Centre for International Economics
Canberra & Sydney
3 August 2010
Contents
Executive summary 5
The GMS region and TTF 7
Dynamic growth has been underpinned by strong trade and investment
performance … 7
There is scope to do even better by reducing costs of cross-border trade and
transport … 10
Open policies and TTF help in achieving economic outcomes 14
Openness enables growth 14
Two case studies from the region provide strong evidence 17
How big are the benefits of improving TTF? 20
The magnitude of the costs and time delays on trade 20
The economy-wide gains from TTF can be significant 23
Importance of GMS TTF agenda in achieving the benefits 26
References 29
APPENDICES 31
A GMS background indicators 33
B GMS TTF initiatives 35
C TTF and logistics indicators 36
D GTAP and gravity models 41