This study presents selected existing and emerging Regional Trading Arrangements (RTAs) to show key features of the new regionalism and to determine if they help advance the cause of multilateralism. In its assessment, the study has found that these new RTAs go beyond mere trade in commodities and services and incorporate deeper forms of integration, such as liberalization of investment regimes, adoption of mutual recognition arrangements, and in some instances, harmonization of competition policy. Efforts are made to ensure true integration of national markets. Furthermore, the new RTAs tend to be more outward-oriented than the ones established more than two decades ago. Moreover, a number of them include both developed and developing economies, giving rise to possibilities for greater specialization in production and trade. All these suggest that the new RTAs upon up new opportunities to advance multilateral trade liberalization.
