Asia Regional Integration Center

Mitsuyo Ando, Antoni Estevadeordal and Christian Volpe Martincus explore the relationships between preferential and multilateral trade liberalizations in Latin America at both the aggregate and sectoral levels. They find that while regional trade liberalization has a complementary effect on multilateral trade liberalization in general, the effects seem to vary across sectors, depending on specific country-sector characteristics such as import demand elasticities and revealed comparative advantages. Read more.

This reference book aims to support the implementation of trade facilitation measures and reforms in Asia and the Pacific. It attempts to bridge the gaps among policy makers, practitioners, and economists by outlining operational guidance on how to assess the status of trade facilitation, what measures and reforms are necessary, and how to implement them at national and regional levels. Download latest copy.

ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda addressed a conference on Asian Architecture and Global Governance on 29 October 2009 at the ADB Headquarters. He encouraged participants to come up with concrete recommendations for improving global governance and strengthening the regional financial architecture. Read the President's speech. See agenda.

Peter Warr, Jayant Menon and Arief Anshory Yusuf analyze economic impacts of the Second Mekong International Bridge linking Mukdahan Province in Thailand with Savannakhet Province in Lao PDR and find that reductions in transport costs increase trade volumes and incomes in both regions. Read more.

Warwick McKibbin and Waranya Pim Chanthapun examine the impacts of a global financial crisis on the Asia and Pacific region and find that under the current regime, adjustment is substantial  but quite different from the 1997/98 Asian financial crisis because of the global nature of the current crisis. Read more.    

Growing corporate issuance along with government funding for economic stimulus packages drove growth in emerging East Asia's local currency bond markets in the first half of 2009, says the latest edition of the Asia Bond Monitor. Local bond markets have emerged as a key source of finance for companies in these volatile times, but they remain dominated by state-owned entities, infrastructure companies and banks. Download report.

In this paper, Chee Sung Lee and Cyn-Young Park propose measures to address the gaps and weaknesses in emerging Asia's financial regulatory and supervisory systems based on lessons drawn from the global crisis.

With the current impasse in the WTO Doha Round, free trade agreements (FTAs) have become Asia's main trade policy instrument. This has sparked concerns about the negative effects of Asian FTAs including the "noodle bowl problem". This study by Masahiro Kawai and Ganeshan Wignaraja examines the challenges posed by Asian FTAs and provides a pragmatic approach to minimizing their costs while maximizing their benefits. A bottom-up approach to a Doha Round Agreement emerges from the paper. Read more.