Are Asian services markets optimal regulatory convergence areas?

One of the striking features of trade diplomacy in recent years has been the seemingly unstoppable march of preferential trade liberalization and rule-making (Kawai and Wignajara, 2010). Of the 83 preferential trade agreements (PTAs) in force prior to the year 2000, 73 (88%) featured provisions dealing exclusively with trade in goods. By August 2013, 105 of the additional 176 PTAs in force (60%) also included provisions on services trade. The above trends signal the heightened importance of services trade in general, the growing need felt by countries to place such trade on a firmer institutional and rule-making footing and the attractiveness of doing so on an expedited basis through preferential negotiating platforms (Sauvé and Shingal, 2011).