Suchergebnisse

The Secretariat of the Preferential Trade Area for Eastern and Southern African States (PTA), in close co-operation with the International Trade Centre UNCTAD/GATT (ITC), is undertaking a comprehensive programme of activities aimed at promoting trade between the member states of PTA. The present data series was prepared as part of this programme, within the framework of a project entitled "Promotion of Intraregional Trade through Supply and Demand Surveys". For the purpose of this compilation the COMTRADE database was used, which contains foreign trade statistics for 199 countries and customs areas

AbstractThe Pacific Alliance, born as an alternative to "postliberal regionalism," aimed at reinforcing the liberalization and openness strategies as well as the North–South agreements previously subscribed by its members. It sought to enhance intraregional trade, promote value chains, and reach out to the Asia‐Pacific region. Ten years after the creation of the Pacific Alliance, it is relevant to assess its effect on trade flows among its members and with other regional trade agreements like the Andean Community and the Southern Common Market. We use an augmented gravity model and the panel data methodology to provide evidence that the Pacific Alliance has not affected trade flows significantly among its members or with other South American regional trade agreements.

This paper provides trade flow projections for major Asian developing economies (ADEs) up to 2030 against the backdrop of an in-depth analysis of policy shifts and trade patterns over the past 4 decades. Merchandise trade of ADEs has grown at a much faster rate in the global context, with a distinct intraregional bias. Global production sharing has become a unique feature of the economic landscape of the region, with the People's Republic of China playing a pivotal complementary role as the premier assembly center within the regional production networks. According to the projections made within the standard gravity modelling framework, total real nonoil trade of ADEs would increase at an average annual rate of 8.2 during the next 2 decades, with a notable convergence of individual countries' rates to the regional average. The share of intraregional trade in total nonoil trade would increase steadily from 53% in 2010 to 58% in 2030. The trade-to-GDP ratio would increase from 39.4% and 74.4% between these 2 years. These predictions need to be treated with caution as they are based on the assumption that the trade structure pertaining to the estimation period will remain unchanged in the next 2 decades.

This article shows that economic integration acts as a viable instrument of protection for individual countries, when benefits of discriminatory protectionist policies like the multifiber arrangement are withdrawn. Using United Nations Conference on Trade and Development statistics for 1995–2013 and applying an extended version of the augmented gravity model, we show that the formation of a trade bloc like the South Asian Free Trade Area unambiguously promotes member countries' exports of textile and clothing at both intra‐bloc and extra‐bloc levels. The expansion of south‐south trade is facilitated by the growing intraregional trade in intermediate goods. The creation of a regional value chain can shield the smaller countries in the context of enhanced global competition. (JEL F14, F15, F13)

Regional integration is often seen as a powerful development strategy that provides a large parallel market for the development of new industries and minimizes external shocks through increased national income and bargaining power (Balassa 1961). At regional and subregional levels, economic cooperation has been one of the fundamental policy options for many developing countries in the last three decades (Jones 2002). There is consensus among policymakers, researchers, and political leaders that Africa could develop faster through regional integration. The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA 2017) has suggested that regional integration and trading blocs are critical for African nations to achieve sustainable development and increase their participation in the global economy. In addition, UNECA has asserted that regional integration promotes economic growth and industrialization through fostering intraregional trade, infrastructure, and investment (McCarthy 1996). Cooperation of countries provides a huge market for new industrial development which reduces external vulnerability through increasing bargaining power and, in turn, improves standards of living. Regional trade cooperation of countries is regarded by UNECA as a key strategy to confront globalization challenges. ; PR ; IFPRI1; ReSAKSS; AGRODEP ; AFR; MTID

The various Latin American and Caribbean free trade agreements have not been successful. This is due to a number of underlying elements within the region and, more recently, to unfavorable external economic conditions. The oil shocks and the external debt crisis placed intra-Latin American trade at a low priority. Overlapping and inaction now beset the Latin American Association for Integration, the Andean Pact, the Central American Common Market, and the Caribbean Community and Common Market. Recent bilateral and multilateral initiatives in Latin America have failed to clarify the issues. Mexico is seeking integration with the United States and Canada. The Enterprise for the Americas Initiative, on the other hand, envisions a vague hemispheric free-trade area. As certain Latin American countries become increasingly capable of exporting manufactures on a competitive basis to world markets, intraregional trade will also develop, provided joint ventures are carried out, tariffs are lowered, and nontariff barriers are eliminated within the region.

The South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA), due to have been implemented starting July 2006, has adopted a negative list approach permitting member countries to potentially exclude a substantial share of intraregional trade from the tariff liberalisation process. This study finds that the excluded trade amounts to nearly 53 per cent of current import trade amongst South Asian countries, bringing into question the future prospects for meaningful economic cooperation under a regional framework. At the very least, if the SAFTA treaty had built on the existing bilateral FTAs in the region, it would eventually have come to supersede such agreements. Unfortunately, the regional initiative has lagged well behind the bilateral process, and is likely to be overtaken by alternative strategic trade policy initiatives cropping up in the region. It seems likely that attempts at economic integration of the South Asian region under the SAARC framework is liable to fragment.

Preface / Amb. Libe̹rat Mfumukeko -- Introduction: A Journey Towards Regional Integration / Jean-Marc Trouille -- Rethinking the Collapse of the First East African Community 1977: Lessons for the EU / Asteris Huliaras and Sophia Kalantzakos -- Contrasting Political Systems and the Challenge of Regional Integration: Uganda versus the rest in the EAC / Charles Amone -- Regulating the EAC: the origins, jurisdiction and authority of the East African Court of Justice / Helen Trouille -- An Analysis of Trade Trends in Africa: the EU and China in East Africa / -- Lynette Odondi -- The East African Community: Strong Dimensions, Weak Dimensions and Challenges / Jose̹ Mella -- Legal and Institutional Framework for Equitable Distribution of FDI in the EAC / Elvis Mbembe Binda -- Why the EU is Not Enough: EU member states' bilateral promotion of regional integration in the East African Community / Harrison Kalunga Mwilima -- The EAC and the Burundi Crisis: The East African Standby Force as an instrument for Security integration / Ge̹rard Birantamije -- South Sudan: Challenges and Opportunities as a Member State of the EAC / Dirk Hansohm -- Social Integration of the EAC: migration, education, normative power and human rights / Penine Uwimbabazi -- Exploring the Challenges and Opportunities of Civil Society and other Non- Government Organisations fostering Regional Integration: The case of the EAC / Julaina Obika and Moses Onyango -- Conclusion / Amb. Roeland van de Geer.

Small and medium-sized free trade agreements have inherent difficulties in growth and expansion in the global economy which amounts to more than US Dollar 30 trillion. Neomercantilist ASEAN's share of the global exports was 6.5 per cent in 2000, while that of neoliberal MERCOSUR was less than 2 per cent. Furthermore, the trade within ASEAN has not been growing for the past three decades, averaging about 20 per cent of the total volume. MERCOSUR's average has been on par with ASEAN's. This article argues that the two regional markets have reached the optimum point of intra-regional trade creation under the existing political economy models. Post-11 September security issues are further complicating the regional integration. The two regions need to revisit the existing inter-state alliance structure and invent new security regimes. The alternative is not whether the two regions must retain neomercantilism or reject neoliberalism; rather it is how to blend the two systems so that the model can satisfy the domestic political needs and at the same time to enable economic growth in the next phase of globalization. (Contemp Southeast Asia/DÜI)