Regional Economic Integration Research Articles

A Continental Free Trade Area in the Absence of the Free Movement of People is Inconceivable

The African Free Trade Continental Agreement (AfCFTA) represents renewed efforts by the current cohort of African leaders to move the continent closer to its self-reliance ambitions, and it aims to build on the foundation laid by the founding fathers of the African Union aimed at achieving a better life for Africans through deeper regional economic integration. Central to achieving the Agreement’s objectives is the realisation of the free movement of persons, which is envisaged to be a vehicle for deeper regional integration. This article provides a brief conceptual analysis of the Free Movement of Persons concept, its benefits in driving regional integration, successes, and the potential challenges that may hinder the full realisation of the AfCFTA’s objectives as a mutually reinforcing agenda. In addition to contributing to existing literature, this article explores whether the Free Movement of Persons is indeed a sine qua non for the success of the AfCFTA. Drawing on lessons from the implementation of other regional trade integration projects, the European Union integration model, in this instance, the article recommends key interventions to bolster implementation efforts.

The Development of U.S. Immigration History: Historical Factors, Formation Mechanisms, and Migrant Groups

Regional economic integration has emerged as a significant focus for China in the post-pandemic era, as the nation seeks to establish mutually beneficial relationships with external economies and promote national development. In this study, the entropy method is employed to construct an index system tailored specifically to the four provinces within the Yangtze River Delta region. This research aims to explore the advantages and challenges of regional economic integration in China by conducting a comparative analysis of the Yangtze River Delta. The study also evaluates the merits and drawbacks of different integration models, drawing on examples from developed countries. The ultimate goal of the research is to provide insights and recommendations for China's regional economic integration, thus contributing to the country's overall prosperity. The results revealed that factors such as economic downturns caused by the pandemic have led the United States to experience a resurgence of racism and xenophobia, reminiscent of historical periods of American nativism, marked by economic insecurity and rapid demographic changes due to mass immigration. However, unlike previous eras with unrestricted immigration, the U.S. has tightened border policies and reduced the number of immigrants, using violent methods to expel unauthorized immigrants, such as Mexican migrant workers, along with their children born in the U.S., forcing them to move to a country where they may not speak the language or understand the culture.

Skill the low-skilled: the knowledge-driven stepwise migration of Vietnamese workers in South China

This article investigates the interplay between knowledge acquisition and the stepwise migration trajectories of low-skilled Vietnamese workers in China. Utilizing a rich array of data garnered from face-to-face interviews, customized surveys, on-site observations, media narratives, and an archival review of government regulations in Guangxi—a province bordering Vietnam—and in Guangdong, a non-adjacent province, this study proposes an analytical framework, skill-driven migration, to highlight the synergy between the pre-migratory socio-demographic attributes of migrants and the circumstances prevailing in both the places of origin and destination which orchestrates distinct job allocations and skill augmentation avenues. Notably, our study underscores that the competencies acquired in manufacturing employments potentially broaden the horizon of destinations for migrants in their subsequent stepwise migration endeavors. This phenomenon, in turn, poses intricate immigration management quandaries for newly emerged destination nations like China, spotlighting a nuanced dimension of labor mobility and policy frameworks in the evolving regional economic integration. Last, our findings challenge the conventional dichotomy of high-skilled and low-skilled categories of labor migration, as well as the dichotomy of explicit-tacit knowledge.

