The Asia-Pacific Research and Training Network on Trade (ARTNeT) is an open regional network composed of leading trade research institutions across the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) region, and supported by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and Agence française de développement (AFD).
The ARTNeT aims at increasing the amount of quality and relevant trade research in the region by harnessing the research capacity already available and developing additional capabilities. The activities of ARTNeT continue to be focused on three pillars, namely:
• production of demand-driven and home-grown research of the region;
• building of research capacity in the region, particularly that of least developed countries (LDCs); and
• dissemination of knowledge and information to key stakeholders.
Current members include 62 leading national trade research and academic institutions from almost 20 developing countries from East, South, and Southeast Asia and the Pacific.
ARTNeT Establishment and Structure
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The Asia-Pacific Research and Training Network on Trade (ARTNeT) was launched in November 2004 with the support of the Canadian International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Trade and Investment Division of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) which provides both the Secretariat of the network and a direct regional link to trade policymakers and other international organizations.
Since its launch, the Network has attracted 40 member research institutions from the developing countries of the region and has gained some additional partners, including the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). A number of bilateral donors are also providing financial support to the network. For example, the Government of France and the Swiss Agency for Cooperation and Development have provided support for the ARTNeT Greater Mekong Subregion initiative, and the Government of Macao, China funded the MARKHUB project.
ARTNeT Strategy
To achieve the long-term goal of enabling government policymakers to more effectively formulate trade policies, ARTNeT has adopted a three-pronged strategy.
- Research
ARTNeT and its members aim to produce high quality research and analysis on trade and investment related issues. Currently the ARTNeT research programme emphasizes the implementation of regional multi-institutions research studies including themes such as:
- Trade, investment, and domestic policy coherence for inclusive growth
- Trade Facilitation (TF) and Development of Related Services Sectors
- Multilateral Trade Liberalization and Regional integration
- Dissemination
ARTNeT research as well as members’ research is disseminated through various means, including a dedicated website, an online regional database of trade-related publications, a working paper and a policy brief series, a newsletter and other publications. ARTNeT's thematic consultative meetings provide both the research institutions and policymakers with an opportunity to exchange information and data, share ideas, review and refine research findings and recommendations.
- Capacity Building
As many of the countries in the region have yet to evolve trade-related research programmes, ARTNeT strives to build research capacity in the region, particularly in least developed countries. This is done through implementation of regional team-based research studies, research grants to junior researchers from least developed countries, organization of technical training workshops for trade research, and visiting fellowships to academic institutions.
ARTNeT Resources and Tools
ARTNeT provides access to the following tools and resources through its website:
- ARTNeT Trade Publication Database:
The ARTNeT database of trade publications gives access to full-text trade-related publications of research institutions and international organizations working in the Asia-Pacific region, including those of ARTNeT members and partners. The database is updated regularly and allows search by trade focus areas, sources, keywords and more.
- Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment Agreements Database (APTIAD)
The Asia-Pacific Trade Agreements Database (APTIAD) gives researchers and policymakers easy access to all the preferential trade agreements entered into by the countries of the Asia and Pacific region and enables them to calculate some of the most commonly used indicators (e.g. export/import value, export/import growth, export/import share, trade share, trade intensity) by country or region, product and year.
- Interactive Gravity Modeling Database:
This initiative is designed to more closely integrate the research capacity building and research programme implementation objectives and activities of ARTNeT. It includes regional technical research workshops, support for research studies to apply techniques learned, development of related research facilitation tools, and support for dissemination of policy relevant results.
- Comprehensive Trade Cost Database:
The Trade and Investment Division, in support to the ARTNeT research programme on trade facilitation, has developed a bilateral trade cost database in an effort to increase understanding of the cost of trading between countries in Asia and the Pacific and beyond. The trade cost measure is a comprehensive all-inclusive measure based on micro-theory and calculated using macro-economic data, providing an alternative measure of trade facilitation performance.
- ARTNeT Alerts on Emerging Policy Challenges:
ARTNeT Alerts provide a channel for policymakers and other stakeholders to alert the trade and investment research community to emerging policy challenges.
ARTNeT Knowledge Platforms
ARTNeT Aid for Trade is designed to provide conceptual understanding of what is the importance of aid towards trade and development. The platform aims at disseminating comprehensive information on stakeholders It is expected that this platform also contribute towards supporting greater regional cooperation and coordinating among the actors of Aid for Trade in Asia and Pacific. The platform provides access to over 2500 full text working papers, reports and other materials available in the ARTNeT Publication Search Database.
ARTNeT CENSUS is a knowledge sharing initiative in the area of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs).It is designed to bring together regional stakeholders to build support to policy-making necessary for growth of the innovation economy by offering the Asia-Pacific region. CENSUS will also provide a unique platform for enabling research and related output dissemination. It includes a searchable database of individuals be they policymakers, academics or intellectual property lawyers from within and outside the region with the interests in IPRs.
ARTNeT Services Trade and regulation platform provides enhanced access to resources relating to trade and regulation in services, including links to trainings and publications, as well as to databases of statistics and regulations of relevance to services. There is also an on-line registration for experts in these areas.
ARTNeT GMS initiative aims to provide enhanced complementary support to research institutions from the subregion to conduct joint trade-related research on issues of interest to policymakers. The initiative includes a capacity-building component involving researchers and research institutions in GMS countries, as well as a research programme component in line with priority areas identified through ARTNeT consultations and relevant government focal points. It provides up-to-date figures on development gaps between member states in ASEAN.
ARTNeT Publications
ARTNeT presents materials from ARTNeT research programmes and/or individual research programmes of members in the form of ARTNeT policy briefs, working paper, newsletters, books, books reviews, and other publications all of which are available for viewing and downloading free of charge on its website.
Recent topics have included:
- Using CGE modelling for Thailand’s policymaking in the context of regionalism and other trade policy options. December 2015
- Financing trade and supply chains. May 2015
- The Gravity Model of International Trade: A User Guide (ST/ESCAP/2645). 2012
- Import tariffs and export subsidies in the World Trade Organization: A small-country approach (ARTNeT working paper no. 119, September 2012)
- Trade-led growth: A sound strategy in Asia (A collection of papers presented at the conference celebrating 5th anniversary of ARTNeT, 2012)
- Trade-led growth: A sound strategy for Asia (ST/ESCAP/2618). 2011
ARTNeT Events and Training
ARTNeT organizes conference/workshops/policy to provide an opportunity for researchers to showcase their work and to get input and feedback from prominent trade experts and policymakers from around the world. The dissemination events help to address issues which are of particular relevance in one country, while drawing from studies and lessons from other countries to reach policy conclusions.
ARTNeT Members
ARTNeT Associate Partners
ARTNeT Core Partners
* UNESCAP TID serves as the ARTNeT Secretariat
References
- Asia-Pacific Trade Agreements Database
- United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
External links
- Asia-Pacific Research and Training Network on Trade (ARTNeT)
- Asia-Pacific Trade Agreements Database (APTIAD)
- United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP)
- ARTNeT Greater Mekong Subregion
- Canadian International Development Research Centre (IDRC)