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1 – 10 of 46The Asia‐Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum has only recently included investment liberalization on its agenda. A review of actions since the Bogor declaration of 1994…
Abstract
The Asia‐Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum has only recently included investment liberalization on its agenda. A review of actions since the Bogor declaration of 1994 reveals that critical components of an investment liberalizing strategy are already being assembled within APEC. For example, an investment experts group has been meeting regularly and it has undertaken work on impediments to investment and on implementing the non‐binding investment liberalizing procedures endorsed by members at Bogor in 1994. Investment is also now a required component of each member's annual individual action plan. It would be useful to formalize this process and then move towards adoption of the rules‐based investment provisions of NAFTA, especially the national treatment principle. Then the process developing within APEC to liberalize investment as well as trade by 2020 would help to speed up the economic integration of APEC.
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Peter Drysdale and Andrew Elek
Presents an essay on Asia Pacific Economic Co‐operation (APEC), an innovative and flexible form of co‐operation designed to accommodate the diversity of the economies on the…
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Presents an essay on Asia Pacific Economic Co‐operation (APEC), an innovative and flexible form of co‐operation designed to accommodate the diversity of the economies on the Pacific Rim. The main challenge for the APEC process is finding a workable compromise between different approaches to economic co‐operation. Points out that the structure of APEC will need great flexibility to accommodate the declining influence of the USA in the Asia Pacific and the increasing strength of the Chinese and South East Asian economies compared to both Japan and the USA. Appendix contains an executive summary of the targets which were agreed by APEC governments, at Bogor, Indonesia, in 1994, in order to realize their vision of free and open trade and investment.
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Building a large trading bloc tends to produce substantial economic gains, while minimizing economic losses from overlapping FTAs. East Asia has tried to generate the impetus for…
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Building a large trading bloc tends to produce substantial economic gains, while minimizing economic losses from overlapping FTAs. East Asia has tried to generate the impetus for promoting region-wide trading blocs, but most of those blocs have been overlapped and multilayered. This paper reviews the evolution of East Asian regionalism from the APEC FTA under the 1994 Bogor Goal to recent RCEP promoted in 2013. This paper underlines that the continued expansion of multilayered trading blocs in East Asia works as a serious obstacle to regional economic integration, rather than exploring the realization of a region-wide trading bloc.
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The major economies of East Asia, namely Japan and the Four Asian Tigers, have always prioritized the WTO-led multilateral trade liberalization over other trade arrangements…
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The major economies of East Asia, namely Japan and the Four Asian Tigers, have always prioritized the WTO-led multilateral trade liberalization over other trade arrangements primarily due to their unique economic structure with a high dependency on the world’s major markets such as the US. Along the same line, even the huge blow from the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997 only managed to trigger a few initiatives to aide East Asian regional integration while being led by different centering bodies, APEC and ASEAN. These dispersed efforts naturally resulted in no realistically significant achievements in the light of ‘integration’ until the present day. Under these circumstances, East Asia now faces a second opportunity to achieve its economic independence from the extra-regional influences via regionalization: the 2009 Global Credit Crunch. This paper hereupon critically reviews the actual progress and the likely impacts of the current global recession on the East Asian region.
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Economic integration in the 21st century is driven largely by market signals, rather than by inter-governmental trading arrangements. It also means much more than “free trade.”…
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Economic integration in the 21st century is driven largely by market signals, rather than by inter-governmental trading arrangements. It also means much more than “free trade.” Integration needs to consider all of the ways economies are connected in international markets, including trade in goods, services ideas and information, along with essential and complementary international movements of people and capital.
Except for a small number of sensitive products, especially in agriculture, most goods and services face no, or very low, formal trade barriers. Reducing border protection of the remaining sensitive products will certainly require negotiations, but they are no longer the most strategic obstacles to economic integration.
These days, the problems of most concern of those engaged in international commerce are logistics, communications, coping with security concerns and with different regulations in other economies. The effective constraint to designing and implementing cooperative arrangements to reduce such costs or risks of international commerce is the capacity to do so, rather than political resistance. Inter-governmental negotiations are not always necessary to deal with these practical issues.
