1 / 16

Recent progress and Future of the Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA)

Recent progress and Future of the Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA). Regional Training Program on Enhancing Utilization of ASEAN FTA, Trade Negotiation and Trade Policy Development, 31 July 2012, Mekong Institute, Khon Kaen, Thailand. Dr. Joong-Wan Cho

elma
Télécharger la présentation

Recent progress and Future of the Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA)

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Recent progress and Future of the Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA) Regional Training Program on Enhancing Utilization of ASEAN FTA, Trade Negotiation and Trade Policy Development, 31 July 2012, Mekong Institute,Khon Kaen, Thailand Dr. Joong-Wan Cho Chief, Trade Policy Section Trade and Investment Division UNESCAP

  2. APTA: Past and Present

  3. Past and Present of APTA History of APTA • The oldest preferential trade agreement among developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region - Predecessor: Bangkok Agreement(BA), signed in 1975 • China joined in 2001, providing fresh momentum • Renamed to the Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA) in 2005 • Established the Ministerial Council in 2005 • Beijing(Nov 2005) → Goa(Oct 2007) → Seoul(Dec 2009) • Launched the 4th Round of tariff concessions in 2007

  4. Past and Present of APTA Performance of APTA (1) Intra-regional trade share increased by almost 47% over 2003-2009 Source: Compiled from Trade Map, International Trade Centre

  5. Past and Present of APTA Performance of APTA (2) (based on the ‘Pilot Study for China and the Republic of Korea’, 2009) • Utilization rates of APTA (i.e. extent to which concessions are actually used) • increased significantly from the 1st(07-08) to 2nd year(08-09) of implementation of the third round: - Republic of Korea : from 20% to 34% - China : from 25% to 37%

  6. Past and Present of APTA New Momentum since 2007 (the second Ministerial Council) • The 4th Round of Tariff negotiations Aim to: • Widen the preferences to cover at least 40% of the number of tariff lines & average tariff concession of each Participating State; • Cover at least 20-25% of the value of bilateral trade. • Extend into new areas of cooperation • Trade facilitation • Trade in services • Investment • Non-tariff Measures • Revision of rules of Origin • General • Sectoral agreement (Product-Specific Rules of origin) • Expand membership on a priority basis → Mongolia: Formal application in 2009, expected to accede by end-2012. Cambodia, Nepal, Papua New Guinea: Intention of application

  7. Future of APTA

  8. Future of APTA : Potentials Potential of APTA “Huge, but low level of deepening” Pros Cons • The only truly region-wide preferential trade arrangement • Open system with huge market potential • Bridge to other RTAs • Simple and operational • WTO consistent • Low connectivity due to geographical reason • Undeveloped potential • Not “Core” for regional economic integration • Potential barriers for deepening APTA further APTA itself is an evolving Agreement

  9. Future of APTA : Potentials What-to-be of APTA: Evolving paths of APTA FTA for all ESCAP [‘real’ APFTA] No. of Members Trade Agreement For All ESCAP Asia-Pacific FTA APTA Preference Level

  10. ACP Caribbean nation Other Latin America Turkey Former USSR New EU NAFTA + Chile Denmark UK NAFTA EMU MERCOSUR EFTA Australia New Zealand Other Asian Countries ASEAN+6 ASEAN+3 ASEAN /AFTA ROK India APTA China Japan The future of APTA : Potentials No ‘Core’ trade agreement for economic integration in Asia-Pacific Trans-Atlantic cooperation ASEM APEC Tri-polarization of World economy * ASEM: Asia Europe Meeting, APEC: Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation

  11. The future of APTA : Potentials APTA can be the “core” Regional Trade Agreement? • Candidates • % of World GDP: NAFTA 27.2%, EU 25.8% (based on World Economic outlook (IMF, April 2012) & Statistical Year book 2011 of UN ESCAP)

  12. The Future of APTA : Potentials How can APTA be the “core” regional trade agreement? • Consensus on the future direction of APTA & Strategy/Roadmap among Member States - The APTA Secretariat continues to facilitate/coordinate efforts to accelerate regional integration through the APTA mechanism. • Deepening and Widening of APTA - Keep on deepening the tariff preference, expansion of coverage of the Agreement and Membership expansion. • Support from the private sector + Mobilize political support - Regional/national meetings for the business sector of APTA are needed and planned under the above project.

  13. The future of APTA : Potentials Why is the Business sector important for APTA? • Users of APTA - Utilizing the preferences offered under APTA (importers and exporters) • Important stakeholders - Supporters for the further progress of APTA - Low support/awareness and Low Utilization from the business sector => lead to slow evolution of APTA

  14. The future of APTA : Potentials Why the Business Sector is important ? Role of Business Potential Result • Most dynamic economies are APTA members • Strong Platform for South-South cooperation (* Built-in Mechanism of LDCs) • Good candidate for Economic Integration of Asia and Pacific Virtuous Cycle • Raising awareness of Business sector • Increasing Utilization rate of Business sector • Getting more support from Business Sector Progress of APTA Raise Awareness /Support Increase Utilization /interest

  15. The future of APTA : Potentials Awareness-building project (by APTA Secretariat) • For Business sector - A series of National seminars for the APTA business sector in APTA Participating States - Annual meetings of the APTA Business Network (ABN) • For Academia - Regional seminars on APTA among experts from APTA Participating States - Expert Group Meetings • For the Public - Upgrade of the APTA web site (user-friendly site) - National seminars

  16. Thank you! APTA official website: http://www.unescap.org/tid/apta.asp Email of the Secretariat: escap-apta@un.org

More Related