Asia Pacific Trade and Investment Review 2008

200 Pages·2009·3.34 MB·English

by  United Nations

ESCAP is the regional development arm of the United Nations and serves as the
main economic and social development centre for the United Nations in Asia
and the Pacific. Its mandate is to foster cooperation between its 53 members and
9 associate members. ESCAP provides the strategic link between global and
country-level programmes and issues. It supports Governments of the region
in consolidating regional positions and advocates regional approaches to
meeting the region’s unique socio-economic challenges in a globalizing world.
The ESCAP office is located in Bangkok, Thailand. Please visit our website at
<www.unescap.org> for further information.
The shaded areas of the map are ESCAP members and associate members.
ii
ASIA-PACIFIC
TRADE AND INVESTMENT
REVIEW
Vol. 4
United Nations
New York, 2008 ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMISSION FOR ASIA AND THE PACIFIC
i
ASIA-PACIFIC TRADE AND INVESTMENT REVIEW
Vol. 4
United Nations publication
Sales No. E.09.II.F.7
Copyright  United Nations 2009
All rights reserved
Manufactured in Thailand
ISBN: 978-92-1-120572-5
ISSN: 1815-8897
ST/ESCAP/2518
References to dollars ($) are to United States dollars, unless otherwise stated.
A solidus (/) between dates (e.g. 1980/81) indicates a financial year, a crop year or an academic year.
Use of a hyphen between dates (e.g. 1980-1985) indicates the full period involved, including the
beginning and end years.
The following symbols have been used in the tables throughout the journal:
Two dots (..) indicate that data are not available or are not separately reported.
An em-dash (—) indicates that the amount is nil or negligible.
A hyphen (-) indicates that the item is not applicable.
A point (.) is used to indicate decimals.
A space is used to distinguish thousands and millions.
Totals may not add precisely because of rounding.
The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not
imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations
concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the
delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.
Where the designation “country or area” appears, it covers countries, territories, cities or
areas.
Bibliographical and other references have, wherever possible, been verified. The United
Nations bears no responsibility for the availability or functioning of URLs.
The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily
reflect the views of the United Nations.
The opinions, figures and estimates set forth in this publication are the responsibility of the
authors, and should not necessarily be considered as reflecting the views or carrying the endorsement
of the United Nations. Any errors are the responsibility of the authors.
Mention of firm names and commercial products does not imply the endorsement of the
United Nations.
ii
AIMS AND SCOPE
The Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment Review is an annual, peer-reviewed
journal for the dissemination of timely information and research analysis on new,
emerging issues of trade, investment and enterprise development in Asia and the
Pacific. Primarily aimed at government policymakers, researchers and representatives
of the private sector, the Review imparts information on the latest trends in trade and
investment policy issues facing the region. The Review emphasizes implications for
policy relevance and operational research rather than academic research on theoretical
and methodological issues. Articles have been drawn from research work conducted
by outside researchers and consultants as well as the staff of the Trade and Investment
Division of ESCAP. Beginning in 2009, the Review will restrict its focus to analyses
and surveys of trends and issues in trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region,
prepared largely in-house.
ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS
Mohamed Ariff
Malaysian Institute of Economic Research
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Razeen Sally
London School of Economics
London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Karl P. Sauvant
Columbia Law School – Earth Institute
Columbia University, New York, United States of America
Rajah Rasiah
Asia-Europe Institute
University of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
John S. Wilson
World Bank
Washington, D.C., United States of America
Patrick Low
World Trade Organization
Geneva, Switzerland
iii
EDITORS
Chief Editor
Ravi Ratnayake
Director, Trade and Investment Division
Managing Editors
Marc Proksch
Trade Policy Section
Trade and Investment Division
Yann Duval
Trade Facilitation Section
Trade and Investment Division
Masato Abe
Private Sector and Development Section
Trade and Investment Division
iv
ASIA-PACIFIC TRADE AND INVESTMENT REVIEW
Vol. 4, 2008
CONTENTS
Page
Special brief................................................................................................................. 1
Jagdish N. Bhagwati Termites in the trade system........................... 3
Research articles......................................................................................................... 9
Ramesh Gampat and The rise of China: What does it mean
Chatrini Weeratunge for the least developed countries
in the Asia-Pacific? ........................................ 11
Seema Joshi Who will be the main global
IT services hub: India or China?.................... 35
Kakali Mukhopadhyay and Economic impact of East and
Paul J. Thomassin South-East Asian free trade agreements......... 57
Tran Quoc Trung Performance of export-oriented small and
medium-sized manufacturing enterprises
in Viet Nam.................................................... 83
Deok Soon Yim and Policy options for establishing effective
Byung-Sam Kang subnational innovation systems and
technological capacity-building..................... 115
Staff papers ................................................................................................................. 139
Marc Proksch Asian-African trade and investment
cooperation..................................................... 141
Yang Zhendai Issues in the long-term development
of sovereign wealth funds .............................. 159
v
CONTENTS (continued)
Page
Overviews of recent studies on trade and investment published by the ESCAP
secretariat.................................................................................................................... 181
Unveiling protectionism: regional responses to remaining barriers in the
textile and clothing trade ............................................................................... 183
Trade facilitation beyond the multilateral trade negotiations: regional
practices, Customs valuation and other emerging issues—a study by the
Asia-Pacific Research and Training Network on Trade ................................ 185
Towards coherent policy frameworks: understanding trade and investment
linkages.......................................................................................................... 187
vi
Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment Review Vol. 4, 2008
Special Brief
1
Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment Review Vol. 4, 2008
2