The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) and United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) began a partnership in 2002 to address barriers to organic trade arising from the proliferation of organic standards and technical regulations. From 2002 to 2008 the partnership organized and supported the International Task Force on Harmonization and Equivalence in Organic Agriculture (ITF), which drew together participants from 28 governments, seven intergovernmental organizations and more than 25 civil society/private sector organizations to assess the situation and explore solutions to the problem. By the end of 2008, the ITF issued a set of recommendations for harmonization, equivalence and other forms of cooperation to reduce the barriers and create clearer pathways for organic trade. ITF also produced two practical tools to facilitate equivalence assessments. The Guide for Assessing Equivalence of Organic Standards and Technical Regulations (EquiTool) facilitates equivalence assessments of organic production and processing standards. The International Requirements for Organic Certification Bodies (IROCB) facilitates assessments of the equivalence of good-practice requirements for organic certification bodies. In 2009 the three partner organizations began a follow-up project to continue pursuing the aims of harmonization and equivalence. The approach of the Global Organic Market Access (GOMA) project is to increase awareness of the need for harmonization and equivalence for organic trade, to facilitate regional initiatives for cooperation, and to promote the ITF Tools and offer technical assistance for using them. The GOMA project is generously supported by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad). The GOMA project supports an initiative in East, South-East, and South Asia to develop a framework for cooperation on organic labelling and trade. A foundation for this initiative is this study. Entitled “Scoping Study for Equivalence and Harmonization of Organic Standards and Technical Regulations in the Asia Region”, the study begins with an overview of the situation of organic agriculture, trade, and regulation in the Region. It then offers ideas for developing a framework for facilitating trade within and beyond the region and suggests steps in that direction. In addition to its utility for the GOMA project, this study is valuable as an overview and reference for anyone seeking to understand the state of the organic sector in Asia. It shows how cooperation on trade policy can foster sector development in a part of the world that is destined to be at least as significant for organic agriculture as Europe and North America.