Asia Regional Integration Center

Hong Kong and New Zealand signed on 29 March 2010 the Hong Kong, China - New Zealand Closer Economic Partnership Agreement (CEP Agreement). This is Hong Kong's first free trade agreement with a foreign economy. The CEP Agreement will implement liberalisation measures on both trade in goods and services. It will also facilitate investment flows and movement of business persons between the two economies. The CEP Agreement is expected to come into force in the last quarter of 2010.  Read the official press release of Hong Kong, China and New Zealand. Follow New Zealand-Hong Kong CEP Agreement on ARIC's website (resources include legal documents, studies and research, news, and more).  

The latest quarterly edition shows the value of Asia's local currency bond markets expanded 16.5% to $4.4 trillion in 2009, with the corporate bond market expanding much faster than the government market. The main driver of regional growth was the rapid expansion in markets in Hong Kong, China; Thailand; and Indonesia. Further market expansion is expected this year as economic recovery continues and companies see the local currency bond market as an alternative funding source. Read full report. See news release.

Lotte Schou-Zibell, Jose Ramon Albert and Lei Lei Song describe concepts and tools behind macroprudential monitoring, and the growing importance of macroprudential tools for assessing the stability of financial systems. Using data from selected developing economies in Asia, South America, and Europe, as well as selected economies from the developed world, they also estimate panel regressions to quantify the impacts of the major influences on key financial soundness indicators, including capital adequacy, asset quality, and earnings and profitability. Read more.

President Kuroda on Wednesday delivered the keynote speech before a distinguished panel of economists at the "Future Global Reserve System - an Asian Perspective", jointly organized by OREI, ADBI, and Columbia University's Earth Institute. The President later gave a luncheon briefing to international media on "Economic Prospects and Challenges for Developing Asia" at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan.

While economic cooperation and trade liberalization in South Asia has deepened, intraregional trade remains modest and the private sector continues to face numerous constraints. This ADB-FICCI joint report articulates five key challenges facing business and their solutions for enhancing private-sector led integration in the region. The report follows the November 2009 Conference on "Harnessing Business Opportunities for South Asian Economic Integration" in New Delhi organized by ADB, FICCI, India's Ministry of External Affairs, and SAARC. Download the report.

Claudio Loser, Miguel Kiguel and David Mermelstein develop a methodological framework to help bank supervisors anticipate eventual problems and take mitigating actions at an early stage. They develop a proposal applicable to banking systems as a whole in order to support systemic monitoring and propose a particular methodology for the early detection of problems facing individual entities in order to facilitate preventive actions and avoid eventual contagion risks. Read more.  

The Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities (CAI-Asia) launches Clean Air Portal — a website containing data and information on air quality, climate change co-benefits, energy, and transport. Through the portal, policymakers, practitioners, and the public can join online discussion and get updates on projects and events of the CAI-Asia and related organizations. The CAI-Asia comprises country networks including China, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Viet Nam, the CAI-Asia Center and over 170 organizational members. Visit the portal. Know more about CAI-Asia.

The spread of regional and bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) in the Asia and Pacific region continues to gain momentum. From 54 FTAs in 2000, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has identified 221 bilateral and plurilateral FTAs as of January 2010. Of these, 88 are in effect, 24 are signed, 60 are under negotiation, and 49 are in the proposal stage. ADB’s FTA database classifies FTAs by geographic area, scope, and status of notification to the World Trade Organization (WTO). East Asian and Southeast Asian countries continue to lead the region in FTA formation. Follow FTA Trends at the ARIC website. Click here for more resources on FTAs.