Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement Research Articles

Economy-wide Impacts of India–UAE CEPA: A CGE Analysis

The present study investigates the potential trade effects of tariff liberalisation under India–United Arab Emirates (UAE) Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) using general equilibrium analysis. The study specifically examines output, employment, exports and welfare effects of India–UAE CEPA in computable general equilibrium (CGE) framework using the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) model and database version 10. The study indicates output gains in manufacturing sector for both countries and an increase in demand for unskilled labour in India. The study argues that the CEPA will result in an increase in global exports of all commodity groups for both India and UAE and a substantial gain in bilateral exports of both countries. The present study suggests that deeper integration through tariff reduction on imports under India–UAE CEPA will be welfare enhancing for both India and UAE. Overall results show that there is a lot of untapped potential to bring the welfare gains for both trading partners. Given the present schedule of tariff reduction of CEPA, a win–win scenario will emerge for both partners in short as well as long run. Finally, the study cautioned about the implications of sensitive list for trade effects and protection from misuse of rules of origin in the CEPA. JEL Codes: F1, F13, F14, F15, F17

Layout analysis of the RCEP international airline network based on hub identification using improved contribution matrix

The signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement brings new opportunities for the development of international air transportation. Faced with fierce competition, it is worth studying how hub airports should enhance competitiveness, and how low-cost carriers and full-service carriers should optimize the RCEP international airline network layout for better development. Aiming at providing suggestions for the development of hub airports, low-cost and full-service carriers in the RCEP international airline network, this paper identifies the hub airports, analyzes the layout of the RCEP international airline network, and the multi-layered characteristics based on an improved contribution matrix using data from 2010 to 2019 collected from the Official Airline Guide (OAG). This method comprehensively considers attributes of hub airports and the multi-layered characteristics of the airports and routes. The layout analysis indicates that the RCEP international transportation market presents a more open environment for competition and cooperation where base carriers are often the biggest supporters of hub construction. The multi-layered characteristics analysis reveals that low-cost carriers contribute more towards opening up new RCEP routes than full-service carriers. It is advised that carriers newly entering the RCEP international aviation transportation market and low-cost carriers dedicate to establishing new routes around their hub airports to monopolize this market and enhance their market share, whilst full-service carriers consolidate existing routes and increase route density to achieve economic benefits.

TRIPS‐PLUS provisions in the economic partnership agreements with the EU: The CARIFORUM's experience and lessons for West Africa

AbstractNegotiation for the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the European Union (EU) and six African, Caribbean and Pacific (APC) regions has been ongoing for over a decade. These negotiations are at different phases in the seven APC regions and have faced significant challenges, hindering ratification in most of them. However, the Caribbean Forum (CARIFORUM) is the first regional group to have completed the process. It is currently implementing the EPA. Most significantly, CARIFORUM is the only region to have negotiated and ratified a comprehensive EPA that goes beyond trade in goods to include other elements such as services and intellectual property. This paper seeks to understand why CARIFORUM opted for a comprehensive EPA with the EU. Keeping in mind the downsides of intellectual property (IP) globalization, it fleshes out lessons, particularly on IP rights, that West African countries, and other non‐Caribbean ACP regions, can draw from the CARIFORUM's experience to adequately equip themselves in anticipation of negotiations with the EU for their EPAs.

Mapping the Literature on the Relationship between Indonesia and Chile as Non-Traditional Partners

Indonesia and Chile formed a comprehensive trade cooperation called the Indonesia-Chile Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IC-CEPA). Empirically, the relationship between Indonesia and Chile is not strong, so it is interesting to see how are the dynamics of the relationship between the two countries which are non-traditional partners but established comprehensive trade cooperation. Therefore, this literature review found 25 literatures that have discussed the dynamics of the relationship between Indonesia and Chile. This literature review maps the literature using the taxonomy method into three main topics, namely (1) the historical relationship between Indonesia and Chile, (2) the political relationship between Indonesia and Chile, (3) the economic relationship between Indonesia and Chile. This literature review found that the relationship between Indonesia and Chile in various fields shows a fluctuating trend because they still focus on traditional partners, the relationship between the two countries is pragmatic, lack of political will, and lack of information about each other's characteristics.

