Regional Integration andDevelopment in Small States

Schiff, Maurice

World Bank, Washington, D.C.

关键词: REGIONAL INTEGRATION;    DEVELOPMENT FINANCE;    SMALL STATES;    TRADE POLICY;    GLOBALIZATION;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-2797
RP-ID  :  WPS2797

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

The author examines the impact ofvarious trade policies for small developing states in theface of changing international trends - includingglobalization, the proliferation of regional integrationagreements, the changing relationship between African,Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) countries and the EuropeanUnion (EU), the erosion of ACP preferences in the EU market,the Everything-But-Arms Initiative (a 2001 EU initiativeproviding forty nine developing countries free access to EUmarkets), and the negotiations on the Free Trade Agreementof the Americas. The author concludes that: 1) Theparticipants in South-South regional integration agreementsshould further reduce their external trade barriers. 2) Thetrade component of the Cotonou Agreement between the ACPcountries and the EU is likely to harm those countries. TheACP countries should liberalize their trade regimes toreduce the size of transfers to the EU. 3) Small statesshould sign free trade agreements with the rest of theOrganization for Economic Cooperation and Development(OECD), and pursue multilateral liberalization. 4) Smallstates, and other developing countries should intensifySouth-South regional cooperation in the area of regionalpublic goods. 5) The EU, and other OECD countries shouldprovide country-specific technical assistance for"behind the border" reforms in small states -something specified in the Cotonou Agreement for ACPcountries - as well as assistance in implementing theircommitments under World Trade Organization agreements.