Therefore, it should be possible to have a logical division of effort between APEC and the WTO in the Asia Pacific with the WTO dealing with those issues that do need to be negotiated; and APEC dealing with the many other issues where negotiations are not needed. In the longer term, an efficient division of labour could also emerge between the G20 and the WTO.
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Tham Siew Yean and Loke Wai Heng
The conclusion of the Uruguay Round (UR) in 1994 and the subsequent establishment of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in January 995 signaled a new era in terms of global trade…
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The conclusion of the Uruguay Round (UR) in 1994 and the subsequent establishment of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in January 995 signaled a new era in terms of global trade. At the same time the prolonged years of negotiations of the UR also witnessed an increase in the expansion and extension of various regional arrangements. Consequently, the global environment has shifted toward institution‐driven globalisation and regionalism concurrently. The new international horizon promises significant opportunities and challenges for Malaysian industries. The objective of this paper is to assess the ability of Malaysian manufacturing to face these opportunities and challenges by evaluating their competitiveness. The findings of this study reveal only three sub‐sectors that are competitive even before the advent of the financial crisis. Further, the crisis has worsened the competitive position of the manufacturing sector. Hence, it is imperative that current government policies work toward restoring macro‐economic and political stability. At the same time, the medium‐ and long‐term needs of this sector call for a shift in industrial policy from mere export promotion to technology and human resource promotion.
The paper presents a global model for understanding land administration systems in support of sustainable development. The evolution of these systems is presented as a response to…
Abstract
The paper presents a global model for understanding land administration systems in support of sustainable development. The evolution of these systems is presented as a response to the dynamic relation between humankind and land. The Nordic evolution is described with a focus that any land administration system is embedded in the cultural and judicial setting of the individual country/jurisdiction. The issue of spatial information infrastructures is recognised as an increasingly important component for achieving sustainable development in developed as well as developing countries. The paper discusses the conceptual, political and economic mechanisms, and examples are given with regard to the Danish conceptual approach in this area. Finally, the paper deals with the issue of decentralisation and the impact of central vs local government in land management in support of sustainable development. It is argued that competencies should rest with the lowest possible level of jurisdiction so as to combine responsibility for decision making with accountability for financial and environmental consequences.
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States that the foreseeable future scenario of Singapore suggests the need to include premisses about the future in school developmental planning. Outlines a futuring process…
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States that the foreseeable future scenario of Singapore suggests the need to include premisses about the future in school developmental planning. Outlines a futuring process taught in Singapore as a possible way of obtaining such premisses. This five‐step process includes a delphi survey. Gives results from three delphi surveys done in Singapore at the end of the article to illustrate the kinds of data that school leaders could use as premisses in developmental planning.
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Franklin Obeng‐Odoom and Stephen Ameyaw
The purpose of this paper is to assess the extent to which the process of becoming a surveyor in Ghana mirrors a broad conception of professionalism.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess the extent to which the process of becoming a surveyor in Ghana mirrors a broad conception of professionalism.
Design/methodology/approach
The work is grounded in field research in the form of interviews/survey conducted by the authors in Ghana. The sample is drawn in such a way that the work benefits from the experiences of people at different levels of surveying training.
Findings
The study reveals that professional surveying training in Ghana is effective but narrow: senior surveyors do provide mentoring to probationers, but they engage in poor labour practices; probationers do obtain professional training, but many of their expectations are not met. While there are both costs and benefits to the mentors and mentees, the study finds that, on balance, the process of professionalisation is designed to favour a few owners of surveying firms.
Practical implications
It is the intention of the authors that this work would contribute to a process of “conscientisation”. The paper provides part of the basis for young surveyors to reject being passive recipients of instruction to becoming active workers and professionals who have a deep awareness of the social reality which shapes their professional lives and understand how they can reshape that reality.
Originality/value
This research work is the first study of the state of professionalism and work conditions of surveyors in Ghana. The study sheds light on the conditions under which surveyors work and shows how professional they are. On the one hand, this study provides the opportunity for prospective surveyors in Ghana to reflect on their aspiration before embarking on that “journey”. On the other hand, it gives practising surveyors a basis for reflecting on how the profession can be improved.