The Impact of Participating in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement and Potential Export Markets for Vietnamese Rice: An Application of Augmented Gravity Model

In this study, we investigate the potential effects of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement on Vietnam’s rice exports from 2000 to 2016. For this analysis, we employ the panel data augmented gravity model with some modifications. The estimated results suggest a positive relationship between Vietnam’s per capita export and the capita real gross domestic product (GDP) of the importer, Vietnam’s rice production, export price, and ASEAN dummy. We confirm that there is a negative relationship between Vietnam’s per capita rice export value and import country agricultural land and import tariffs. Additionally, this paper forecasts Vietnam’s rice export value per capita at each market in RCEP partners by using the autoregressive model. Our forecast results show that among RCEP members, Vietnam has potential markets if import tariff reductions are lowered in Singapore, Brunei, Korea, Japan, and Malaysia. To reap the benefits of rice exports’ potential, Vietnam must move from low-grade and cheap rice to high-quality rice production instead of expanding rice production and exports with the following implications: changing its present rice trading partners to potential markets and adopting market-oriented policies to meet the international demand and to increase the export elasticity of rice.

Research on the Development Opportunities and Strategies of Guangzhou Cross-Border E-commerce Comprehensive Pilot Zone under the RCEP Agreement

This paper provides a thorough analysis of the development opportunities and strategies for the Guangzhou Cross-Border E-Commerce Comprehensive Pilot Zone in the context of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement. The article begins with a review of the background of the RCEP agreement and its role in promoting economic cooperation, especially in the Asia-Pacific region, followed by an analysis of the current development status, main opportunities, and challenges facing the Guangzhou Cross-Border E-Commerce Comprehensive Pilot Zone under the current international circumstances. Through empirical research, the paper proposes a series of strategic recommendations to promote the development of the pilot zone, aiming to provide references for policy-making and regional economic development.

The Ratification of Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement: Investment Challenges and Opportunities

This article aims to conduct a more in-depth study of Indonesia's challenges and opportunities after the ratification of the 2020 Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, hereinafter referred to as IA-CEPA. IA-CEPA offers opportunities for investment, trade in goods and services, and human resource capacity building for both countries. The Indonesian government needs to accelerate the harmonization of national laws related to the substance of IA-CEPA so that no legal conflicts harm Indonesia's national and economic interests. This research applied normative or doctrinal research methods, collecting legal materials with literature studies, which were then analysed with descriptive analysis techniques to find solutions to the problems raised. The results show that IA-CEPA brings great opportunities for economic growth in both countries. With greater access to each other's markets and cuts in trade tariffs, this agreement can stimulate greater trade and investment. IA-CEPA provides incentives for both countries to diversify their investment sources. This can help reduce dependence on one particular country or region and increase economic resilience.

Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP): Evaluation of Trade Relations Between Member Countries Using the Social Network Analysis Method

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement was signed in 2020 as a giant free trade agreement signed by 15 countries, including China. In this context, the RCEP agreement is the world's largest free trade agreement in terms of GDP and trade volume. In this study, commercial relations between RCEP countries between 2012 (the year when negotiations of the RCEP agreement began) and 2021 were examined using social network analysis. In the analyses, export values of RCEP countries to each other were used and the data were obtained from Trade Map. In the study, social network analyzes for the years 2012, 2015, 2018 and 2021 were analyzed using the Ucinet program, while trade networks were visualized with the Gephi program. For social network analyses, basic ego network indicators, degree centrality values, hub and authority centrality values and eigenvector values were calculated. As a result of the analysis, it is seen that the hub and authority country in trade between RCEP countries is China for all four years (2012, 2015, 2018 and 2021). On the other hand, it has been determined that China's most important trade partners are Japan and South Korea. Additionally, the development in Vietnam's trade level during this period is remarkable.

