The Free Trade Agreement of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) does not contradict existing bilateral FTAs in the region and can help facilitate global trade and investment, said Tom Seymour, tax leader of PwC Asia Pacific, on Wednesday.
The FTAAP was proposed in 2006 but enormous challenges lie ahead for its establishment.
Seymour told Xinhua that the biggest difficulty is that the FTAAP involves the negotiations of a large number of countries and complex political factors.
The numerous existing FTAs could lay a foundation for the much bigger FTAAP and the models could be copied, said Seymour from Australia.
China has said it will seek to accelerate the establishment of the FTAAP at the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) Economic Leaders' Meeting in November in Beijing.
Earlier this month, APEC trade ministers agreed in the eastern Chinese coastal city of Qingdao to take concrete actions to strengthen regional economic integration and advance the FTAAP from 2014.
Uncertainties remain over outlook for TPP talks
2014-05-21Market access remains key hurdle in TPP talks
2014-05-20US, Japan fail to reach TPP trade deal
2014-04-25S Korea, China to hold 11th FTA talks next week
2014-05-22Asia-Pacific FTA high on agenda
2014-05-16Copyright ©1999-2018
Chinanews.com. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.