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Dr. Akhtar deliver a presentation on recent developments and challenges facing the Asia Pacific region, related to regional economic cooperation and integration connectivity and future implementation of the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development.

The paper is concerned about the political initiatives of Japan in the becoming of the Asia-Pacific economic cooperation. Japan takes part in the bloc-process APEC actively. The Osaka summit in 1995 discussed some actions for stimulation regional economic development. This article describes the APEC progress and Japanese political and diplomatic initiatives in the Asian-Pacific economic cooperation. ; The paper is concerned about the political initiatives of Japan in the becoming of the Asia-Pacific economic cooperation. Japan takes part in the bloc-process APEC actively. The Osaka summit in 1995 discussed some actions for stimulation regional economic development. This article describes the APEC progress and Japanese political and diplomatic initiatives in the Asian-Pacific economic cooperation.

This article examines cooperation against transnational crime and terrorism in two regional associations�The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). It argues that, because of the presence of paired antagonists in such associations, the existence of regional associations does not itself guarantee sound cooperation. Criminals and terrorists, on the other hand, recognise neither antagonisms between countries nor borders in deciding with whom to cooperate. Securitisation of non-conventional security threats further complicates the picture. In cases of paired antagonists and tentative regionalism such as in SAARC and ASEAN, it would be better for initial cooperation to occur in a non-securitised framework. Nevertheless, regionalism does have a place in building confidence and providing a post hoc forum for cooperation once political difficulties have eased.

This article examines cooperation against transnational crime and terrorism in two regional associations�The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). It argues that, because of the presence of paired antagonists in such associations, the existence of regional associations does not itself guarantee sound cooperation. Criminals and terrorists, on the other hand, recognise neither antagonisms between countries nor borders in deciding with whom to cooperate. Securitisation of non-conventional security threats further complicates the picture. In cases of paired antagonists and tentative regionalism such as in SAARC and ASEAN, it would be better for initial cooperation to occur in a non-securitised framework. Nevertheless, regionalism does have a place in building confidence and providing a post hoc forum for cooperation once political difficulties have eased.

Economic cooperation, including in East Asia, involves more than trade liberalisation. Other opportunities for cooperation include the exchange of expertise and technology enhancing communications networks as well as cooperative arrangements to facilitate trade and investment. Many formal border barriers to trade have already been reduced to negligible levels. At the same time, political pressures continue to sustain high protection of a few sensitive sectors, especially in agriculture. In such circumstances, there is little need for formal agreements to liberalise trade in most products, while seeking such agreements to liberalise trade in sensitive sectors is likely to prove either impossible or divisive. It would seem more efficient to leave attempts to deal with sensitive sectors to the World Trade Organization (WTO), while pursuing cooperation among East Asian economies on other matters. Nevertheless, East Asian governments are preferring to follow the conventional wisdom that serious economic cooperation must start with a preferential trade arrangement (PTA). If these agreements merely meet the minimum requirements of the WTO, they will avoid the hard issues and it will not prove possible to link them to an East Asia-wide trading arrangement. They could make it harder to pursue other mutually beneficial opportunities for region-wide cooperation. Alternatively, East Asian leaders could adopt WTO-plus principles for their PTAs, along the lines recommended in this paper. These guidelines would require them to cover all products and to extend such liberalisation to other economies in the medium term. Such WTO-plus PTAs could be linked subsequently and could form part of broader efforts towards economic cooperation and integration. This paper spells out the multiple objectives of closer economic partnerships. These can be achieved only by careful assignment of alternative options for cooperation, ranging from bilateral to multilateral and from voluntary to formally binding arrangements. PTAs are one of these options; however, they can only be an efficient component of efforts to forge East Asia-wide cooperation if they are based on WTO-plus principles.

Little is known about cooperation between nations engaged in a regional economic association. This study investigates cooperation and closure between Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) member economies engaged in negotiating five bilateral free trade agreements (FTA), including the Australia-Singapore FTA 2003, United States-Singapore FTA 2003, Chile-United States FTA 2003, Australia-United States FTA 2004, and Korea-Australia FTA 2014. This study found that a number of factors bring about or interfere with cooperation at the closure stage. Negotiation closure occurs within FTAs when discussions shift from trade diplomats focused on technical matters to senior national leaders focused on political decisions. Creditable deadline, party stability and instability, and linkage dynamics were also found to support or interfere with cooperation at the closure stage in FTA negotiations. Often FTA negotiations are concluded on the sidelines of meetings sponsored by international organizations including APEC Leaders' Summit and Ministerial meetings.