Analysis of the Difficulties and Countermeasures of East Asian Regional Economic Cooperation

Global economic development witnessed two significant developments during the 1990s: economic globalization and regional economic integration. East Asia's economy has been steadily developing, making it one of the most promising areas in the world economy. Nonetheless, East Asia's economic cooperation is developing far more slowly than that of the European Union and the North American Free Trade Area. East Asian nations have deeply realized that the only way to increase the competitiveness of their economies and, consequently, their overall economic strength is to actively participate in economic cooperation, as evidenced by the rapid development of trade and economic ties between the European Union and the North American Free Trade Area. This article aims to study the difficulties and countermeasures of East Asian regional economic cooperation in the context of current economic globalization and regional economic integration. According to this study, there are three key reasons why regional economic cooperation among Southeast Asian countries is problematic: political factors in East Asian countries, economic factors in East Asian countries, and social and cultural factors in East Asian countries. Various measures have been suggested to address the current challenges. These include fostering East Asian regional cooperation around ASEAN, expediting economic recovery through trade and economic cooperation, and fortifying cultural exchanges and cooperation to further the development of East Asian regional economic cooperation.

The Significance of Nepal’s Geopolitical Location; Reality Checking

This research paper investigates Nepal's geostrategic importance by analyzing its role as a significant nexus in South Asia. In ancient times, Nepal occupied a crucial geostrategic position as it served as a pivotal crossroads connecting South Asia, Tibet, and China, facilitating the exchange of commodities, ideas, and culture. The central argument posits that Nepal's geographic location endows it with substantial strategic significance, both politically and economically, enabling it to influence regional dynamics. Employing a mixed methodology, the research delves into various facets of Nepal's geostrategic relevance through historical assessments, geopolitical analyses, and case studies of hydro-politic potentiality. The approach commences by examining Nepal's historical role as a buffer state amid regional powers, leading to a longstanding history of diplomatic struggles to safeguard its sovereignty. Furthermore, the paper explores how Nepal's geographical position shapes its security dynamics, particularly in the context of the escalating China-India rivalry in contemporary times, employing geopolitical frameworks to illuminate this aspect. To shed light on Nepal's involvement in facilitating global trade and connectivity, the methodology also includes case studies of infrastructure initiatives such as the Belt and Road Initiative and regional connectivity projects. In conclusion, the paper asserts that Nepal's geostrategic significance is a product of its historical development and proactive international relations, closely intertwined with its geographic positioning. It underscores Nepal's potential to serve as a conduit for regional cooperation and economic integration while emphasizing the need for astute navigation to preserve its independence in a challenging geopolitical landscape.

Research on Business Environment Issues in Guangdong Qianhai Free Trade Zone

At a time when China's economy is entering a new normal and realizing high-quality medium-speed growth, it is inextricably linked to the forty-two years of reform and opening up. As a pioneer of reform and opening up, Guangdong Province has been at the forefront of domestic economic development, demonstrating courage and practice in response to the changes of the times. As China's relationship with the world economy grows closer, changes in the international economy have prompted the deepening of regional economic integration and international trade. The application of free trade in international trade has been increasing, and FTAs have been widely practiced globally. As the world's second largest economic complex, China is still in the developing stage of free trade zone reform and practice compared with other developed countries. Wang Linghao (2019) pointed out that China's value and status in the global economy is increasing, and the development of free trade zones can help to enhance China's position in the global industrial chain. He emphasized that the influence of free trade can be enhanced through the development of free trade zones and the influence of the "Belt and Road" policy. Wang Under the guiding ideology of deepening reform and opening up of FTZs, China has promoted the experimentation and construction of Guangdong Qianhai FTZ and Hainan FTZ. Although the specific research on the business environment of Guangdong Qianhai FTZ has not yet formed a scale, it can be seen from the development research of other domestic FTZs that the business environment has an important impact on the construction of free trade zones. Therefore, this paper will deeply analyze the current situation and relevant initiatives of the business environment in Guangdong Qianhai FTZ from various aspects.

