstacles that are encountered during the implementation of RTAs and circumvention routes that can be taken to ensure the successful execution of the agreements. International trade agreements, such as General Agreements on Trade and Tariffs, which have revolutionized the trade dynamics by opening up new areas of trade and formulating specific guidelines for the member countries to adhere to during trade negotiations, are discussed. The book also provides new insights into some of the issues under negotiation, such as sensitive lists, trade, investment cooperation, and trade in services. The existing economic cooperation arrangements in the region as well as those that are at various stages of study and negotiations, empirical insights and policy suggestions are elucidated in detail.

This report analyzes how closer regional connectivity and economic integration between South Asia and Southeast Asia can benefit both regions, with a focus on the role played by infrastructure and public policies in facilitating this process. It examines major developments in South Asian–Southeast Asian trade and investment, economic cooperation, the role of economic corridors, and regional cooperation initiatives. In particular, it identifies significant opportunities for strengthening these integration efforts as a result of the recent opening up of Myanmar in political, economic, and financial terms. This is particularly the case for land-based transportation—highways and railroads—and energy trading. The report’s focus is on connectivity in a broad sense, covering both hardware and software, including investment in infrastructure, energy trading, trade facilitation, investment financing, and support for national and regional policies.

The Asian Development Bank, under the South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation program, is helping Maldives implement a robust domestic and regional trade system. This integrated trade network facilitates seamless movement of goods and documents, across organizational and national boundaries, and will vastly improve the business environment and overall economic activity. This publication outlines key blockchain use cases recommended for implementation in Maldives for trade facilitation. A feasibility study conducted from April to July 2019 established the use cases of blockchain technology to facilitate cross-border trade and improve operational performance of domestic trade processes in Maldives.

Asia has witnessed a proliferation of free trade agreements (FTAs) since the turn of the millennium. The first regional agreement — the ASEAN FTA — was transformed into the ASEAN Economic Community at the end of 2015. In the meantime, ASEAN forged five ASEAN+1 FTAs and began to negotiate a sixteen-member Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement. In parallel, the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), supporting U.S. foreign policy of “Pivot to Asia”, was broadly agreed in October 2015. The RCEP and the TPP are accompanied by other mega-regional integration processes developing elsewhere in the world, including the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership for the European Union and the United States, and the Pacific Alliance among four Latin American member states. Meanwhile, APEC is also striving to meet its Bogor Goal targets and create a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific. Each of these mega-regionals aims to achieve greater trade and investment liberalization and facilitation and more harmonized trade and investment rules so that all member economies can participate in the global value chain of production. Instead of undermining, these regional exercises can be building blocks for a more liberal global trading system supported by the World Trade Organization. This book ruminates on these regional agreements, their economic and strategic rationales and challenges during negotiations and afterwards. The book brings together eminent scholars and experts to deepen our understanding of the complex nature of the mega-regional trade agreements and their implications. It is useful both for the academic and research community and for policymakers who focus on trade and economic cooperation issues.