Analisis Penjualan Mobil Listrik Di Indonesia Dalam Rentang Waktu 2020-2023

The automotive industry in Indonesia is growing rapidly with electric car sales increasing significantly by 2022. Hyundai is one of the largest electric car manufacturers in Indonesia, supported by the IK-CEPA (Indonesia-Korea Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement), a bilateral free trade agreement between Indonesia and South Korea in various fields such as trade in goods, services and other economic cooperation. The Indonesian government is also active in supporting the development of the electric vehicle industry through fiscal and non-fiscal incentives, as well as cooperation with Hyundai Motor Group in training electric vehicle technicians. Sales of electric cars in several brands and types such as Hyundai Kona EV, Hyundai Ioniq EV, and Lexus UX300e have increased from 2020 to October 2023, showing public interest in electric cars. Hyundai Ioniq 5 became the best-selling electric car in Indonesia in 2022, while the newly released Wuling Air EV in August 2022 also received attention for its affordable price and unique design. Indonesia has the largest nickel reserves in the world, so it has a great ability to make electric vehicle batteries. This will drive the development of the electric car industry in the country, with strong government support and increasing sales, the automotive industry, especially electric cars, will have a bright prospect to continue growing in the future.

Deciphering RCEP: a deep dive into financial services treaty language in the Asia-Pacific

ABSTRACT The recently signed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement is likely to have a profound impact on the dissemination and integration of new regulatory standards for financial services in the Asia-Pacific region. By employing a text-as-data approach, this article measures the design of RCEP financial services rules in the regional trade agreements universe. This article finds that, first, RCEP has significantly deviated from the GATS financial services rules. Second, the textual source analysis of the RCEP financial services rules treaty language does not show that they are influenced by any single national text with overwhelming force, but by multiple textual sources in the Asia-Pacific region. China and the ASEAN have a more limited influence than expected, but the existing treaty languages of other major developed countries in this region, namely South Korea, Japan, Australia, and Singapore, has been primarily incorporated into RCEPs financial services rule. Besides, even if the United States is not the contracting party, considerable traces of its indirect influence can be found.

Financial Analysis of Industrial Metallurgical Industry Based on Harvard Analysis Framework after RCEP

On January 1, 2022, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) officially entered into force, and a total of 15 member countries, including China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and ten ASEAN countries, officially started to implement the agreement. The successful signing of RCEP marks the establishment of the world's largest FTA, which will significantly reduce tariffs among member countries and al-so promote the opening of markets among member countries, thus boosting trade among countries to cope with the downward economic pressure. In re-cent years, China's economic development has placed more emphasis on high quality, emphasizing that green water and green mountains are golden mountains, and protecting the environment stands on an equal footing with development. Under the influence of many factors such as the entry into force of RCEP and China's new development pattern, how to transform heavy polluters in line with the trend has become an intense and urgent issue. Here the author uses the Harvard analytical framework to select A-share listed Baowu Group for analysis and exploration, focusing on Baowu Group's financial and development status after the merger and how to cope with environmental expenditure audits in the context of RCEP policy.

Implementasi Perjanjian Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Terhadap Perdagangan Indonesia dan Negara Anggota Tahun 2020-2023

This research discusses the implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement on Indonesia's trade and member countries from 2020 to 2023. The previous agreements that formed the basis of RCEP were under pressure due to their limited success and resulting in overlaps. The objective of this study is to examine the implementation of the RCEP agreement on Indonesia's international trade from 2020 to 2023. The research method used is qualitative descriptive to explain the implementation of the RCEP agreement on international trade. The research findings indicate that the implementation of RCEP enables Indonesia to have certainty and diversity in trade rules, which can promote increased access to export markets for goods and services, enhance the export capacity and empowerment of SMEs, and strengthen investment.