Impacts of Central Bank Digital Currency on Regional Economic Integration: Evidence from the Greater Bay Area of China

An increasing number of countries have launched their central bank digital currencies (CBDC) in recent years, but the economic impacts of CBDC adoption are underexplored. To empirically assess how CBDC adoption influences regional economic integration, this paper investigates the Greater Bay Area, where China carried out one of its first digital renminbi pilot programs. The Greater Bay Area provides a good example because the growing acceptance of digital renminbi in the area can potentially mitigate transaction costs and risks due to the exchange rate volatility of the Chinese renminbi, Hong Kong dollar, and Macao pataca. CBDC adoption can lead to greater real and financial integrations by facilitating cross-border trade in goods and services. This paper evaluates deviations from uncovered interest rate parity, purchasing power parity, and real interest rate parity across Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao based on monthly interest rate and price data from January 2016 to December 2022. The time series have mean values near zero, which validate the parity conditions and indicate high degrees of financial, real, and economic integrations. The Markov regime-switching regression model identifies three regimes: (1) pre-Covid, (2) post-Covid, and (3) post-CBDC. The Covid-19 outbreak brought lower integration and stability, but the launch of the CBDC restored some of the pre-Covid integration and stability. Regimes 1 and 2 are persistent, and transitions from Regime 3 back to Regime 1 are probable. Hence, this study finds evidence that CBDC adoption improves regional economic integration in the short and long run.

Azerbaijan in regional integration processes: Role and prospects of interaction with the EAEU

The study deals with theoretical and practical aspects of Azerbaijan’s participation in regional integration processes. The historical excursus of formation of international cooperation of Azerbaijan with the countries of CIS region and key economic partners in the world is considered. Azerbaijan’s economic interaction with the EAEU countries and possible potential of its development are analyzed. Based on the data of the State Statistical Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan, we have calculated the key indicators of Azerbaijan’s foreign trade with regional economic integration groupings and proposed their hierarchy. The study substantiates that there is a significant economic and socio-humanitarian potential of Azerbaijan’s attraction to the EAEU grouping. The possibilities of Azerbaijan’s integration interaction with the EAEU are objective in nature and are primarily related to its transport and geographical location, as well as to its production capabilities and the interaction of commodity markets. So far, the integration potential has not been fully realized, but there is a clear trend towards the rapprochement of Azerbaijan with the EAEU countries. Acceleration and deepening of the use of integration potential will depend on many factors, but first of all on geopolitical and socio-economic factors. The most realistic option for Azerbaijan’s integration into the EAEU grouping is the scenario of granting the country the status of an associate member followed by a deeper degree of economic integration.

How does regional economic integration affect carbon emission efficiency? Evidence from the Yangtze River Delta, China.

Rapid urbanization and industrialization promote economic growth as well as bring carbon emissions, which seriously threaten the eco-environment and socioeconomic sustainable development. Facing increasing resource constraints, improving carbon emissions efficiency (CEE) is conducive to promote coordinated development of economy and environmental protection. In recent years, regional economic integration (REI) has rapidly developed. It can not only promote factors flow between regions but also achieve industrial and economic agglomeration. However, few studies have been reported in the literature about the relationship between the REI and CEE. In this study, we first illustrate how the REI influences CEE in theory, then take the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) as a case study to conduct empirical research. The results show that (1) the overall CEE value in the YRD has exhibited an upward trend from 2000 to 2020, and its spatial distribution has revealed a significant auto-correlation pattern. (2) On the whole, the REI act a noteworthy positive impact on CEE. When considering types of cities, it is found to have significant positive impacts for the CEE in economically developed cities, while it exhibits a negative impact in the less-developed ones. (3) Upgrading industrial structure and increasing per capita GDP can promote the CEE, but hinder its growth in surrounding areas. Our findings suggest that the government should formulate a unified overall plan to facilitate REI development and establish a modern industrial system of clean and low-carbon to promote regional sustainable development.

