CESifo Venice Summer Institute 2006 “Understanding the Latest Wave of Regional Trade and Cooperation Agreements”

The area of coverage is recent regional trade and cooperation agreements involving both OECD and non OECD countries. These have mushroomed in recent years and now number several hundred. Issues to be addressed by the workshop include: • The coverage and form of the agreements • How all these agreements interrelate and fit together • Whether they now jointly define the leading edge of globally negotiated trade liberalization. • Whether they provide the basis for the emergence of new regional trade in Blocs (eg. in Asia). • How far they go beyond goods in areas such as services, mutual recognition, competition policy, movement of persons, and others.