Comparative Study on the Different Free Trade Agreements Entered Into by Japan with other Asian Countries

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A general review of the Philippine-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (PJEPA or the Agreement) was originally scheduled in December 2011. Accordingly, it was deemed that an assessment on how the Agreement affected the Philippine economy after three years of implementation would be helpful not only for the immediate purposes of the review but also for future negotiating processes. Part of the assessment would be to review Japanese bilateral agreements with other Asian countries to compare the concessions that each country got in relation to that provided for in the Agreement. This is for the Philippines to assess whether to propose revisions to the Agreement in cases where conceivably better concessions were obtained by the other countries. The main objective of this paper is to compare the provisions of the free trade agreements (FTAs) on trade in goods, trade in services, investment, and sanitary and phytosanitary measures that Japan has with other select Asian countries. Those countries are Brunei, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam. The results of the comparison will be further compared with the provisions of the PJEPA. The output of the project is a comparative study, including data on the differences and similarities of the provisions of these FTAs, taking into consideration the economic and political environment as rationale for these variations.