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| Audience at the 8th EFN Asia
Annual Conference |
The
benefits of free trade have been proven, with empirical
studies, to increase wealth and economic growth
for nations. Yet populist NGOs usually condemn trade
agreements for their effects on marginalized communities.
How useful are bilateral free trade agreements?
A conference organised by FNF Southeast and East
Asia discussed this question in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
at the 8th EFN Asia Annual Conference.
In recent years,
there has been a sharp increase of interest in bilateral
and regional Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs),
especially in East and South-East Asia. There is
widespread disagreement of how beneficial or not
such agreements may be.
Indeed, big differences of opinion
can be found even among advocates of freer trade,
as could be seen among the participants and speakers
of the 8th Annual Conference of the Economic Freedom
Network Asia, held from September 12th to 13th,
2006.
The merits of bilateral and regional
negotiations were discussed critically. Regional
deals are still problematic in the details of their
negotiations, while progress on the multilateral
talks has come to a temporary gridlock. With these
setbacks, the fall back option seems to be bilateral
agreements. In the absence of the best option, the
second or third best one is still something worth
considering and exerting energy in.
In contrast with globalization opponents,
the network is critical of bilateral agreements
too, but for a totally different reason. It is critical
that they might add another level of regulation,
which undermines the attempt to establish a global
consensus through a multilateral agreement on trade.
In that regard, having more government interference,
it might be disputed whether they should be called
‘free trade’ agreements at all.
The conference concluded that in the
absence of progress at the multilateral level, the
reality is that countries will involve in all kind
of deals including bilateral and regional negotiations.
This highlights the need for a cautious yet positive
outlook sentiment, that a step by step progress
on the bilateral agreements may still be needed.
Economic freedom is about personal
choice, limited government, competition, the rule
of law and the security of property rights. The
Fraser Institute’s Economic Freedom of the
World report – the latest edition of which
was launched at the conference – clearly shows
that economic freedom has a greater impact than
foreign aid in helping poor nations escape poverty.
It is a positive sign that governments
all over the world are beginning to realise that
protectionism and other forms of state intervention
have not produced the desired results. Whether they
can assert themselves against vested interests and
enact policies that aim at liberalising their economies
and promoting free trade remains to be seen.
Click to read the full conference
report for further details.
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