The Expansion of AFTA: Widening and Deepening?

Regional trading arrangements (RTAs) have recently tended to both widen and deepen . This paper examines the impact of widening and assesses progress with deepening in the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA). Widening of AFTA has seen its membership grow from six to nine countries (and perhaps ten in 1998). Widening has increased AFTA's diversity, with the emergence of a two-tier structure of developed and under-developed segments. An AFTA-Plus program is designed to deepen regional integration. Apart from harmonising customs procedures and tariff nomenclature, and fast-tracking a common customs valuation method, progress has been limited.