A Borderless Asia: Vision for Regional Integration

5 May 2007 (2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.)

Over the last two decades, global and regional economic landscapes have changed extensively. Most Asian economies have substantially liberalized foreign trade and direct investment regimes. The increasing intra-regional trade in Asia, improved physical connectivity, rapid growth of large emerging market economies such as the People's Republic of China (PRC) and India, the spread of vertically integrated production networks, and the export of oil and gas resources from Central Asian economies have brought Asian economies ever closer together. East Asian economies have embarked on several initiatives for economic regionalism in the areas of trade, investment, money, and finance.

Following the crisis in 1997, the region's economies realized the importance of economic cooperation among themselves and the need to institutionalize such interdependence. Currently, there are 192 free trade agreements (FTAs) in Asia that have been concluded, are under negotiation, or are proposed. Initial conditions for greater monetary and financial integration in East Asia have also emerged through regional processes such as the ASEAN Surveillance Process, the ASEAN+3 Economic Review and Policy Dialogue, the Chiang Mai Initiative, and the Asian Bond Markets Initiative. Furthermore, studies are being undertaken on an Asian currency index made up of basket of Asian currencies, to help monitor the collective path of regional currencies in relation to the dollar.

These emerging trends indicate that economic integration is likely to deepen in a number of regions and subregions in Asia and the Pacific. There are proposals to establish a region-wide economic community that promises to create a single, integrated entity in East Asia. This seminar focuses on the issues and challenges of wider and deeper Asian integration.

Specifically, it is expected to cover the roles of regional players, such as PRC, India, Japan, ASEAN and the Central Asian economies; the direction and pace of the Asian integration process; and the possible problems and challenges that lie ahead, particularly those that have considerable implications for ADB's developing member countries.

Panelists will be asked to present their views on the process of Asian integration, including the following topics:

1. The role of ASEAN as the driver of Asian regional economic integration



2. Prospects for consolidating the subregional and bilateral FTAs in Asia into region-wide FTAs



3. Asia's integration with Europe and Central Asia in a Eurasian economic space



4. Legal and institutional hurdles to Asian integration
5. The links between Asian integration and regional macroeconomic and exchange rate stability
6. Complementary domestic policies to support regional integration
7. Lessons for Asian integration from the experience of North America and the European Union
8. Realistic possibilities for Asian regional economic integration in the next decade

Contact Us

For further information, contact Mr. Ganeshan Wignaraja, tel: (63-2) 632-6441, email: gwignaraja@adb.org or Mr. Masato Miyachi, tel: (63-2) 632-6832, email: mmiyachi@adb.org