Asia Regional Integration Center

Masahiro Kawai (Dean, ADBI) and Ganeshan Wignaraja (Senior Trade Economist, ADB) write on patterns and effects of FTAs in East Asia. They conclude that consolidation of multiple and overlapping FTAs into a single East Asian FTA could help mitigate the harmful “noodle bowl” effects of different rules of origin and standards and that consolidation at the ASEAN+6 level would yield the largest gains to East Asia—while the losses to non-members would be relatively small. Read more. 

The Asian Development Bank, in partnership with the World Trade Organization and the Philippine Government, will host a high-level dialogue on Aid for Trade (AfT) 19-20 September. For more information, please see the press release and visit the AfT website.

The July AEM includes theme chapters on managing capital inflows in emerging East Asia and on the region's banking systems 10 years after the crisis. AEM says emerging East Asian economies will continue strong growth in 2007 and 2008. Read more.

T.N. Srinivasan, Professor of Economics at Yale University gave a talk on economic reform and growth processes in the two countries with focus on the opening of the external sector, which largely explains their differential performance, and the importance of delivering the vision of inclusive growth. View the paper and the presentation for more.

As an integral part of ADB’s regional cooperation and integration (RCI) strategy, the Office of Regional Economic Integration (OREI) launched its 2nd batch training course on designing, negotiating, and implementing free trade agreements (FTAs). The program aims to enhance capacity of selected Asian developing member countries (DMCs) involved in FTAs. A total of 31 DMC trade officials from Asia and the Pacific will attend the course which covers topics on trade databases and models, various coverage of FTA, and strategies for FTA negotiations and implementation. More

A high-level dialogue among finance and trade ministers, senior donor representatives, and key private-sector actors to focus on trade-related capacity and infrastructure challenges in Asia and the Pacific, and to set out priorities for future action. Co-hosted by the Philippine Government, ADB, and WTO, in cooperation with the World Bank, the meeting will be a key part of the international effort to mobilize more - and better - Aid for Trade in the region. Read more.

OREI's Pradumna B. Rana and Ganeshan Wignaraja presented the findings of the RETA study on economic cooperation between East Asia and South Asia, which include: 1) growing evidence of deepening integration, driven by interdependence between PRC and India; 2) inclusion of South Asia in a broad cross-regional FTA will bring gains to both East Asia and South Asia; and 3) integration between East Asia and South Asia will have limited impact on the rest of the world. View the PowerPoint presentation.

Pradumna B. Rana, Senior Advisor of ADB’s Office of Regional Economic Integration (OREI), examines whether increasing trade intensity among East Asian countries has led to a synchronization of business cycles. He finds that intra-industry trade is the major factor explaining business cycle co-movements in East Asia. This finding suggests that there is a potential for further enhancing integration in the region. Read more.