3. MODERN INTEGRATION PROCESSES IN THE WORLD AND IN EUROPE

One of the factors that determines the main paths and directions of development of the world economy is the creation of international integration groupings that ensure the coordinated development and complementarity of regions and states, making it possible to more effectively use all available reserves for the distribution of investments and all types of capital.

International economic integration is a high level of development of international economic relations, due to which the process of socio-political unification of two countries is carried out on the basis of the international division of labor and the implementation of agreed international trade and economic policies.

Integration processes in recent years have spanned all continents and led to the creation of numerous regional and subregional political blocs, most of which have declared their ultimate goal to be reaching the integration stage of economic cooperation. In total, there are about 20 international economic associations of an integration type in the world, which cover the main regions and continents of the globe.

The main theoretically substantiated and practically tested forms of international economic integration include:

1. A free trade zone is the simplest form of integration. In such a zone, there is a special preferential trade regime for participating countries due to the abolition of trade restrictions, primarily internal duties.

An example of such a zone is: the North American Free Trade Agreement between the United States and Canada, a European free trade association created in 1960. It includes: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.

2. A tariff union is an agreement between two or more countries that establishes a free trade regime and provides for the elimination of internal tariffs and the establishment of an external common tariff. An example of such an agreement is the Andean Group, CARICOM Partnership and the Caribbean Common Market.

3. A peripheral trade zone is an area with a special preferential regime, when two or more countries reduce mutual tariffs on imported goods, maintain the level of tariffs with other countries, provide preferential lending and insurance for foreign trade transactions. Japan provides preferential treatment to developing countries.

4. The common market is the most complex form of national integration interaction, ensures the free movement of goods, labor, capital and forms a common market space (European Union).

5. Monetary union is the most complex form of integration; provides for the implementation by countries of a common integration policy: the introduction of a single currency, the creation of a single emission center - a bank (European Community).

6. Political union is the highest level of regional integration, which provides for the transformation of a single market space into an integral economic and political space.

The most developed form of integration in the world is considered to be the unification of Western European countries into the European Union (EU), which in the future is planned as a zone of a single economic space in Europe.

Modern integration processes in Europe

The most developed form of integration in the world is considered to be the unification of Western European countries into the European Union (EU), which in the future is planned as a zone for the formation of a single economic space in Europe. The creation of the EU began in 1951, when, as a result of the signing of the Paris Treaty, two international organizations were created - the European Coal and Steel Community, which united the coal, iron ore and metalworking industries of France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany and Euroatom - the organization , which united countries to develop and use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. These two organizations were at the forefront of the creation of the European Single Market. The European Economic Friendship, or Common Market, was created by the Treaty of Rome of 25 March 1957, signed by Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany and Italy.

On January 1, 1994, the EEC became the EU. The number of participating countries gradually increases from 6 in 1958 (Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy) to 12 in 1990, Denmark, Ireland, Great Britain, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Finland, Sweden, and Austria joined.

Nowadays, integration processes are developing rapidly in different regions of the world. One of their most striking manifestations is Western European integration, which has entered a new phase of their development - the creation of the European monetary system.

The processes of regional integration intensified after the signing in January 1992 by representatives of EU member states of the Maachtrich Agreement (Netherlands), which determined the path of transformation of the EEC into the EU.

Regarding the Maachtrich Agreement, the goal of developing a defense policy was proclaimed, and the creation of an economic and political unification of European countries with common governing bodies, a single financial system and a monetary unit - the euro. It is envisaged to create a special fund to help less developed countries - Greece, Ireland, Spain, Portugal. It was decided to create a unified system of legislation on labor relations, promoting employment, facilitating living and working conditions, and equalizing wages in EU countries.

North American model of economic integration

After Japan, the United States' largest trading partners are Canada and Mexico.

In financial services, limits on US and Canadian ownership of Mexican banks, investment firms and insurance companies will be phased out.

The parties agreed on the need to take measures to protect intellectual property, harmonize technical standards, sanitary and phytosanitary standards. The agreements do not provide for solutions to problems that belong to the social sphere (unemployment, education, culture, etc.).

Of course, the experience of Mexico is relative; it reflects the unique geopolitical position of this country, which has historically had special relations with the United States.

