Asia Regional Integration Center

Regional or international agreements on vaccine passes are still lacking. Current travel bubbles between places with low COVID-19 risks are rare and fragile.

By determining the origin of a product, rules of origin are the plumbing of a free trade agreement. Only goods originating in the RCEP region will be granted duty free or reduced rate of duty when exported to regional partners.

Many Asian migrant workers seem to have withstood the waves of economic hardships, sending home record amounts of money in months following a large slump between April and May 2020.

The COVID-19 pandemic, with its twin health and economic crises, has exposed the vulnerabilities in this financing arrangement. The rapid withdrawal of capital from Asia in the early months of the outbreak is a reminder of the region’s continued dependence on non-resident capital.

Around $164 billion, a majority of the expected income gains from RCEP, are forecast to accrue to Asia, and in particular the People’s Republic of China, Japan and the Republic of Korea – the so called “plus three countries,” which are estimated to gain the lion’s share of the income gains at $156 billion.

Multilateral financial institutions have been quick to respond but they do not operate in a vacuum. They essentially act within the international economic system to boost international development efforts.