A growing number of trade agreements incorporate provisions that address sustainable development concerns, such as respect and promotion of labour standards, environmental protection, human rights and public health. This handbook, prepared by Paul R. Baker, analyses the enforceability framework around different uses of the term “sustainability” in the core sustainable development provisions. Overall, the presence of environmental, labour and human rights provisions in intra-Asia Pacific RTAs is scarce. The handbook also provides guidance on how to negotiate sustainability and cooperation provisions in RTAs with the aim of assisting developing countries to foster the benefits that such agreements offer in terms of sustainable and inclusive development through further economic and social development, improved market access and further development of productive and supply capacity.

For the full text of the publication please visit here. 

This paper explores the economic implications of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) – Asia’s largest trade agreement - on India and Sri Lanka. The findings from existing model-based studies suggest that India, as an insider economy, will potentially gain from the RCEP while outsider economy Sri Lanka will likely loose. India faces challenges in the RCEP negotiations in liberalizing goods and services trade and adopting new intellectual property rules. Building business competitiveness and policy reforms can mitigate these challenges. Sri Lanka is banking on its recent FTA with Singapore as a stepping stone to the RCEP. But both Singapore and Sri Lanka need to do more to ensure that the benefits flow to Sri Lanka. Key issues include Singaporean support for Sri Lanka to join the RCEP, increasing ASEAN FDI to Sri Lanka, addressing the bilateral trade deficit and improving stakeholder consultations on FTAs in Sri Lanka.

For the full paper by Ganeshan Wignaraja please visit here. 

ARTNeT on STI Policy is the knowledge platform on science, technology & innovation policy for sustainable development. It is a platform to share findings of academic research & their policy implications, reflect on current STI policy issues, and support research in developing countries to inform STI policies for researchers & policymakers in Asia-Pacific.

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This workshop co-organised with our member ITD aimed at building the capacity of government officials on implementing trade facilitation and paperless trade initiatives and enabling them to more effectively support or participate in the work of National Committees on Trade Facilitation or related inter-agency bodies. The workshop, attended by more than 30 participants from more than 20 Asia-Pacific countries, presented an update on the state of implementation of key trade facilitation and paperless trade measures in the region. Many key measures and instruments on trade facilitation were introduced, including the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement and the new Framework Agreement on the Facilitation of Cross-Border Paperless Trade in Asia and the Pacific. On practical implementation, participants learnt how to conduct a Business Process Analysis (BPA) project to simplify trade procedures and learnt about emerging topics on trade facilitation in the context of logistics management, gender specific dimensions of trade facilitation and e-commerce technical issues.

For more information and the presentation please visit here.

On 2 October, UN Environment and our partner WTO will co-host a high-level event titled, “Making Trade Work for the Environment, Prosperity and Resilience,” within the context of the WTO’s Public Forum, this year centered on “Trade 2030”. Hosted by UN Environment Executive Director, Erik Solheim, and World Trade Organization Director-General, Roberto Azevêdo, the dialogue will call for actions from countries, civil society and the private sector to bring trade into closer alignment with a healthier, sustainable, resilient and prosperous world.

The event will feature a high-level segment, multistakeholder discussions on themes such as subsidies and the circular economy, an exhibition and a leadership dialogue. In this context, the two organizations will also launch a new, joint publication under the same theme, providing an analysis of trade’s role in ensuring a healthy environment and in promoting prosperity and resilience.

For more information please visit here. 

The conference aims to stimulate research ideas among academic researchers and policy makers around the world. In particular, it will provide a framework for future analysis and monitoring to ensure a strong, sustainable, and resilient financial system as innovations in financial services evolve. ADBI will cover registration, flight, and hotel costs for one presenter of every accepted paper, who must be a citizen of an ADB member country. Papers presented at the conference will be considered for circulation as ADBI working papers, for dual submission to the Journal of Financial Markets (JFM), or for publication as part of a book.

For more information please visit here. 

