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Business Responses to Free Trade Agreements in Asia - Parallel session at the 16th Conference of Montreal: Innovating to Succeed in a New Global Market
Background
The Conference of Montreal, founded 15 years ago, is committed to enhance the knowledge and awareness of the major issues of economic globalization, with a particular emphasis upon the relations between the Americas and other continents. The Forum also strives to foster exchanges of information, promote free discussion on major current economic issues and facilitate meetings between world leaders to encourage international discourse. This year, the conference will cover issues on economy and governance, biodiversity and sustainable development, international trade, and the G20 and the challenges of a new global market.
Purpose
Amidst the stalled Doha global trade talks, free trade agreements in economically important Asia are increasingly becoming a significant trade policy instrument - with nearly 50 free trade agreements in effect today and many more in the pipeline. The session, Business Responses to Free Trade Agreements in Asia will review recent trends in the proliferation of FTAs, their impact on business, and highlight Asia's particular interest in cross-regional trade agreements involving North America and Canada, as well as the European Union.
Objectives
The session will tackle the following questions:
- What are the latest developments in Asian trade negotiations?
- How are business actors responding to emerging opportunities?
- How are leading Asian economies reacting to new economic realities?
Description
ADB and ADBI are organizing a parallel session on Business Responses to Free Trade Agreements in Asia on 9 June 2010 in the Conference of Montreal (7-10 June 2010).
Masahiro Kawai (Dean and CEO, ADBI) will be the moderator.
The speakers include:
- Narongchai Akrasanee (Chairman of Export-Import Bank of Thailand and former Minister of Commerce of Thailand)
- Wendy Dobson (Co-Director, Institute of International Business, University of Toronto)
- Marc Mealy, Vice President of the US-ASEAN Business Council, and
- Ganeshan Wignaraja (Principal Economist, Office of Regional Economic Integration, ADB).
Participants
The Conference of Montreal will include 3,200 participants and more than 150 guest speakers from around the world. Conference guests are welcome to participate in the session.
Output
- Policy brief on Free Trade Agreements in East Asia: The Way Forward to Trade Liberalization?
- Presentation on Business Responses to Free Trade Agreements in Asia