Trade facilitation measures in South Asian FTAs : an overview of initiatives and policy approaches
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Chaturvedi, Sachin
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RT Generic T1 Trade facilitation measures in South Asian FTAs : an overview of initiatives and policy approaches A1 Chaturvedi, Sachin YR 2007 LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12870/1423 PB United Nations AB Several South Asian countries have joined the current wave of bilateral and sub-regional free trade agreements (FTA) in the region. The dynamics of regional cooperation is supported by the rapid economic expansion which is creating complementarities for trade expansion. The economic expansion in South Asia has shown divergence in performance. The number of FTAs has gone to as high as 23 in the region of which one is a sub-regional trade grouping (BIMST-EC) and one regional trade agreement (SAFTA) while there are 21 bilateral trade agreements in the region. One of the other interesting feature in the South Asian trade has been the presence of informal channels (or unofficial) nature of trade transactions which is estimated to be somewhere around US $3 billion. The informal trade takes place through different countries like Singapore, Sri Lanka and Dubai. Though the intra-regional trade has expanded over the years but is far below its potential as not enough attention is being paid on the launching of trade facilitation (TF) measures. In this paper we have made an effort to take a stock of various FTAs in South Asia from the point of view of incorporation of TF measures in the text of FTAs. We also look into the individual initiatives being made by the South Asian countries for advancement of trade facilitation especially in context of Articles V, VIII and X. In the context of intra-regional trade in South Asia infrastructural constraints at the land custom stations, under the Article V, is the major challenge to be addressed. The current text of FTAs are not very assuring in this regard. As the paper shows not enough is being attempted to overcome TF related constraints. Except in Indo-Singapore FTA, which later graduated to comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) not many FTAs have detailed provisions for capacity building and for measures related to infrastructure development. Regional cooperation may help some of these objectives as is being attempted through SAARC but the pace of those initiatives would have to be enhanced. OL English(30) TY - GEN T1 - Trade facilitation measures in South Asian FTAs : an overview of initiatives and policy approaches AU - Chaturvedi, Sachin Y1 - 2007 UR - https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12870/1423 PB - United Nations AB - Several South Asian countries have joined the current wave of bilateral and sub-regional free trade agreements (FTA) in the region. The dynamics of regional cooperation is supported by the rapid economic expansion which is creating complementarities for trade expansion. The economic expansion in South Asia has shown divergence in performance. The number of FTAs has gone to as high as 23 in the region of which one is a sub-regional trade grouping (BIMST-EC) and one regional trade agreement (SAFTA) while there are 21 bilateral trade agreements in the region. One of the other interesting feature in the South Asian trade has been the presence of informal channels (or unofficial) nature of trade transactions which is estimated to be somewhere around US $3 billion. The informal trade takes place through different countries like Singapore, Sri Lanka and Dubai. Though the intra-regional trade has expanded over the years but is far below its potential as not enough attention is being paid on the launching of trade facilitation (TF) measures. In this paper we have made an effort to take a stock of various FTAs in South Asia from the point of view of incorporation of TF measures in the text of FTAs. We also look into the individual initiatives being made by the South Asian countries for advancement of trade facilitation especially in context of Articles V, VIII and X. In the context of intra-regional trade in South Asia infrastructural constraints at the land custom stations, under the Article V, is the major challenge to be addressed. The current text of FTAs are not very assuring in this regard. As the paper shows not enough is being attempted to overcome TF related constraints. Except in Indo-Singapore FTA, which later graduated to comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) not many FTAs have detailed provisions for capacity building and for measures related to infrastructure development. Regional cooperation may help some of these objectives as is being attempted through SAARC but the pace of those initiatives would have to be enhanced. @misc{20.500.12870_1423 author = {Chaturvedi, Sachin}, title = {Trade facilitation measures in South Asian FTAs : an overview of initiatives and policy approaches}, year = {2007}, abstract = {Several South Asian countries have joined the current wave of bilateral and sub-regional free trade agreements (FTA) in the region. The dynamics of regional cooperation is supported by the rapid economic expansion which is creating complementarities for trade expansion. The economic expansion in South Asia has shown divergence in performance. The number of FTAs has gone to as high as 23 in the region of which one is a sub-regional trade grouping (BIMST-EC) and one regional trade agreement (SAFTA) while there are 21 bilateral trade agreements in the region. One of the other interesting feature in the South Asian trade has been the presence of informal channels (or unofficial) nature of trade transactions which is estimated to be somewhere around US $3 billion. The informal trade takes place through different countries like Singapore, Sri Lanka and Dubai. Though the intra-regional trade has expanded over the years but is far below its potential as not enough attention is being paid on the launching of trade facilitation (TF) measures. In this paper we have made an effort to take a stock of various FTAs in South Asia from the point of view of incorporation of TF measures in the text of FTAs. We also look into the individual initiatives being made by the South Asian countries for advancement of trade facilitation especially in context of Articles V, VIII and X. In the context of intra-regional trade in South Asia infrastructural constraints at the land custom stations, under the Article V, is the major challenge to be addressed. The current text of FTAs are not very assuring in this regard. As the paper shows not enough is being attempted to overcome TF related constraints. Except in Indo-Singapore FTA, which later graduated to comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) not many FTAs have detailed provisions for capacity building and for measures related to infrastructure development. Regional cooperation may help some of these objectives as is being attempted through SAARC but the pace of those initiatives would have to be enhanced.