Gender disparities in job creation of RCEP in China: a social accounting matrix approach

ABSTRACT This paper describes the gender disparities in the potential creation of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) for China. Using the latest available data, social accounting matrix for 149 sectors, combined with employment satellite accounts based on China’s seventh census published in 2022, we analyse gender disparities in the potential job creation from the RCEP. The results show that the RCEP will potentially create more than 4.08 million jobs in China, with a particularly large increase in low-value-added sectors such as agriculture, light industry and low-end manufacturing. Imports are likely to create more jobs than exports. The potential job creation for females is more than 1.58 million, which is still 910,000 less than for males. While the RCEP may create jobs for females, it may expand the gender and skills disparities. The increased rate of tertiary education for Chinese females has not resulted in significant gains in current female employment. Therefore, measures to reduce taxes on imports and exports, share the cost of childbirth between employer and husband, and upgrade industries to create more high-skilled jobs are important to address the gender disparity in employment in China.

Ex-Ante Evaluation of the Vietnam – UAE CEPA Impact on Vietnam’s Exports of Garments to the UAE

Using the SMART model, this paper aims at examining the ex-ante impact of the Vietnam – United Arab Emirates Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (Vietnam – UAE CEPA), on Vietnam’s garment exports, which is still under negotiation. Two scenarios are developed in accordance with the UAE’s trade liberalization whose focus is on Asian countries including Vietnam. A positive effect of the assumed Vietnam – UAE CEPA on Vietnam’s exports are found in two scenarios. However, the UAE’s deeper engagement with other countries would cause a remarkable decrease in the export turnover of Vietnam’s commodities, leading to some short-term and long-term recommendations of the author to promote Vietnam’s export of garments to the UAE.

Analysis of the Construction of Investor-state Investment Dispute Settlement under RCEP

On January 1, 2022, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) officially entered into force, marking the official landing of the world's most populous, largest economic and trade scale and most promising free trade area, which fully reflects the confidence and determination of all parties to jointly uphold multilateralism and free trade and promote regional economic integration, which will contribute to regional and global trade and investment growth, economic recovery and prosperity It will make an essential contribution to regional and international trade and investment growth, economic recovery and prosperity. Under RCEP, investment activities between China and ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries will be further opened up and developed more deeply, which will inevitably lead to some disputes between investors and host countries will inevitably arise. However, RCEP puts aside the discussion on the investment dispute settlement mechanism between investors and governments. Although the RCEP currently proposes an alternative way for investors to seek redress in the dispute settlement chapter of Chapter 19, its implementation still needs to be improved in terms of protection. The existing dispute settlement mechanism still needs to efficiently and comprehensively protect and balance the reasonable rights and interests of investors and host countries. The RCEP parties shall jointly explore the construction of dispute prevention, consultation, mediation, arbitration, litigation, etc. A dispute settlement mechanism between the investor and the host country that integrates dispute prevention, negotiation, mediation, arbitration, and litigation is excellent.

Impact of the regional comprehensive economic partnership agreement on the German economy

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) creates the largest free trade zone worldwide and changes the world economy. The RCEP region is one of Germany’s most important trading partners and supplier of key inputs with a trade volume of USD 218 billion in imports and USD 188 billion in exports in 2020. But how does RCEP impact Germany and which sectors are most affected? How should Germany best react economically and politically in order to benefit most from the agreement and its consequences instead of losing trade volume and global market share? To answer these questions, we analyse trade between Germany and the RCEP members in terms of imports, exports, trade in value-added as well as forward and backward linkages, before conducting a sector-level trade analysis. Our analysis incorporates the details of the RCEP provisions and compares the agreement to the CPTPP. We find that a more China-centric political agenda is necessary for Germany and that it ought to incentivise RCEP investment, especially in the computer, electronic and optical products sector as well as the motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers sector. This will preserve existing exports and market shares, further develop RCEP as a market for German exports as well as investment in order to benefit from positive local effects of RCEP.

