A Comparative Evaluation and Prognosis of Asia Pacific Bilateral and Regional Trade Arrangements

This paper provides an evaluation of the growing regional and bilateral trade arrangements in Asia and discusses some plausible scenarios for Asian regionalism. Changes in international relations, information communications technology, the knowledge-based economy and deregulation have altered trade modalities in the international political economy. The ‘new regionalism’ activities in Asia appear to be a response to these international developments and to be complementary to WTO-managed trade liberalisation.