engleski

Enlarged CEFTA: Economic Impact on Southeast European Countries

The aim of this paper is to point out differences between the current approach to creating a free trade zone in this region, based on the network of bilateral trade agreements, and the new approach that is based on a single regional trade agreement. The model of so-called "enlarged CEFTA" and its advantages will be analyzed in relation to the existing CEFTA, which is the Central European Free Trade Agreement, which since the beginning of 2007 has had only two members. On the basis of actual and potential mutual (intraregional) trade and in the light of theoretical findings on the benefits and costs of regional trade agreements for member countries, the possible short-term (static) and long-term (dynamic) impact of the free trade zone on the countries of Southeastern Europe will be examined. This paper is divided into six parts. Introductory remarks are followed by a short chronology of trade integration among Southeast European countries and the sections where the characteristics of the regional trade agreement and the enlarged CEFTA model are analyzed. The fourth part provides information on the intraregional trade between these countries after signing the Memorandum on Understanding and the possibilities for its growth. The fifth part extends the analysis of a possible long- term impact of a regional trade agreement and examines the influence of this free trade zone on the economies of scale, competition, investments and economic growth of member states.

CEFTA ; international trade ; SEEC ; EU

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