Necessity and Urgency Study on Promoting Regional Economic and Social Integration in China: A Case Study of the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration

Urban agglomerations mirror the highest level of spatial organization in urban development. They are characterized by one or more mega-cities serving as central hubs within a delineated region, upheld by three or more major cities. With advanced transportation, communication, and other facilities as the foundation, these agglomerations establish close spatial and economic ties, achieving a high degree of urbanization and integration. Against the backdrop of global and anti-globalization forces leading to shifts in foreign situations, coupled with domestic economic downturns resulting from changes in pandemic policies, the imperative to form an integrated regional economic society has become increasingly prominent. This study takes the construction and development of the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration (YRDUA) as an example, examining the necessity and urgency of promoting regional economic and social integration through the proportional changes in the three major industries of each city. As the earliest and representative urban agglomeration in national planning, the YRDUA serves as an illustrative model. The findings indicate that applying the experiences of regional economic and social integration in the YRDUA to the entire country is representative and offers valuable insights.

Assessing the trade–connectivity linkages in South Asia in post-pandemic period: an empirical investigation

The study unravels the relationship between trade and connectivity and presents a narrative to re-energise the South Asian regional economic integration in the post-pandemic period. In addition, the study also examines the effect on conflicts and institutional factors in South Asian trade. The study uses the bilateral gravity analysis in 2SLS (Two-Stage Least Squares) framework to address the endogeneity issues. The study finds that South Asia may gain enormously if they reduce the conflicts across the border and secure improvement in both hard and soft infrastructure. Given that the trade is a dynamic concept, connectivity disruption costs cause havoc to the region, which then promotes dis-integration. Facilitating business beyond the border in post-pandemic requires an enhanced trade facilitation and connectivity in the region. The renewed and shared agenda of the South Asian regional cooperation in post-pandemic should, therefore, aim to reduce both intra- and inter- regional trade facilitation gaps as well as to expand the connectivity. The process of South Asian regional integration has to contribute to narrowing the gaps by providing resources for the development of trade infrastructure. Therefore, South Asia has to enhance its own connectivity and trade facilitation arrangement to take forward the agenda of South Asian integration.

Enhancing logistics performance measurement: an effectiveness-based hierarchical data envelopment analysis approach

The logistics performance index (LPI) is a comprehensive and comparable composite index developed by the World Bank to assess a country’s logistics and trade facilitation environment. However, the existing LPI relies on externally assigned weights. To enhance LPI scores, this study adopts an effectiveness-based hierarchical data envelopment analysis method that internally allocates objective weights based on the dataset. Such endogenous weight information can provide additional valuable insights for countries to prioritize and strategize efforts to enhance their performance in the future. The results of this study indicate that focusing on improving the policy category yields greater benefits than improving the service category in terms of ranking national logistics performance. Furthermore, this study finds that logistics performance is influenced by income levels and geographical area. Income levels impact the regulatory and trade facilitation environment, with varying income levels leading to different priority policy areas. Geographical location also plays a crucial role in regional economic integration and trade facilitation. A favorable geographical location reduces costs and time while enhancing supply chain predictability and reliability. It is hoped that this study serves as a valuable resource for countries in identifying optimization strategies to improve their logistics performance.

Land Transportation Infrastructure and Economic Growth: An Assessment of the SADC Regional Infrastructure Development Master Plan

This Southern African Development Community (SADC), as a regional economic integration organization in Africa, has 16 member countries with rich natural resources and tourism resources, attracting the attention of global investors. Although the region's transport infrastructure is among the leading in Africa, it still lags far behind global standards. This study provides a comprehensive assessment of the current state of transport infrastructure in SADC, with a particular focus on road transport facilities within the region. Based on SADC's official "SADC Regional Infrastructure Development Master Plan Transport Sector Plan, 2012", this paper evaluates the current situation of its road transport infrastructure and conducts an in-depth analysis of the future road development plan in the plan. This research aims to reveal the challenges faced by SADC at the infrastructure level, and provide a comprehensive and in-depth perspective for policy makers, investors and other relevant stakeholders. At the same time, this study can provide some new ideas for future research and provide new solutions to the problems of transportation infrastructure in the SADC region.