In the 21st century, China has significantly strengthened its role in world historical processes. In 40 years of reform and openness, China has not only become a world leader in economic development, it has also become an active player in the world political arena. China began to show greater interest in world development and at the same time began to actively integrate into the world community, seeking to prove the global benefits of cooperation with China. The Chinese leadership believes that China cannot stand aside from world processes and, like the rest of the world, be held hostage to the policies of other countries and bear the brunt of all the negative consequences of such policies. As a result, it was taken a course for active integration with the world community and strengthening China's participation and influence in world processes. For this purpose, several strategic strategies have been developed to achieve a specific goal, including "going abroad", "globalizing", "internationalizing" and others. At the same time, the strengthening of integration processes in the world could not leave the country's leadership indifferent, so China began to pay more attention to participation in both global and regional integration processes. One such area was China's accession to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in 1991. These areas have identified three key aspects of the Asia-Pacific Dream concept: development and economic cohesion, the unification of Asia with an emphasis on harmony, mutual benefit and prosperity in the region. The China Asia-Pacific Dream initiative aims to maintain stable and friendly partnerships with neighboring countries in order to build mutual trust. China has identified a number of common challenges that the parties must address in order to build an Asian community. China hopes to work with its partners to create a beautiful region that will lead the world, benefit all parties and bring prosperity to future generations. In this context, the Chinese leadership has identified a number of areas for development for the Asia-Pacific region. ; У ХХІ столітті Китай значно посилив свою роль в світових історичних процесах. За 40років політики реформ та відкритості Китай не тільки перетворився на країну-лідера в світовому економічному розвитку, він також став активним гравцем на світовій політичній арені. Китай почав виявлять більший інтерес до світового розвитку і поряд з цим почав активно інтегруватись у світове співтовариство, прагнучи довести світові переваги від співпраці з Китаєм. Керівництво країни вважає, що Китай не може стояти осторонь світових процесів, і як решта країн світу бути заручником політики інших країн та нести тягар усіх негативних наслідків від такої політики. В результаті було взято курс на активну інтеграцію з світовим співтовариством та посилення участі та впливу Китаю в світових процесах. З цією метою було розроблено кілька стратегічних стратегій спрямованих на досягнення визначеної мети серед яких – «йти зовні», «глобалізуватись», «інтернаціоналізуватись» та інші. Водночас посилення інтеграційних процесів в світі не могло залишити керівництво країни байдужими, тому Китай почав приділяти більшої уваги до участі як в глобальних так і регіональних інтеграційних процесах. Одним з таких напрямків стало приєднання Китаю в 1991р. до форму Азійсько-Тихоокеанського економічного співробітництва (АТЕС). Визначено три аспекти для майбутнього АТЕС, а саме: поглиблена регіональна економічна інтеграція; сприяння інноваційному розвитку, економічна реформа та зростання; посилення всебічного розвитку інфраструктури та з'єднання. Ці напрями визначили три ключові аспекти концепції «Азійсько-Тихоокеанської мрії» – розвиток та економічна з'єднаність, об'єднання Азії з акцентом на гармонію, взаємну вигоду та процвітання в регіоні. Китайська ініціатива «Азійсько-Тихоокеанської мрії» спрямована на підтримку стабільних та дружніх партнерських стосунків з сусідніми країнами, з метою формування взаємодовірчих відносин. Китай розраховує спільно з партнерами створити прекрасний регіон, який поведе за собою світ, сприятиме всім сторонам та принесе процвітання майбутнім поколінням. В цьому контексті керівництво Китаю визначило низку напрямків розвитку для АТР.

The article discusses the role and importance of regional trade and economic cooperation of Uzbekistan with the countries of Central Asia in modern conditions. The necessity of further deepening of the cooperation in order to increase the competitiveness of national producers, ensure sustainable economic growth and reduce poverty is emphasized. The geographical location and remoteness from the main centers of the world market, the similarities of customs, mentality, tastes and preferences of the population of the countries of the region, awareness of the legislation of neighboring countries in the field of foreign trade, logistics, production management reinforce significance of the problem of further deepening of trade and economic cooperation between the countries of the region. The reforms carried out in Uzbekistan in recent years, significant liberalization of the foreign trade regime and the implementation of a new open, good-neighborly and friendly policy with neighboring countries, enshrined in the Action Strategy for the five priority areas of development of the Republic of Uzbekistan in 2017 - 2021, are reflected in the dynamic development of trade and economic cooperation of Uzbekistan with the states of the region. However, there are significant unrealized potentials in this area. In order to implement tthese potentials, the article proposes measures to reform customs services, suggests initiatives to simplify trade procedures, create various forms of international special economic zones, form a common market for agricultural products, and make conditions for building regional agricultural-food clusters. According to the author's views, the implementation of suggested measures will become important factor to reduce transport expenditure in the cost of goods, expand market capacity and achieve economies of scale, diversify choices of raw materials, form competitive commodity markets in the region and reduce price volatility on them. All this, in turn, will lead to increase in the attractiveness of the regional market for foreign investment, growth of export potential and more efficient use of the advantages of the international labor division and international trade.

