The ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement
The ASEAN - Australia - New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (AANZFTA), signed on 27th February 2009 in Cha am, Thailand, is ASEAN's first FTA with two developed countries simultaneously, and the first ASEAN FTA done in a single undertaking. AANZFTA represents ASEAN´s most ambitious FTA to date, covering 18 chapters including new areas that ASEAN had previously never negotiated on, such as competition policy and intellectual property.
The AANZFTA also includes an AANZFTA Economic Cooperation Support Programme, which will provide technical assistance and capacity building to the Parties of the AANZFTA with the aim of supporting the implementation of the Agreement as well as to support the overall regional economic integration process.
As of 2012, the Agreement has entered into force for all Parties and work is currently underway to resolve and implement the built-in agenda as stipulated under the Agreement.