Asia Regional Integration Center

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.

At the latest Seminar Series on Regional Economic Integration chaired by Jong-Wha Lee, Head of ADB’s Office of Regional Economic Integration, John Hancock, Secretary of the WTO Task Force on Aid for Trade, noted that "aid for trade is fast rising to the top of the international development agenda today. It is a catalyst for capacity building, infrastructure development, policy reform, and mobilizing private investment - all with the goal of connecting developing countries to a dynamic global economy. Regional development banks are a key link in this process".

President Kuroda opened the 40th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors in Kyoto yesterday, 6 May 2007, with the message that abundant opportunity and widely shared prosperity in Asia and the Pacific is achievable. Read his address and news release. President Kuroda also delivered the opening remarks at the Seminar on Emerging Asian Regionalism: Ten Years After the Crisis, 4 May 2007.   

Duo Qin of the University of London and others examine empirically the dynamic process of regional market integration in 12 Asian economies using a new time series econometric modeling approach. It provides evidence for using prices in goods and capital markets as a proxy for regional integration in Asia. Read more.

Michael Plummer of Johns Hopkins University, Italy and OREI's Ganeshan Wignaraja examine the growth of regional initiatives in money and trade in Asia, the sequencing of such initiatives, and future prospects. They conclude that the post-sequencing of economic integration in Asia is developing such that trade agreements will ultimately complement the movement toward financial and monetary integration. Read more.