Types of Trade Agreements -

Global Free Trade as dreamt by WTO is not possible in all its respects.  Homogeneity and harmony of interest are the preconditions for the success of a free trade agreement.  Heterogeneity and conflicting interest between various nations constraints the global free trade.  Their arise different types of trade agreements on the basis of the degree of regional integration brought about by them:
1. Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs):  Regional agreement in which members of PTA impose a preferential tariff or lower customs duty on the products originating from member countries.
2. Free Trade Agreements (FTAs): FTA is a special case of PTA where all tariff and non-tariff barriers are abolished and free access is allowed to the products of member countries.  Their a free trade area is evolved, which is a designated group of countries that have agreed to eliminate tariffs, Quotas and preferences on most goods and services between them.
3. Customs Unions (CUs): A Customs Union moves beyond a free trade area by establishing a common external tariff on all trade between, members and non-members.  There exists a common external trade policy. 
4. Common Markets (CMs): A Common Market deepens a customs union by providing free flow of factors of production such as labour and capital inaddition to the flow of outputs.
5. Economic Unions (EUs): In an Economic and Monetary Union, members share a common currency and macro-economic policies.
Out of these the most rampantly seen economic integration type is Free Trade Area or Regional Trade Blocks.  This is because of the homogeneity characters and geographical proximity with in an area.  In a world where global free trade is difficult to achieve the trade liberalization was enabled through RTBs to a great extend.  The approach of RTBs are somewhat regional when compared to the global or multilateral approach of WTO.  Advocates of regionalization argue that countries with homogenioes interests are more likely to liberalize trade dramatically than the large heterogeneous group of countries involved in WTO.  Moreover Article XXIV of the GATT Agreement recognizes RTB's as half way step towards free trade.  India is already involved in a number of FTA's like:-
South Asia Free Trade Area (SAFTA) by all the member states of South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC), India- Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement, Agreement on India- Bhutan Trade And Commerce, Trade Agreement between India and Bangladesh, Trade Agreement between India and Maldives, India - Nepal treaty of trade, India - Afganisthan Preferential Trade Agreement etc.
ASEAN is one such Free Trade Area integrating 10 small countries sharing a common culture, ethnicity, similar economic conditions, geographical proximity etc.  It is an FTA with small member countries or Under Developed Countries, Which turns to be a successful RTB or FTA.  Even though certain political reasons which paved the way of integration of these 10 counties, now it turned to be an economy zone.  As part of its look east policy mentioned in the previous post, India cannot be able to stay back from this agreement.  So India is there and the agreement became reality.  Now let us think about alternatives or remedies to overcome the ill effects which may arise as the outcome of the agreement.  There is no doubt that it will have far reaching impact on Kerala's economy and agricultural sector.