Its main economic instruments for promoting regional cooperation has been the ASEAN Preferential Trading Arrangement (1977) and the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA), which is based on the Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT. However, CEPT use has been limited by high administrative costs of acquiring preferences, t low margin of tariff preference between CEPT and most favoured nation, the lack of private sector awareness. and the lack of a robust dispute settlement mechanism. Aside from the limited effectiveness of the CEPr, its spatial impact and effect on the urban ide rather landscape are diluted by the fact that preferences are countryw than for specific areas