Sustainable Tourism Development of Rural Areas in Serbia as a Precondition to Competitiveness

Rural tourism has been developing in Serbia since the 1970s. However, from the beginning of the 1990s, the development stopped. The development trend was only continued in the second half of the 1990s, and fast-paced development began in 2006. Rural tourism presents in various forms in Serbia. They are conditioned by natural geographic terrain characteristics, social and cultural elements, and strategic plans for tourism development. What appears as a problem in the development of rural tourism is the question of its sustainable development. The development of rural tourism should under no circumstances jeopardise the natural and social environment in the rural areas, as these aspects are the very basic tourist attraction and the “push and pull” force that animates the tourist demand. The goal of this chapter is to investigate the resources available in Serbia and show the possible directions in the rural tourism development, mainly based on the principle of sustainable development, as a precondition for the country's competitiveness on the tourism market.

Turkey's Foreign Trade and New Markets for Turkey

The share of developing countries in the world trade is increasing every day. According to an assessment made by the World Trade Organization (WTO), a share of developing countries in the world export is expected to rise by 8.5% in the years ahead. Turkey's share in the world trade is around 1%, and it is expected to increase up to 1.5% by 2023.Turkey is ranked 22nd in the world export and 15th in the world import of goods. Turkey's current problems are account and trade deficits. New markets will potentially offer an opportunity to overcome both account and trade deficits. The aim of this chapter is to define new export markets for Turkey. According to the survey results, Turkey may potentially increase its export to the USA. Apart from the USA, Germany and Russia will continue to serve as export markets for Turkey in the years ahead. Therefore, Turkish companies will maintain their existing trade relations with these countries.

The EU – Ukraine – Russia Crisis Triangle

Political decisions and political crisis in one country or region in the world can affect local economics and international trade significantly. Such situation of trade creation at one side and trade decrease on the other side has been observed as the consequence of political circumstances between Russia and Ukraine in 2014. National economics and trade of several countries and regions of the world have been suffering from this political crisis. At the same time with trade sanctions and trade decrease among traditional trading partners (EU-Russia, USA-Russia), the effort to ensure a sufficient market supply in Russia and strengthen links among Russia and customs union countries has been observed. A side effect, higher economic and political risk in doing business with Ukraine, caused the trade decrease with Ukraine, too. The chapter analyses selected trade indicators related to international trade of Ukraine and Russia for period 2010-2014 and identifies possible opportunities and threats following from political crisis and affecting international trade of selected trading partners.

Economic Transformation of Austrian Agriculture since EU Accession

After joining the European Union (EU) in 1995 Austria adopted the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). This chapter reviews the changes in agricultural production and the economic situation of agriculture since the accession to the EU. The analysis is primarily based on macro-economic data from the Economic Accounts for Agriculture (EAA) over the period between 1995 and 2014. Select examples identify the developments applicable for Austria – also in comparison to other EU countries and groups of countries as well as to Switzerland. Expectations and forecasts regarding the consequences of integration, e.g. changes in the price levels, have been more or less fulfilled but there is a need for further research on the development of regions and on special issues such as the resilience of Austrian agriculture.

Outward Foreign Direct Investments

Dynamic changes that have taken place on Polish, European and global markets for the last two decades shifted significantly the conditions in which companies operate. Globalization, liberalization of capital flows, participation in the European Union not only increased competition on Polish market, but radically boosted the competitive potential of Polish firms. This, in turn resulted in growing interest in expanding the activity on international scale in the form of Outward Foreign Direct Investments (OFDI). Therefore, the aim of the chapter is to discuss the most important stimuli, which impact competitive potential of Polish companies and increase their interest in foreign activity. Moreover, theoretical background of company's internationalisation are presented, as well as the scale and structure of Polish OFDI and incentives provided by Polish institutions.

Adaptation of the Russian Food Market to the Contemporary Geopolitical Challenges

Domestic markets of agricultural commodities are increasingly influenced by trade integration and liberalization. Current uncertain political and economic relations in the macro-region of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Eastern and Western Europe, international tensions around Russia-Ukraine problem, bilateral economic and trade sanctions between Russia and such global economic powers as the USA and the EU transform market patterns and affect agricultural production, rural development and food security in both the CIS and worldwide. The chapter aims to discover the expected influences of such trade restrictions on trade in agricultural commodities, to assess the degree of distortion and return effects on domestic food markets. Chapter specifically addresses possible effects of trade restrictions between the EU, the USA, and other countries from one side, and Russia from the other, particularly imposed ban on agricultural trade. It is concluded with the overview of the expected influences of trade tensions on Russia's domestic food market.

Latest Developments on the Way to EU Accession

Among the EU candidate countries of Albania, Iceland, Montenegro, Serbia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and Turkey, Turkey is the candidate country with the largest population and size as well as the one who has spent the longest time on the way to EU accession. It also has a closer economic relationship with the EU, as it has been participating in a Customs Union (CU) with the existing EU members since 1996. Turkey's potential EU candidacy has become a matter of controversy in recent years. The possibility of Turkish accession to the EU has reignited fears in the ‘old' EU. The aim of this chapter is to discuss the recent developments in Turkey-EU relations and to evaluate the recent performance of Turkey on the way to EU accession by focusing on economic and mainly trade implications of a Turkish EU accession.

Integration to the WTO and Economic Transition in the South Caucasus Economies

Economic transition story in the South Caucasus economies started after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Theoretically, integration to the World Trade Organization (WTO) system should improve the economic transition performance. This research uses the yearly transition indicators by the EBRD to discover the relationship between economic transition performance and integration to the WTO in the contexts of before-and-after WTO membership and before-and-after the end of concession period defined for a new member to implement all obligations. Author employs bivariate de-trended regression analysis estimated by using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), individually for Armenia and Georgia, and within a panel analysis covering all three countries of the region. Research findings provide strong evidence of significant positive or acceleratory effect of integration to the WTO on economic transition in the South Caucasus. Surprise finding is insignificant impact over competition policy index, which is supposed to be affected by integration.

Inward and Outward Foreign Investments of the Asian Economies in Transition and India

This chapter is divided into two parts. The first part examines panel data evidence concerning empirical significance of the determinants of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in CLMV countries. Theoretical and empirical findings and outcomes on FDI have been considered to test the model for the aforementioned nations. The data has been taken from the World Bank through 2005-2014. Findings accept the four proposed hypotheses and the results are significant. The second part explores the trade and FDI situation in CLMV through secondary data, and establishes that India has potential to augment bi-lateral ties through this route. Literature review for this section also corroborates with the findings of the first part.

Effects of Globalization on Economies in Transition

The chapter covers ranges and effects of globalization on economies in transition, as well as possibilities and limits in raising their competitiveness. International business has increased its size in the 20th century, mostly owing to trade liberalization and investments and partly owing to a fact that doing the international businesses has generally become easier and simpler. With regard to liberalization, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade has led to trade liberalization, and it was continued with establishment of the World Trade Organization in 1995. At the same time, capital mobility was liberalized by most of the countries, especially with development of electronic money transfer. Besides, by introduction of a new European monetary unit – euro, in January 2002 has been exerted influence to international business. With regard to international business, two main forces are important: technological progress, which made global communications and transport relatively fast and comfortable, and economies in transition, which brought about opening new markets.