Perspectives on Engagement of Non-State-Actors in Regional Integration in SADC Region’s AfCFTA Context

The role of Non-State Actors (NSAs) in the SADC regional integration was approved by the Council of Ministers in 2022. The Council gave the NSAs the mandate to participate in the regional integration agenda and contribute into SADC policy development, roll out, monitoring and evaluation. Ironically, there are no clear systematic mechanisms providing for NSAs’ engagement within the SADC structures and processes despite existence of SADC institutions. The coming in of the AfCFTA agreement sought to create a single African market thereby creating opportunities for NSAs. To date no noticeable increase in Africa intra-trade has been recorded. The study therefore, examines the perspectives on engagement of Non-State-Actors in the context of Regional Integration focusing on SADC region. The findings show that state actors are not involving non-state actors as they discuss regional economic integration agreements. The researcher recommends that valuable additions to regional economic integration and strengthening should be premised on an environment where policies and regulations are formulated from a consultative and inclusivity of NSAs. It is concluded that, when NSAs explore regional markets or create regional value chains, they facilitate regional economic integration from the bottom-up approach through their activities.

Impact of Regional Economic Integration on Trade and Investment

Economies that have a negotiated regional trade agreement (RTA) are liberalising various economic norms among member nations (including trade, investment, environment and other strategic parameters) to strengthen long-term flows of goods, services and capital. Hence, numerous studies have been conducted to empirically examine the impact of regional integrations on trade and investment using various econometric tools and techniques. The present study was an attempt to state and identify the contribution of such studies. An insight into the existing literature depicted varied results; rather than: some studies stated that the regional economic integration is facilitating world trade and also supporting the flow of capital among member nations, whereas few studies depicted a non-collaborated association between RTA and trade/investment. Further, a review of the literature depicted that few RTAs still need to work towards enhancing the depth of trade and investment provision to further strengthen the flows of trade and investment in the years to come.

Direct and indirect influence of natural resources and regional integration on green growth: Exploring the role of political risk in South Asia

Within the context of sustainability, an integral focus of ongoing research is centred on cultivating economic expansion that prioritizes environmental friendliness and reduces resource dependence. This approach is commonly referred to as green economic growth. Hence, the present study strives to explore the heterogeneous effects of regional trade and economic integration, natural resource reliance, and political risk while also examining how regional integration index combined with natural resource factors influences the green growth trajectory of selected south Asian countries. The cross-sectional dependence and slope heterogeneity of the countries have been examined. Stationarity properties are checked before proceeding to the long-run relationship and empirical estimation procedure. Method of Moments Quantile Regression is employed to understand the variables' asymmetric association. The outcomes revealed the positive influence of regional integration on green growth, while political risk and natural resources pose a negative impact. It can be observed that the negative consequences of natural resources are neutralized with higher trade and financial integration. Lastly, the causality test is used to investigate the causal association between the variables. The outcomes imply that Asian countries emphasize shaping natural resource extraction policies and stabilizing their political situation to get the maximum benefit from green growth.

Some Trends in the Development of Regional Integration Processes in Southeast Asia in the 2020s.

