Visions for the future: How free-trade agreements benefit ordinary people

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Integration comes in many shapes and forms. Virtual free-trade zones is one example. We know how bilateral agreements have aided the growth and development of their respective partners, but another which can benefit ordinary people are multi-lateral free-trade agreements.

Free Trade Agreements, or FTAs, may sound abstract, but can have far-reaching impact on our daily lives.

Firstly, member nations can enjoy lower trade barriers, giving the citizens more choices on the table, all year round.

Secondly, FTAs can gradually reduce and even eliminate the tax on imported products. Thus, people can buy their food at a lower price.

Thirdly, the FTAs are aimed at streamlining complicated customs clearance paperwork for foreign products, an express way that will ensure that people can enjoy it when it is still fresh.

Here are some of the major FTAs around Asia:

The China-Japan-ROK Free Trade Agreement. The three countries’ combined GDP accounts for around 20 percent of that of the whole world. But the negotiations were long and not entirely without hurdles.

FTA CPTPP: This was an even larger FTA entailing Comprehensive & Progressive Trans Pacific Partnership. It is an agreement between Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.

RCEP: The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership is the largest in the region. It is an initiative to link the 10 ASEAN member states and the group’s Free Trade Agreement partners, Australia, China, India, Japan, S. Korea and New Zealand. If everything goes well, it will be signed as early as the end of this year.