A comprehensive economic cooperation agreement with Singapore is in train. The Bangkok Agreement has a new signatory (China). Various other acronyms of alphabet soup are stalking the corridors of commerce and external affairs ministries.
But what really are FTAs, or, more generally, preferential trading arrangements (PTAs)? How do they affect cross-border trade? Are they good or bad for us? Can they substitute for freer, non-discriminatory multilateral trade? These are important questions for which the answers are not always crystal clear. But let
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