}, url = {https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12870/1423} } @misc{20.500.12870_1423 author = {Chaturvedi, Sachin}, title = {Trade facilitation measures in South Asian FTAs : an overview of initiatives and policy approaches}, year = {2007}, abstract = {Several South Asian countries have joined the current wave of bilateral and sub-regional free trade agreements (FTA) in the region. The dynamics of regional cooperation is supported by the rapid economic expansion which is creating complementarities for trade expansion. The economic expansion in South Asia has shown divergence in performance. The number of FTAs has gone to as high as 23 in the region of which one is a sub-regional trade grouping (BIMST-EC) and one regional trade agreement (SAFTA) while there are 21 bilateral trade agreements in the region. One of the other interesting feature in the South Asian trade has been the presence of informal channels (or unofficial) nature of trade transactions which is estimated to be somewhere around US $3 billion. The informal trade takes place through different countries like Singapore, Sri Lanka and Dubai. Though the intra-regional trade has expanded over the years but is far below its potential as not enough attention is being paid on the launching of trade facilitation (TF) measures. In this paper we have made an effort to take a stock of various FTAs in South Asia from the point of view of incorporation of TF measures in the text of FTAs. We also look into the individual initiatives being made by the South Asian countries for advancement of trade facilitation especially in context of Articles V, VIII and X. In the context of intra-regional trade in South Asia infrastructural constraints at the land custom stations, under the Article V, is the major challenge to be addressed. The current text of FTAs are not very assuring in this regard. As the paper shows not enough is being attempted to overcome TF related constraints. Except in Indo-Singapore FTA, which later graduated to comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) not many FTAs have detailed provisions for capacity building and for measures related to infrastructure development. Regional cooperation may help some of these objectives as is being attempted through SAARC but the pace of those initiatives would have to be enhanced.}, url = {https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12870/1423} } TY - GEN T1 - Trade facilitation measures in South Asian FTAs : an overview of initiatives and policy approaches AU - Chaturvedi, Sachin UR - https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12870/1423 PB - United Nations AB - Several South Asian countries have joined the current wave of bilateral and sub-regional free trade agreements (FTA) in the region. The dynamics of regional cooperation is supported by the rapid economic expansion which is creating complementarities for trade expansion. The economic expansion in South Asia has shown divergence in performance. The number of FTAs has gone to as high as 23 in the region of which one is a sub-regional trade grouping (BIMST-EC) and one regional trade agreement (SAFTA) while there are 21 bilateral trade agreements in the region. One of the other interesting feature in the South Asian trade has been the presence of informal channels (or unofficial) nature of trade transactions which is estimated to be somewhere around US $3 billion. The informal trade takes place through different countries like Singapore, Sri Lanka and Dubai. Though the intra-regional trade has expanded over the years but is far below its potential as not enough attention is being paid on the launching of trade facilitation (TF) measures. In this paper we have made an effort to take a stock of various FTAs in South Asia from the point of view of incorporation of TF measures in the text of FTAs. We also look into the individual initiatives being made by the South Asian countries for advancement of trade facilitation especially in context of Articles V, VIII and X. In the context of intra-regional trade in South Asia infrastructural constraints at the land custom stations, under the Article V, is the major challenge to be addressed. The current text of FTAs are not very assuring in this regard. As the paper shows not enough is being attempted to overcome TF related constraints. Except in Indo-Singapore FTA, which later graduated to comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) not many FTAs have detailed provisions for capacity building and for measures related to infrastructure development. Regional cooperation may help some of these objectives as is being attempted through SAARC but the pace of those initiatives would have to be enhanced.Metadata
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ARTNeT Working Paper
No. 28, January 2007
No. 28, January 2007
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Abstract
Several South Asian countries have joined the current wave of bilateral and sub-regional free trade agreements (FTA) in the region. The dynamics of regional cooperation is supported by the rapid economic expansion which is creating complementarities for trade expansion. The economic expansion in South Asia has shown divergence in performance. The number of FTAs has gone to as high as 23 in the region of which one is a sub-regional trade grouping (BIMST-EC) and one regional trade agreement (SAFTA) while there are 21 bilateral trade agreements in the region. One of the other interesting feature in the South Asian trade has been the presence of informal channels (or unofficial) nature of trade transactions which is estimated to be somewhere around US $3 billion. The informal trade takes place through different countries like Singapore, Sri Lanka and Dubai. Though the intra-regional trade has expanded over the years but is far below its potential as not enough attention is being paid on the launching of trade facilitation (TF) measures. In this paper we have made an effort to take a stock of various FTAs in South Asia from the point of view of incorporation of TF measures in the text of FTAs. We also look into the individual initiatives being made by the South Asian countries for advancement of trade facilitation especially in context of Articles V, VIII and X. In the context of intra-regional trade in South Asia infrastructural constraints at the land custom stations, under the Article V, is the major challenge to be addressed. The current text of FTAs are not very assuring in this regard. As the paper shows not enough is being attempted to overcome TF related constraints. Except in Indo-Singapore FTA, which later graduated to comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) not many FTAs have detailed provisions for capacity building and for measures related to infrastructure development. Regional cooperation may help some of these objectives as is being attempted through SAARC but the pace of those initiatives would have to be enhanced.