As a result of the new trade regime, there was a noticeable decrease in the diversification of trade and economic exchanges, and the previous tendency towards monocommodity of Mexican exports began to appear. One of the reasons for Mexico's priority joining the US-Canadian association is the presence of rich oil reserves in this country. During the crisis of the 1980s, oil resources were considered as strategic reserves of the United States, and their importance, given insufficient supplies from the Middle East, began to grow. In connection with this, Mexico exports petroleum products from the United States.

Mexico exports $500-600 million to the United States. Less than what it imports from there. And this trade deficit, combined with the balance of payments deficit and external debt, is one of the reasons for slowing down the country’s technological renewal, without which it is impossible to significantly strengthen its competitive position in the world market.

In the 90s, the United States proclaimed an important long-term goal for itself - the creation of an all-American free trade area (AFTA).

An interesting fact is that American economists are proposing and developing a model of a Pan-American bloc, which extends from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego. In recent years, countries in the southern hemisphere have experienced high rates of economic growth, which are projected to continue in the coming years.

Economic integration in Latin America

The peculiarities of Latin American integration lie in the desire of countries to leave the periphery in the world economic system, to unite and integrate two national economies into a single national economic complex, to strengthen the level of interconnection and interpenetration of capitals of the two largest countries in the world: the USA and Canada.

The region's integration into the global economy is proceeding at a rapid pace, especially in trade and capital markets, and in Central America through international integration.

In the 1980s, economic renewal began in Latin America. Under trade and investment liberalization, imports increased and the influx of foreign capital increased. Added to this were significant revenues to the treasury from privatization, which all together contributed to an increase in the rate of economic recovery. As a result, the movement for an independent policy towards the United States has intensified in the countries of the region.

Characterizing the integration processes in Latin America, one cannot help but recall the fact that in 1960, two trade and economic groupings were created in parallel in this region: the Latin American Free Trade Association "LAST" and the Central American Common Market (CACM). The peculiarity of integration processes in Latin America is that they developed through the creation of new formations, and not by joining existing ones.

In 1973, the Caribbean Union was founded, which united 13 English-speaking countries (Antigua, Barbados, Guyana, Grenada, Dominica, Montserrat, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the Federation of Saint Christopher, Saint Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, the purpose of which was to create common market and monetary union.

The MDB was created to finance economic integration projects. In 1965, the Institute of Latin American Integration was founded by the International Development Bank to study economic problems and carry out advisory functions.

Features of economic integration of African, Asian, Arab countries

Asian countries, especially the countries of the Pacific Rim, are characterized by the highest economic growth rates in the world. This is evidenced by the growth of per capita income, the rapid introduction of new equipment and technologies, and the improvement of social indicators.

Focusing on the export of economic growth in Asian countries, the influx of investment, active participation in the international economy is accompanied by a noticeable improvement in professional training and the active involvement of the region in the world economy, as well as an increase in interregional ties.

Therefore, the economic development strategy of the countries of this large region is economic integration. Thus, in 1967, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was created, which includes the 7 most developed countries in the region - Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Brunei, Vietnam, that is, the countries with the world's largest growth-oriented economy. for export.

It should be noted that now integration processes have gone beyond Asia, since the countries of North America remain the main market for the countries of the Pacific belt, and Australia and New Zealand are focusing their international relations on Asia, we can talk about the process of forming the Pacific Community, which began in 1989, when the organization of the Asia-Pacific Economic Community was created, and which included Australia, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea. China. Canada, MSA, Mexico, Chile.

Integration processes in Africa are not determined by such diversity, a large number of associations, as in Latin America, or scale, as in Western Europe and Asia; all strategic directions of development of African countries are based on the creation of economic integrations. In general terms, this process is set out in the agreement establishing the African Economic Society, adopted by the heads of African countries in 1991. Such integration associations include the South African Development Committee, which was created in 1972 on the basis of an agreement signed by 15 highly developed countries, which include Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Mauritius, Namibia, APR, Zimbabwe, etc.

The purpose of creating the African Development Committee is to finance economic development programs and trade exchanges between African countries and countries of the world.

The situation on the African continent remains a serious challenge to the new world order. The implementation of the Uruguay Round agreements will lead to higher food prices, a deterioration in the achieved terms of trade provided to the region in the markets of some European countries, and as a result of increased international competition, low-skilled labor in the processing industry will be reduced.

