Regional Development and Regional Blocks

NAFTA took effect on January 1, 1994 with the culmination of all quota and tariff repeals on January 1, 2008. This agreement was designed to expand trade between Canada, Mexico, and the United States by reducing restrictions imposed by tariffs and encouraging foreign direct investment in the developing economies.

The U.S. and Australian alliance share an interest in maintaining the peace and stability in the Asian- Pacific

The North American Free Trade Agreement or as its most commonly known NAFTA “is a comprehensive rules-based agreement between the United States, Canada, and Mexico”, that came into effect on January 1,1994. All three countries signed it in December of 1992; later on November of 1993 it was ratified by the United States congress. NAFTA was not only used in cutting down on tariffs between both countries but it also help deal with issues such as Transportation, Border Issues, and Environmental Issues between these two countries. NAFTA changed some tariffs immediately and within fifteen years other tariffs will fall to zero. NAFTA was not created to just lower tariffs it was also created to open protected sectors in agriculture, energy,

The need for Australia to play a leadership role in promoting human rights within the Asia-Pacific region to promote regional stability;

Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is the pre-eminent economic rally in Australia’s region. APEC’s goal is to drive an extensive trade and investment liberalisation and facilitation agenda. It is focused on structural reform as a means of raising competitiveness and the efficiency of trade and investment flows. It has helped Australia with building and strengthening ties with other countries such as Brunei, Singapore, Philippines and other countries in the region. In 2009, 70% of Australia’s trade is with APEC countries.

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is an international agreement between Canada, America and Mexico. This agreement took effect in January 1994 and was signed by President Bill Clinton. This agreement brought great changes in trade volumes and open new opportunities for millions of labours. Later, in January 2008 according to the schedule all duties and restrictions were eliminated. About 45,000 tariffs were eliminated in 1994 and only 3000 were left until 1999.

Providing aid to developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region allows the countries to develop politically and economically, helping the region prosper, and therefore improve Australia’s personal security. The aid provided by Australia helps developing countries to stabilise their situation

NAFTA is an agreement between Canada, the united states and Mexico demonstrated free trade and investment that increases wealth such as job creation and economic growth in North America (NAFTANOW.ORG, 2013). It agreement entered force on January 1st ,1994 and it activity is bringing benefits to the public.

In our economical national interest, Australia allocates a sector to contribute significantly by providing aid and financial support to promote the stability of a variety of countries within the Indo-Pacific. Within 2016 to 2017, 90% of Australia’s aid will directly go to the

In 1992, the United States, Canada, and Mexico signed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). This agreement eliminated most tariffs and trade barriers between the three countries. NAFTA was inspired by the European Economic Community (1952-1993), which had eliminated tariffs among its members. In 1988, a free trade agreement was made between the United States and Canada, so the agreement in 1992 was just an extension of the original agreement to Mexico. In August 1992, the countries reached a preliminary agreement, and On December 17, 1992, the leaders of the three countries signed the final agreement. It went into effect on January 1, 1994 after being ratified in all three countries in 1993. The tariffs were gradually removed over

The ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) is one of the three ASEAN Community Councils. It's goal is to seek regional economic integration by 2015. The areas of cooperation include

Official Development Assistance (ODA) is a combination of loans and grants given to developing nations with the intent of furthering development in those nations. ODA is a crucial means for furthering the development of LDCs, Least Developed Countries. Singapore believes in the importance of ODA and promotes continued support for countries in need.

Today, there are many countries that establish organisations among themselves in order to protect their interest and gain benefits. One of the best examples of organisation form by nations would be the European Union (EU). It is an organisation that was formed by several European nations in order to attain economic stability, avoid conflicts as well as for political coalition. Another would be the Asian South East Asia Nation or better known as ASEAN. ASEAN is an organization that represents most of the countries that is located in the South East Asian region. It started as the Association of Southeast Asia (ASA) in 1961 by Malaysia (known as Malaya before 1963), Philippines and Thailand. It became ASEAN in 1967 after Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Philippines and Indonesia signed the ASEAN Declaration. At first, it was formed as an act of prevention from any communist led insurgency and serve as “serve as a security community, promoting social and political stability during a turbulent time in the region” as according to Sheila Smith, former Council of Foreign Relations officer (Bennett, Ginsberg, Xu). As time grows however, ASEAN becomes more important to the region and now, it consists of 10 nation state members from the South East Asia region.

The most representative regional economic organization in East Asia is ASEAN, which was established in Bangkok and formed by five founding members, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. Brunei, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam and Cambodia also joined successively to form the ten countries of ASEAN. ASEAN is abbreviated by Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which was built to contain the Communist forces with the purpose to steady military affairs and political neutrality initially. According to Tong (2005), the content of East Asian economic integration can be classified as Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and Comprehensive Economic Partnership (CEP). Previously, East Asian economic integration focuses on the operation of FTA which applies the zero tariffs on member countries; nowadays, economic cooperation agreement is inclined to CEP which contains wider issues of economic cooperation such as tariff reduction, deregulation of investment policy, enlargement of factors of production and etc. to draw the relation between member nations and achieve a higher level of integration (Jin, 2003). Moreover, the continuing goal of ASEAN is to promote the inter-regional economic development, enhance the partnership and maintain the peace in the region (Taiwan ASEAN Studies Center, 2014). Before Asian financial crisis, ASEAN is a representative of the regional economic organization that especially focuses on

Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a political organization, culture and economy in Southeast Asia. ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. ASEAN should promote economic and political interests in the region when dealing with other areas of the world. ASEAN also promotes social and cultural development and regional stability. While ASEAN countries have different styles of government, ASEAN also promotes the ideals of the democratic process. Most ASEAN countries have experienced rapid economic progress and represent a very important role in this region. It was formed in 1967 from the five countries as the successor to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.