Internationalization Factors of Thai Multinationals and Thailand's Bilateral Trade Policy

This article investigates the impact of Thailand's recent bilateral free-trade agreements (FTAs) on the internationalization of Thai multinational enterprises (MNEs). The results highlight the relative importance of internal and external factors in the internationalization of developing country MNEs. The empirical evidence indicated that Thai MNEs judged bilateral FTAs as a critical facilitator of internationalization success. The FTAs facilitated firms' exports to a certain degree and marginally expedited firms' international purchasing activities. The influence of FTAs on firms' foreign investment was not discernible.     

亚太区域经济一体化发展及其对APEC的影响

近年来,各种形式的FTAs/RTAs在一定程度上促进了亚太区域经济一体化的发展,同时也给APEC带来了机遇和挑战。为此,APEC应该加强对FTAs/RTAs的规范,并努力提高自身的合作效率,推动亚太区域经济一体化的进一步发展。     

The WTO,the Doha Round Impasse,PTAs, and FTAs/RTAs

Beginning in 2001, the Doha Rounds afforded World Trade Organization (WTO) members the opportunity to develop equitable trade rules between the developed and developing member states. The WTO has been successful in advancing multilateral international trade; however, since the Doha Rounds stalemate, it has witnessed the development of more than 300 Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs) and over 500 Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). This article attempts to answer two questions: (1) has the failure of the Doha Rounds contributed to the proliferation of PTAs and FTAs, and (2) are these agreements threatening the regulatory authority of the WTO, which, in turn, reduces its ability to effectively promote and govern free trade, and its mission?     

A note on detecting biases in assessing the use of FTAs

There has been much confusion, rather than debate, on the use of free trade agreements (FTAs). Unfortunately, a large part of the confusion is caused by the absence of consensus on the meaning of key terms such as the “utilization rate” and “usage rate” of FTAs, and the lack of knowledge on upward or downward biases from various data sources regarding the use of FTAs. Rather than making an original empirical contribution, this article reviews existing studies and attempts to identify the relevant methodologies for assessing the use of FTAs.     

论我国自由贸易区谈判中的环境和劳工保护问题

区域贸易协议已经成为包含贸易和大量非贸易议题的综合性协议,我国在自由贸易区谈判中遇到的难题之一就是如何应对环境和劳工这样的非贸易议题。如果采取不接受在贸易协议中谈判与贸易相关的这类议题的策略,就必然要在贸易上付出更多的代价来换取谈判对手的妥协。文章主张积极应对这类谈判,但可以根据我国的国情和利益,研究和采取灵活的和非强制性的政策工具。     

Trade creation and diversion effects in the Mediterranean area: Econometric analysis by gravity model

Since the early 1990s, the world has seen a proliferation of free trade agreements (FTAs). A major goal of free trade is to develop trade between its signatories. The gravity model is used to analyze the bilateral trade data against the variables of the relative size of the pair of countries involved in trade, distance, common border and language and dummies for each of the FTAs. This article focuses on the studying of the influence of the FTAs in the Mediterranean countries in which we integrate the role of the regional dummy EU-15, Economic and Monetary Union (eurozone), the Arab Maghreb Union and AGADIR Agreement (FTA between Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco) in trade flows. In addition, this work aims to detect the impact of the global financial crisis on export flows between the FTAs in the Mediterranean region. The use of regional variables in gravity models designed to determine whether the FTAs contribute to the creation or trade diversion. This study examines a cross section and panel (static and dynamic) of 27 countries for 1980–2011. The results show the existence of a strong relationship between the factors of FTAs and trade flows.     

新一代双边自由贸易协定的比较与借鉴--以日新FTA、欧墨FTA为例

文章回顾了区城自由贸易的发展历程，认为近年来世界双边自由贸易协定(FTA)出现了新趋势，并分析了其原因。作者以日新FTA、欧墨FTA为例，重点论述了双边FTA的特点，指出中国加入WTO后，应把发展双边FTA作为一个战略来考虑，并提出了具体的政策建议。     

与公共健康有关的TRIPS-plus条款研究——兼论国际知识产权立法的双边趋势

在有关TRIPS的谈判中,发达国家未能实现其所有目的,虽屡次试图加强TRIPS的保护水平,却总是成效甚微。鉴于此,双边自由贸易协定,而非多边条约,成为了他们新一轮努力的重点。在这方面,美国无愧于其中"翘楚",其近年所为,对"超TRIPS条款"的扩张起了推波助澜作用。这使发达国家得以规避TRIPS中有利于较不发达国家的规定,并为进一步制定不平等国际规范奠定了基础。本文主要分析了美式FTA中与公共健康有关的超TRIPS条款,以证明上述观点,并提请发展中国家注意国际知识产权立法中的这一双边趋势及其潜在的不利影响。