Title: Trade and investment integration of the Maghreb
Abstract: This paper discusses a trade strategy for the Maghreb countries, with a particular focus on regional initiatives, as trade expansion could generate higher and sustained growth rates, and employment. The analysis is based upon identification of the key internal and external barriers that are constraining integration into regional and global markets and discusses how poor design and weak implementation of trade agreements amongst countries in the region limit their impact. This paper argues that Maghreb countries could reap significant benefits from enhancing their integration with regional partners, with the EU and with global markets. This entails careful design of trade policy to ensure complementarity between the three domains of trade policy: unilateral actions, regional trade agreements and the multilateral agenda. Integration needs to be broadly based to include services so as to enhance productivity on an economy-wide basis and to increase the scope for trade and for new employment opportunities. Integration should also be deep to cover key elements of competitiveness relating to issues such as standards, conformity assessment, transport and logistics. Such trade policy initiatives are all the more effective when part of a broad and coherent reform process and bolstered by support for those who bear the brunt of the costs of adjusting to the new, more open regime.
Publication Year: 2006
Publication Date: 2006-05-01
Language: en
Type: article
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Cited By Count: 7
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