ASEAN-Canada Forum 2008 / / ed. by ASEAN Studies Centre.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter ISEAS Backlist eBook-Package 2000-2013
• HerausgeberIn: ASEAN Studies Centre, ,
• MitwirkendeR: Austria, Myrna S.,; Ciuriak, Dan,; Davidson, Paul J.,; DeVoretz, Don J.,; Hsu, Locknie,; Severino, Rodolfo C.,; Thanh, Vo Tri,; VanDuzer, J. Anthony,; Whalley, John,; Yue, Chia Siow,
• Place / Publishing House: Singapore : : ISEAS Publishing, , [2010]; ©2010
• Year of Publication: 2010
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (276 p.)

In November 2008, the Regional Economic Studies Programme of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) and the Singapore office of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada organised a forum on “Regional Economic Integration – ASEAN and Canadian Perspectives”. The forum concluded that fundamentally the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) were two different kinds of agreements. First, while NAFTA focused entirely on trade and investments, the scope of AFTA was much broader, going beyond issues of trade and investments alone. Secondly, NAFTA was a lightly institutionalized regional trade agreement. There was no formal policy of institutional or policy development, and it lacked legislative instruments. Although ASEAN had a secretariat, its regional institutions remained weak in comparison to those of the European Union. Thirdly, the dispute-settlement mechanism in ASEAN was different from that of NAFTA. The ASEAN provisions were scattered over a number of documents and covered both economic (trade and investment) issues and other disputes (e.g., political or territorial), while NAFTA provisions were contained in a single document and could be applied only to matters related to trade and investments. Finally, although many studies presented trade liberalisation as a win-win proposition, the distribution of costs and benefits was mostly uneven. In the case of Canada, short-run gains in efficiency from expanded trade could be identified, but it was harder to determine longer-term dynamic gains. On the other hand, in the case of ASEAN, it was still grappling with the issue of the development divide, especially since the admission of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam into the group.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- INTRODUCTION -- I. Regional Economic Integration: ASEAN and Canadian Perspectives -- Summary of the Forum -- II. Background Papers -- 1. AFTA–NAFTA: Trade and Investment Issues -- 2. Trade and Investment Issues in ASEAN Economic Integration -- 3. Institutional Development in ASEAN -- 4. Governance Issues in NAFTA -- 5. Different Approaches to Dispute Resolution under ASEAN -- 6. Dispute Resolution under NAFTA: Evolution and Stagnation -- 7. Winners and Losers in ASEAN Economic Integration: A Perspective from Vietnam -- 8. Winners and Losers in International Economic Integration: The Distributional Effects of NAFTA -- 9. Cross-border Labour Migration in ASEAN: Issues and Challenges -- 10. Labour Market Integration within NAFTA -- Annex I: Programme of the Forum -- Annex II: List of Participants -- Annex III: Rules-based Governance