Markets matter: the potential of intra-regional trade in ASEAN and its implications for Asian regionalism.

South Africa - 21 November 2017

This paper attempts to shed new light on the prospects of strengthening economic integration in South-East Asia by performing a quantitative assessment of the potential for extending intra-regional trade. It is evident that ASEAN's export space is expanding faster than the world average and that there is still room for ASEAN countries to further develop their intra-regional trade. However, to improve its export potential, ASEAN should liberalise trade not only intra-regionally but also globally. It might be in ASEAN's interests to accelerate the pace of regional integration under frameworks that involve the participation of non-ASEAN countries, using the ASEAN Framework for Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.

Available from: http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/ASEP_a_00510

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