INDONESIA'S ECONOMIC DIPLOMACY IN INDONESIA-EFTA COMPREHENSIVE ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT (IE-CEPA)

This article aims to analyze Indonesia's economic diplomacy in the Indonesia-EFTA Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IE-CEPA), which can provide excellent opportunities for Indonesia to increase trade and investment with EFTA countries. The analytical framework used in this article is economic diplomacy with the operationalization of trade diplomacy, according to Okano-Heijmans. The research method in this article uses qualitative methods. The results of this article show that Indonesia's economic diplomacy gives a positive view of IE-CEPA as an important agreement to strengthen economic relations between Indonesia and EFTA countries through reducing import duty rates, eliminating non-tariff barriers, and protecting investment, which is expected to increase the power of competitiveness of Indonesian products in the European market and increase Indonesia's exports to EFTA countries.

The Impact of Infrastructure Quality on China’s OFDI: A Study Based on RCEP Partners

Infrastructure plays a crucial role in facilitating economic development and attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) in a country. With the implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement, trade and investment ties between China and its RCEP partners have been further strengthened. This study investigates the influence of host country infrastructure development on China’s outward FDI (OFDI) within RCEP partners. By analyzing China’s OFDI to RCEP partners and the infrastructure characteristics of member countries, we explore the impact of host country infrastructure quality on China’s OFDI. Using panel data on China’s direct investment stock in 12 RCEP countries from 2008 to 2020, in conjunction with host country infrastructure quality indicators, we apply a fixed-effect regression model to examine the effects of different types of infrastructure quality on China’s OFDI. Our results reveal that transportation, communications, and energy infrastructure in host countries significantly promote Chinese OFDI. Furthermore, we find that a larger market size, population, and higher trade openness in the host country effectively attract FDI from China. Based on these empirical findings, we provide recommendations to optimize the capital flow and enhance the efficiency of China’s OFDI.

Unleashing the asymmetric effect of natural resources abundance on carbon emissions in regional comprehensive economic partnership: What role do economic globalization and disaggregating energy play?

The ratification of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement has laid the foundation for member states to accelerate their individual economic growth rates while also addressing sustainability concerns. However, there is limited documentation on the impact of economic globalization and natural resource abundance on decarbonization efforts within the RCEP nations. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the influence of disaggregated energy sources, economic globalization, natural resources, and economic growth on carbon emissions in the RCEP nations from 1990 to 2020. To achieve this, we employ various econometric approaches, including cointegration analysis, quantile regression to account for conditional heterogeneity, and panel Granger causality tests. The findings of this research provide valuable insights for policymakers. Specifically, the empirical evidence indicates that economic growth, natural resource availability, and non-renewable energy sources contribute to increased CO2 emissions, leading to environmental degradation in RCEP nations. On the other hand, the use of renewable energy and economic globalization enable RCEP nations to reduce their CO2 emissions, highlighting the importance of renewable energy in reducing dependence on hydrocarbons and enhancing environmental sustainability. To support green initiatives, it is crucial to strengthen and implement robust environmental policies within the RCEP nations.

India–Korea Trade and Investment Relations: An Appraisal of Past Progress and Future Prospects

India and the Republic of Korea (RoK) are, respectively, the second and sixth largest economies of Asia with significant trade ties since the historic past. India is currently negotiating to upgrade the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with the RoK, which was operationalized on January 1, 2010. A key area of concern for India has been its increasing trade deficit with the RoK which has more than doubled since 2009–10. This paper aims to analyze the flow of goods, services and investment between the two sides in major sectors of interest in the last decade. Further, it aims to identify barriers to trade and investment for the Indian exporters and areas of improvement in the CEPA and beyond to enhance economic gains for both sides.