We are happy to report that the University of Central Asia has become ARTNeT's first member from the Central Asian region. The UCA is a secular, non-profit, private university, established in 2000 by the Presidents of Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. ARTNeT participation will be led by The Institute of Public Policy and Administration (IPPA) - one of the University of Central Asia's leading research units. The institute was established in 2011 with the aim of improving public policy and promoting evidence-based policymaking in Central Asia. Prof. Roman Mogilevskii, IPPA Head of Reseach and Senior Research Fellow will serve as ARTNeT focal point (roman.mogilevskii@ucentralasia.org).

This new working paper analyses the effects of outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) on the domestic activity of Indian multinational enterprises (MNEs). The study finds that OFDI by Indian MNEs has positive impacts on export intensity and research and development (R&D). However, no significant impact is found on domestic investments, output, employment, import of raw materials, and import of capital goods. Overall the study finds no significant negative effects of OFDI on domestic activity. It argues that the benefits from OFDI by manufacturing firms may be greater if policies are directed towards improving the country’s international supply chain connectivity for greater participation in global value chain and production network.

ARTNeT, in collaboration with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale (GIZ, Germany) and The Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ, Germany) jointly organised a capacity building workshop on "Gravity Modelling for Trade Policy Analysis" (7 to 9 April 2015) in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The three-day event was designed to integrate the research capacity building and research programme implementation objectives and activities of ARTNeT. It included hands-on training on gravity modelling, including: dataset preparation; estimation; interpretation; and policy applications. Applied gravity modelling techniques and simulations were introduced, and related theoretical equations were covered in the workshop.

ARTNeT has concluded its trade and investment capacity building project for Myanmar, organized with the support of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC). The final event of the year-long programme was the seminar Myanmar and the Asia-Pacific region: Role of policy research in economic and trade reforms, held at the Yangon University of Economics from 19-21 February 2015. Overall, the project helped develop two studies undertaken by local researchers: on NTMs in the textile industry and services and the AEC.  Going forward, the generous support of ARTNeT institutional member RIS, New Delhi, will enable the researchers to undertake additional hands-on training. At present research proposals are being selected and grants will be announced by mid-April.

This research paper by the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP) examines Japan’s FTA strategies with a focus on Japan’s 13 bilateral FTAs, and ongoing negotiations on the TPP and the EU-Japan FTA. It highlights the differences between the Japan’s 13 existing FTAs and the ongoing two Mega FTA negotiations in terms of Japan’s FTA strategy. The research analyses global value chains using the European Commission’s World Input-Output Tables and examines the relationship between the Japanese government’s FTA strategy and its domestic manufacturing firms’ role and strength.

This new discussion paper by the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) investigates the effects of the formation of free trade agreements (FTAs) on trade disputes. It finds that the incidences of trade disputes between two countries are positively associated with economic size, economic growth, and trade shares. It demonstrates that FTAs between two countries reduce the occurrences of trade disputes. In addition, FTAs relying on the WTO dispute settlement mechanism further reduce trade disputes between their members compared to FTAs without provisions on trade dispute settlement. In contrast, the dispute-reducing effect is mitigated in FTAs which have their own dispute settlement mechanisms.