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The
purpose of a regional trade association is to protect and expand
trade among neighboring countries through agreements that range
from reducing trade barriers to harmonizing internal policies. Overall
world trade will also benefit if regional trading associations help
members grow without instituting protectionist policies that inhibit
trade with outside countries.
Although
not all regional trade associations have had positive outcomes,
some have certainly thrived. These successes encourage confidence
that regional associations will promote trade - both internally,
among members, and externally, throughout the world.
The
1980s witnessed huge advances in the most ambitious of all regional
integration efforts–the European Community. In the following
decade this progress would result in the formation of an economic
union that would rival the economic and political might of the United
States.
The
longest-lived example of a monetary union is Africa’s fourteen
member CFA franc zone, which has used a common currency pegged to
the French franc since 1948. The zone helped to support Africa’s
most successful market integration.
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