ABSTRACT
Latin American and East Asian economies have grown substantially over the last decades based on the growth of foreign direct investment (FDI) and trade. Since the end of the nineties the governments in both regions have decided to put up a number of bilateral Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). This trend is another manifestation of a worldwide process of economic integration which currently encompasses 300 bilateral and regional free trade agreements. Seven years ago only 130 bilateral FTAs existed (The Wall Street Journal, 5 November 2007). Bilateral FTAs co-exist with regional integration schemes such as ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), ASEAN+3 (ASEAN, China, South Korea and Japan), AFTA (ASEAN Free Trade Area) and EAS (East Asian Summit) on the Asian side, and MERCOSUR (Southern Common Market), Andean Community and LAIA (Latin American Integration Association) on the Latin American side. As the intraregional welfare gains in both regions increased, new interregional FTAs emerged as a means of securing access to new export markets. Currently there are nine FTAs in force, linking the two regions.
