BTAs: Some facts and Figures

It is useful to start by defining what is meant by a BTA. A BTA can vary by nature of the members involved and by nature of the agreement. Most BTAs are between (two) countries, but a BTA can also be signed between a country and a PTA, a BTA and a PTA, or between two BTAs or PTAs. Furthermore, one or even both parties to the BTA need not be a country or a BTA or PTA. There are three entities that are currently recognized as members of the WTO but are not recognized as independent countries: these are The European Communities; Macao, China; and Hong Kong, China. Macao, China has a BTA with the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the European Union (EU), while Hong Kong, China has a BTA with the PRC and is in negotiations with New Zealand.

The most common type of bilateral agreement is a free trade agreement (FTA), although it can also take the form of a Customs Union (CU) or a services agreement. A bilateral CU is rare and a services agreements tends to be accompanied by an FTA.

Table 1 provides a chronological summary of BTAs and PTAs involving at least one country from the Asia-Pacific region.² The same information is provided in diagrammatic from in Figure 1 [ PDF 92.1KB | 1 pages ]. A complete listing of the BTAs that involve at least one country from the Asia-Pacific region, together with their status, is provided in Table 2. As of October 2006, there were 176 BTAs. As Figure 1 highlights, the number of BTAs doubled between 1995 and 2000, but has increased more than four-fold between 2000 and 2006. Every country, with the exception of Mongolia, is involved in at least 1 BTA. India heads the list with 22 BTAs, although most of these have yet to be implemented. The US comes in second with 20 BTAs, half of which are already under implementation. Singapore and Pakistan are tied in third place with 19 BTAs each. The latecomers to PTAs, Japan and Korea, have caught up on preferential arrangements through BTAs it would seem, and are involved in 17 and 15 of them, respectively.

Out of the 176 BTAs, 155 are between countries. Two of them involve the SARs and the remaining 19 involved either a PTA andor a BTA. There are 7 PTAs and a BTA that are party to at least one BTA in the Asia-Pacific region. The BTA concerned is the Australia-New Zealand Closer Economic Relations Agreement (ANZCER), which is negotiating a BTA with ASEAN.

Apart from ASEAN, the other 6 PTAs involved in BTAs are: EFTA; EU; Gulf Cooperation Council; MERCUSOR; NAFTA; and South African Customs Union.

Fifty two of the 176 BTAs, or about 30 percent, are already being implemented. Twenty eight BTA agreements have been signed but implementation has yet to commence; in some cases, legislative or executive ratification is required before implementation can begin. Another 30 percent are currently under negotiation, a quarter of which have also signed a Framework Agreement before proceeding. A quarter of the BTAs are still at the proposal stage, where consultation and study are on-going to determine whether the BTA should proceed.

Download this Discussion Paper [ PDF 180KB| 25 pages ].

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