(DP 1987-04) Asean Free Trade Area or Improved PTA? What's in a Name?

Abstract

After two decades of ASEAN, there is disappointment over its lack of economic integration along the line of the European community. The paper reviews recent proposals for improving freer trade in ASEAN that have come from private sector groups or non-government organizations. ASEAN itself has drawn up its own scheme for promoting ASEAN trade. The paper argues that the new ASEAN initiatives on trade and investment also attain the free trade aspects of integration. What would make it more acceptable and concrete is that it provides for more systematic interventions and allows for their phase out.