Only 20 RTAs involving at least one member from the Asia-Pacific region were in force in 1995. By May 2011, this number had grown to 122. Furthermore, the contribution of Asia and the Pacific to the global trend towards regionalism has also become dominant; since 2005, the region has contributed...

The coverage of trade facilitation is found to have become very extensive, with the details of provisions in some agreements matching that in the draft WTO agreement on trade facilitation. Trade facilitation provisions and principles are increasingly seen to apply not only to Customs procedures...