scholarly journals Effect on Regional integration on Inter-regional Trade in Africa

Author(s):  

Regional integration offers participating countries advantages including the enlargement of the economic space, increased efficiency and the development of interregional trade. In the African regional communities, these assets are slow to emerge because of insufficient progress in the implementation of protocols, lack of economic diversification and various supply-side constraints. Moreover, Africa’s ability to participate fully in world trade is currently hampered by weaknesses in private investment inflows, commodity dependence, non-existent or poorly developed infrastructure, and small regional markets

This chapter is perhaps the most important and significant chapter in the book. This is because of the great importance attached to increasing regional integration and trade as an enlargement of regional markets. The chapter focuses on the perspectives of international trade as a foundation for regional integration, regional integration schemes and their processes, and the African regional integration and its regional trading blocs. The trading blocs are meant to enlarge African markets and to be pillars and building blocks of the African economic community. The chapter also examines the importance of proximities—geographic, economic, political, and administrative—in helping to promote regional trade. Regional trade has grown faster than international trade in the last five decades, and successful regional trading countries are the wealthiest in the world today. Those with low or limited regional trade—like countries in the African and the Middle East regions—are the poorest countries today. The seven major African trading blocs are fully described in the chapter.


Author(s):  
Hamza Çeştepe ◽  
Tamer Güven

In this study, the structure and level of intra-regional trade in Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), which is a movement of regional cooperation founded in the Western and Central Asia region, has been analyzed. In ECO, with a share below its potential at the world trade, intra-regional trade is low relative to other regional integrations such as the European Union. However, the volume of intra-regional trade in the region countries, except a few countries, tend to increase in recent years. In this study, as a result of the evaluation made by the indices calculated, it was found that the region countries is in the position of more complementary economies in context of foreign trade; the countries has generally a high trade intensity with its neighbors; intra-industry trade in the region is at low level. As a result, although the level and structure of intra-regional trade in ECO region seems to be disincentive for the transformation to regional integration as of today, recent developments suggest that this obstacle will gradually diminish in the future. In addition, if some of advantages and potential of the region in terms of regional integration can be valued it does not seem very difficult to reach more advanced stages of integration for this cooperation movement.


2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chalongphob Sussangkarn ◽  
Deunden Nikomborirak

Since the Asian financial crisis in 1997, Thailand has become highly dependent on exports as the main engine of economic growth. In 2008, the ratio of export to GDP was about 76.5 percent. The global economic crisis triggered by the sub-prime loans debacle in the United States has prompted Thailand to rethink its high dependence on export. This paper examines the options for external and internal economic rebalancing strategies for Thailand. External rebalancing will require Thailand to rely more on regional markets and less on the Western markets for its exports. The paper examines the possibility of promoting greater intra-regional trade and Thailand's regional trade strategies. As for internal rebalancing, the paper emphasizes the need to boost domestic public and private investment in terms of both quantity and quality to narrow the current saving–investment gap, bearing in mind the need to ensure fiscal sustainability. Finally, the paper examines broader rebalancing strategies that will help Thailand to become less dependent on exports. These include the need to (1) improve productivity; (2) increase economic efficiency; (3) deepen the production structure and create new dynamic industries; and (4) generate new growth poles.


Equilibrium ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elżbieta Czarny ◽  
Paweł Folfas

We analyse potential consequences of the forthcoming Trade and Investment Partnership between the European Union and the United States (TTIP) for trade orientation of both partners. We do it so with along with the short analysis of the characteristics of the third wave of regionalism and the TTIP position in this process as well as the dominant role of the EU and the U.S. in the world economy – especially – in the world trade. Next, we study trade orientation of the hypothetical region created in result of TTIP. We use regional trade introversion index (RTII) to analyze trade between the EU and the U.S. that has taken place until now to get familiar with the potential changes caused by liberalization of trade between both partners. We analyze RTII for mutual trade of the EU and the U.S. Then, we apply disaggregated data to analyze and compare selected partial RTII (e.g. for trade in final and intermediate goods as well as goods produced in the main sectors of economy like agriculture or manufacturing). The analysis of the TTIP region’s orientation of trade based on the historical data from the period 1999-2012 revealed several conclusions. Nowadays, the trade between the EU and the U.S. is constrained by the protection applied by both partners. Trade liberalization constituting one necessary part of TTIP will surely help to intensify this trade. The factor of special concern is trade of agricultural products which is most constrained and will hardly be fully liberalized even within a framework of TTIP. Simultaneously, both parties are even now trading relatively intensively with intermediaries, which are often less protected than the average of the economy for the sake of development of final goods’ production. The manufactured goods are traded relatively often as well, mainly in consequence of their poor protection after many successful liberalization steps in the framework of GATT/WTO. Consequently, we point out that in many respects the TTIP will be important not only for its participants, but for the whole world economy as well. TTIP appears to be an economic and political project with serious consequences for the world economy and politics.


2019 ◽  
pp. 523-536
Author(s):  
Robert Howse

This chapter canvasses the institutions of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)—left entirely unchanged in TPP11—to assess their cumulative potential to contribute to ties of solidarity among regulatory elites and consequently foster (mega)regional integration. The promise of treaty institutions as conduits of sanguine economic integration, the narrative championed by TPP’s architects, is contrasted with a more critical account in which plurilateral institutions are seen to serve as mechanisms to advance particular economic interests in the face of opposition in the almost-universal trade governance institutions such as the World Trade Organization (WTO). This “divide and conquer” strategy, so the argument goes, dominates in TPP’s institutions, which remain generally weak and unconnected to existing frameworks in Asia and beyond. But they also vary significantly between stronger mechanisms primarily for business interests and almost entirely aspirational efforts in more social areas such as environment, labor, and development.


2019 ◽  
Vol 05 (03) ◽  
pp. 455-469
Author(s):  
Mir Sher Baz Khetran ◽  
Muhammad Humayun Khalid

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a flagship project under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI); and its launch in 2015 was regarded as a landmark event in the history of the Sino-Pakistani relationship. With a budget amounting to over $62 billion, it has become the foremost regional integration initiative between China and Pakistan. The project is also open to all interested regional stakeholders, among which Central Asia is one of the most important in geopolitical terms. Located in a landlocked but resource-rich region, Central Asian countries need better access to regional markets including Pakistan, China, India, and the countries of West Asia. Pakistan and China have huge energy demands that can be satisfied by growing trade with Central Asia. Thus, the CPEC will not only benefit Pakistan and China, but it also presents a strategic opportunity for Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan to transport their goods more easily and gain competitiveness in regional and global markets.


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