»»Asian Countries Respond to Global Trade Talks Stall with Proliferation of Free Trade Agreements
Disappointed by the failure of the Doha round, the latest round of talks in the World Trade Organization, the Asian countries increasingly are signing bilateral and regional free trade agreements.
According to the Asian Development Bank, 150 bilateral free trade agreements had either been signed or were under negotiation last year in Asia.
And more than 40 trade deals were either signed or negotiated by groupings of more than two countries. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, for example, aims to abolish tariffs by 2015 under a regional trade deal, and is negotiating agreements with China, Japan, and South Korea.The mushrooming of free trade pacts in the past few years is partly a defensive response to regional trading blocs elsewhere in the world, such as the European Union or the North American Free Trade Agreement. (source)
Bookmark this article!