Our partner, APEC PSU improves the quality of APEC’s 21-member economies’ deliberations and decisions by providing professional and tailor-made research, analysis and evidence-based policy suggestions. An opportunity now exists for a highly-motivated, methodical and analytical professional to contribute to the APEC policy process.

For more information please visit here. 

PEP is looking for a qualified Resource Mobilization Manager to join the PEP Global Secretariat in Nairobi, Kenya, to support the organization's planning, development and management of resource mobilization activities.

For more information please visit here. 

This paper looks at the patterns, trends, and existing barriers in the trade of environmental goods and services (EGS) in South Asia. It also looks at the state of green growth in the region, with particular emphasis on carbon dioxide emission and energy supply and consumption pattern, to deduce whether the trade of EGS has been happening at a level conducive to promoting green growth.

For the full paper from our member SAWTEE please visit here. 

This paper examines China and India’s economic engagements at the bilateral, plurilateral and multilateral levels. The evaluation is made in the context of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the mega-regional trade agreement in the east in which both nations are parties. The paper argues that irrespective of the nature of the two countries’ relationship, at its core is not cooperation, but mutual mistrust aggravated by China’s perceived “market imperialistic” predatory behaviour and India’s “protectionism”. The paper ponders the likelihood of India entering into a regional trade agreement such as the RCEP.

For the full publication please visit here. 

The rise of China, emergence of India and expansion of other economies in Asia are dramatically changing the Indo-Pacific maritime space. Technological advancements are making our accessibility to resources in, and access to oceans for political, economic and strategic purposes much easier than before. Amidst rising political and other uncertainties and the apparent threats to the ecology of the world’s oceans, there is growing attention among policymakers and researchers towards the management and governance of the oceans. Maritime Governance in South Asia is a timely book. This volume is an outcome of a conference organised by the Institute of South Asian Studies, an autonomous think tank at the National University of Singapore and an institutional member of ARTNeT.

For the full publication by Rajeev Ranjan Chaturvedy please visit here. 

Dr. Radika Kumar is a Lecturer in our member, School of  Economics University of the South Pacific Suva, Fiji. She has been joining the UNCTAD/ESCAP- ARTNeT Capacity Building Workshop on “Non-Tariff Measures: economic assessment and policy options for development” on 3-6 July 2018, where she learnt NTM quantitative assessments. She is now using all the information provided in the workship including the databases and teaching students at the University at 300 level on International Economics. This has enriched students as well as teaching assistants' learning experience and built their capacity greatly by accessing the new data and analytic tools and methods. 

ARTNeT secretariat congratulates our former consultant Lars Engen, who has recently moved to Uganda to assume a consultancy position for ODI’s Budget Strengthening Initiative. The program provides technical assistance to Uganda’s Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, in particular towards their fiscal decentralization reforms. Since his time at ESCAP, Lars conducted research on Labour Provisions in Asia-Pacific Free Trade Agreements. His recent co-authored ODI publication A Guide to Multilateral Development Banks, which compares 25 MDBs across a number of indicators on finances, mandates, governance and membership, instruments, activities and more.

Ms. Mengjing Kong was a former intern working with ESCAP TIID and ARTNeT. Her co-authored working paper 'Digital Trade Facilitation: Paperless Trade in Regional Trade Agreements' with Dr. Yann Duval and has been published with ADB Institute. She is now working as junior legal analyst at WTO. Mengjing will start her JSD (PhD in Law) studies at New York University School of Law on September 2018. Her research interest focuses on international trade law, investment arbitration, and international financial institutions.

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The ARTNeT Secretariat welcomes submissions of policy briefs, working papers, book reports, research reports, and book reviews by ARTNeT members, partners and collaborators. For any submission to be considered, the editorial 'Guidelines for Submissions to the ARTNeT Working Papers Series' must be adhered to.

If you are an ARTNeT member, partner or collaborator and would like to publicise your publications, research or events in the next newsletter, please e-mail us at artnetontrade@un.org.