This study discusses the long-term impact of the newly created institutions of the Indo-Pacific region (IPR) on the main regional integration institution of Southeast Asia (SEA), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and assesses the consequences of the implementation of the IPR concept by ASEAN countries.Aim . Determine the main trends in the development of regional integration processes in Southeast Asia in the 2020s. in the context of the Indo-Pacific process.Tasks. Determine the role of SEA countries in the Indo-Pacific process; identify the nature of the influence of AUKUS on the development trends of the regional security architecture of SEA; establish the impact of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) on the sustainable economic development of SEA countries.Methods. The methodological basis of this study is based on general scientific methods (system analysis, forecasting), political science methods, approaches to the analysis of regional security complexes existing in international relations studies (B. Buzan [3], O. Waver [5], J. De Wilde [4], A. Acharya [2]) and to the analysis of regional economic integration and its stages (J. Pelkmans [10]).Results . The inclusion of ASEAN countries in the Indo-Pacific process initiated by the United States of America (USA) and its allies in the future in 2030 leadsto 1) an increase in military spending, which may indicate a reduction in the level of trust in the region, 2) a reduction in the rate of convergence of the economies of Southeast Asian countries, which may indicate a growing imbalance in the level of development of ASEAN countries.Conclusions . The implementation of the IPR concept by ASEAN countries leads to the erosion of the “ASEAN-centricity” of regional institutions in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as to the projected reduction in the effectiveness of ASEAN in achieving the goals of a regional integration institution, namely: 1) an increase in military spending in the countries of the Asia-Pacific region in the 2020s, including in the ASEAN countries, indicating about the declining level of trust in relations with the PRC, leading to a decrease in the effectiveness of ASEAN diplomatic mechanisms to resolve existing disputes with China over the South China Sea; 2) the pace of catching-up development of poor Southeast Asian countries in the 2020s. are reduced, the implementation of IPEF will only be able to ensure some uneven economic growth in the most developed countries of Southeast Asia, it is becoming increasingly difficult for poor countries to catch up with the more developed countries of Southeast Asia in their level of economic development, and ASEAN’s goal of ensuring equitable economic development is becoming less achievable.

Mutually Assured Disruption: Globalization, Security, and the Dangers of Decoupling

The evolution of transnational production in the Asia-Pacific over the past few decades has been a force for peace. Critics of globalization and proponents of US-China economic decoupling advocate policies that would not only harm the global economy but would increase the likelihood of military conflict. This article focuses on the national security benefits of US-China economic engagement and the regional economic integration of East Asia. Government interventions to protect national security and build more resilience in supply chains are needed but should be limited in scope so as to avoid fundamental damage to the complex economic interdependence that has fostered growth and helped to deter war.

Xinjiang on the New Silk Road: Kyrgyzstan's Energy and China's Manufacturing Foreign Trade

Located in the northwest of China, Xinjiang plays a key role as an important node of the New Silk Road. The purpose of this study is to explore the influence of Xinjiang's geographical position, economic development, infrastructure construction, cultural exchange and energy resources in this initiative. First of all, Xinjiang's geographical advantages make it a key link between China and Central Asia, Europe and other places, providing a convenient channel for promoting international trade and logistics. Secondly, large-scale infrastructure investment, such as high-speed railway, highway and port construction, has improved Xinjiang's trade and logistics capabilities, and also brought economic growth and employment opportunities. In addition, Xinjiang's multi-culture and ethnic characteristics promote cross-border cultural exchanges and create opportunities for understanding and cooperation between different cultures. Finally, Xinjiang's abundant energy resources are of strategic significance to China's energy economy and help to ensure the country's energy security. This study emphasizes the key position of Xinjiang in the Silk Road, and its positive role in regional economic integration and cooperation, which provides useful insights for further discussion on this issue.

RCEP이 아세안 무역에 미치는 영향

Purpose - This research aims to enhance the understanding of Asia’s economic relationships and international economic governance, with a focus on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). Specifically, this paper seeks to provide recommendations for South Korea’s participation and effective utilization in RCEP within the Asian region. Also this study suggests the significance of the Rule of Origin in Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), and highlights the importance of a cumulative certificate of origin, which refers to a document that verifies the cumulative origin of goods in international trade, applicable to 15 RCEP countries, as compared to existing bilateral FTAs.
 Design/Methodology/Approach - This paper reviews previous studies related to ASEAN and RCEP, discussing the findings and key issues addressed in earlier research efforts. News articles and statistics either of political conflicts or economic implications are utilized in this context.
 Findings - Currently, the global economic governance system, centered around the World Trade Organization (WTO), is facing challenges due to economic and trade friction between major powers, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Regional economic integration bodies like RCEP are taking on a new central role in international trade rules.
 Research Implications - This research implies that the economic relations in the Asia-Pacific region have been steadily strengthening, and this contributes to maintaining stability through economic interdependence even in the presence of political conflict, and there is a room for South Korea to contribute.