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Key Trends and Developments Relating to Trade and Investment Measures and their Impact on the APEC Region, May 2015

1631-cover
Published Date May 2015
Type of Publication Reports
Publication Under APEC Secretariat, APEC Policy Support Unit
Accessed 20197
Pages 34
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Description

May Issue: Do FTAs Matter for Trade?

This report was presented at the Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting in Boracay, Philippines in May 2015. The theme section of the report briefly assessed the correlations between APEC members’ FTAs and exports. The preliminary results indicate that despite FTAs being considered as second-best option, FTAs have significant effect on trade. The effect of FTAs, however, depends on the size, and importantly, on the quality of the trade agreement. As for APEC’s trade and investment, the report reveals that export growth among APEC economies in 2014 was relatively robust, and FDI inflows into APEC continued to perform strongly with the APEC region remaining as the top destination for FDI.