Intraregional trade and investment among the ASEAN+3 countries—and the entire East Asia—has been progressing at a robust pace over the past 25 years. The process of economic integration could be aptly described as "regionalization" or market-driven integration. In contrast, the European Union has followed 'regionalism' which refers to formal economic cooperation and economic arrangements. Over the past decade, efforts at promoting closer regionalism in East Asia have been stepped up for various reasons, including: i) a response to the experience and lessons of the 1997 financial crisis; ii) the gridlock in the Doha round, success of NAFTA, and expansion of the EU; and iii) the mitigation of political factors that prevented closer cooperation in the past, e.g. competition between China and Japan. However, the structure of East Asia regionalism should be analyzed carefully, in particular because the direct economic benefits of an East Asia FTA are questionable. Therefore, the configuration of the proposed East Asian Community must be developed pragmatically. It is argued that at this stage the EAFTA and EAC should still be promoted but with the view that their benefits are primarily political. The political windfall will likely lead to significant economic benefits, particularly in terms of narrowing the development gap in the region and advancing common interests in a global-rules setting. The political and institutional imperatives of establishing the EAFTA or EAC at this stage depend largely on whether countries of the region seek to expand economic ties or whether they would want to secure the political gains from closer integration and cooperation.

The report contains ideas on enhanced cooperation on both security and economy. It is a particular relevant read for regional political decision makers, institutions, private companies, and researchers that wish to gain insight into the present and future political and economic developments of Afghan-Pakistani relations and to the region in general. Military institutions, officers and officials facing deployment in the region as well as universities and scholars with ongoing research and programmes in the region will also benefit from output of the stabilization project that this report represents.

In November 2009 U.S. President Barack Obama travelled for the first time to Japan, attended the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Singapore, met the heads of state of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) - including the representative of the Burmese military junta -, spent three days in Shanghai and Peking, and concluded his trip in South Korea. Presenting himself as the first 'Pacific' U.S. president and presenting the United States as a central actor in the region, he communicated three messages: The United States will uphold and strengthen the traditional bilateral alliances in Asia, get more involved in the existing multilateral organisations, and is ready to co-operate with China on today's global challenges. In the American and European media, the trip received a predominantly negative response, since it had not produced any tangible results, but instead had signalled the decline of the United States and its influence in the region. Behind this verdict stands the - misguided - expectation that Obama's new approaches would instantly lead to changed positions among U.S. partners

Asia-Pacific cities are experiencing substantial environmental problems, which require innovative policy approaches. One newly emergent policy strand is that of 'sustainable consumption'. This approach aims to reduce environmental degradation by encouraging all consumers to adopt more environmentally friendly modes of behaviour, especially those living in congested and environmentally degraded urban areas. Although a promising initiative, significant conceptual and practical problems exist with sustainable consumption's current policy framework. However, rather than abandon the idea completely, consumption should become central to researching environmental issues in Asia-Pacific cities. Here, a 'political ecology' approach frames all forms of consumption as revealing political, economic and cultural practices and modes of distributions that give rise to current unsustainable outcomes. Through in-depth examinations of current forms of consumption, this approach aims to offer a challenging perspective for future research into Asia-Pacific urban environmental problems.

Asia-Pacific cities are experiencing substantial environmental problems, which require innovative policy approaches. One newly emergent policy strand is that of 'sustainable consumption'. This approach aims to reduce environmental degradation by encouraging all consumers to adopt more environmentally friendly modes of behaviour, especially those living in congested and environmentally degraded urban areas. Although a promising initiative, significant conceptual and practical problems exist with sustainable consumption's current policy framework. However, rather than abandon the idea completely, consumption should become central to researching environmental issues in Asia-Pacific cities. Here, a 'political ecology' approach frames all forms of consumption as revealing political, economic and cultural practices and modes of distributions that give rise to current unsustainable outcomes. Through in-depth examinations of current forms of consumption, this approach aims to offer a challenging perspective for future research into Asia-Pacific urban environmental problems.

Description based on: v.7, no.4, Spring 1983 ; Mode of access: Internet.

Indonesia with seven other countries, namely Bangladesh, China, Iran, Mongolia, Pakistan, Peru, and Thailand are the signatory countries of APSCO Convention, on October 28th, 2005. APSCO is space coopeation organization outside the United Nations system for the Asia Pacific region, initiated by the People's Republic of China. To date, from the eight signatory countries, only Indonesia has not ratified yet and has not become a full member of APSCO. This paper examines cost and benefit of the Indonesia membership on APSCO. The methods used are quantitative and qualitative method. While the analysis used approaches related to contribution of cost to provided and benefits to be received by Indonesia as well as the national interest mentioned in Presidential Decree No. 64/1999 on Indonesian Membership and Indonesian Government Contributions to International Organizations. From the study, it was found that by ratifying the Convention and following APSCO activities optimally, the benefits will be receive by Indonesia greater than contribution given to APSCO. Similarry, the joining of Indonesia in APSCO will also provide substansial benefit for the national interest, especially for politic, economic, international peace and security, humanity, and others as well as enhancing better relationship among countries in the Asia-Pacific region.