In the countries of the Arab region there are also a number of integration communities, the largest of which is the Arab League and the Arab Monetary Fund, which includes Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritius, and Morocco. Somalia, Tunisia. The main tasks of the Arab Fund are: stabilizing the exchange rates of the currencies of the participating countries and creating conditions for their mutual circulation; elimination of currency restrictions within the organization and creation of an effective mechanism for mutual settlements, as well as a single currency. The unit of account for the fund is the Arab dinar. The Arab Monetary Fund was created to expand trade between oil-producing countries and other Arab countries.

Changes in the international situation of the economy in the countries of the Arab region only emphasize the inevitability of the transition from a state-owned, closed economy to market principles and international orientation. Provided that an increase in receipts from previous sources of foreign exchange is envisaged - foreign aid and funds and remittances operating abroad.

The biggest promising areas for the development of the region are the easing of regional tensions and strengthening ties with the European Union.

Economic integration in LICs

With the collapse of the union power after the August events in 1991 in Moscow, in order to sign a new union treaty, the government created a new project - the Union of Sovereign States.

The Commonwealth included the following countries: Azerbaijan, Belarus, Armenia, Georgia. Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine.

In September 1993, the LIC countries signed an agreement on the creation of an economic union, within the framework of which it was planned to consistently deepen economic integration, which provides for the gradual movement of free trade participating countries to the public market of goods, services, labor, and capital.

A significant step towards achieving integration is the formation of a payment union and the improvement of payment, settlement and credit and financial relations within its framework.

In the interests of deepening integration processes, a program for synchronization and unified direction of economic reforms in the two countries has been approved and is being implemented, which provides for the coordination of national programs and legal assets on privatization issues, the development of the monetary and tax spheres, stock markets, and so on.

In accordance with the agreement on deepening integration in the economic and humanitarian spheres, general integration management bodies were approved: the Interstate Council, the Integration Committee, the Interparliamentary Committee.

A negative aspect of the development of integration processes is that new agreements necessary for cooperation are not signed, and many documents signed over past years remain unimplemented. As world experience shows, the integration process is doomed to stagnation and further degradation.

Integration of Ukraine into the global economic system

The EU at one time determined the declaration of independence of Ukraine and offered support.

The scope of cooperation between the EU and Ukraine is very diverse: science and technology, higher education, industry, agriculture, energy and telecommunications.

The EU provides assistance in the form of loans to support the balance of payments, and is also the largest partner outside the LICs and the largest investor in Ukraine.

Nowadays the EU is the second trading partner after Russia, with which trade is known to be dominated by energy imports.

Ukraine has signed an agreement on trade with EU countries, but it is temporary and for its implementation it is necessary to draw up a whole chain of approvals, also in the field of standardization and certification of goods.

Of course, the ultimate strategic goal of Ukraine is its accession to the EU, that is, the complete integration of Ukraine into the world economy.

Ukraine's largest trading partners among the EU countries are traditionally Germany, Italy and the UK.

The total volume of foreign direct investment in Ukraine from EU member countries as of January 1, 2004 amounted to $2.4 billion. USA, or 35.8% of their total volume.

LIST OF REFERENCES USED

1. Gorbach L.M., Plotnikov O.V. International economic relations: Textbook. - K.: Condor, 2005. - 266 p.

2. Free economic zones: Textbook. Benefit /I.Yu. Sivachenko, N.O. Kuharskaya, M.A. Levitsky. – K.: Dakor, 2002. – 480 p.

3. Foreign economic activity of an enterprise: Textbook, ed. L.E. Strovsky. – M.: UNITY, 1999. – 823 p.

4. Pilyaev I.S. Council of Europe in the modern European integration process: Monograph. – K. Publishing house “Legal Book”, 2003. – 436 p.

Although efforts in this direction are being made by energetic structures of the EEC. The total potential of Europe is about 400 million people; in the mid-1980s it accounted for 40% of world trade. Despite the very active integration processes within the European Community itself (including the EU and EURATOM with a population of more than 350 million people), it, in turn, deepens ties and...

The possibility of integration is closely connected with the question of “a loyal attitude towards new participants... about the necessary limits of domination and power." In modern scientific literature, there are various directions and approaches to understanding the nature and role of integration processes. Here two theoretical aspects can be distinguished: ( a) theories of integration processes; (b) theories and practice of economic...

In 1992, its own economic union, the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA), began negotiations for accession to the EU2. Integration processes in the CIS 2.1 Economic development of Russia and the importance of economic integration for Russia The systematic development of the economy of the USSR as a single national economic complex led to a high degree of economic integration. This...

Movement of goods, capital, labor; convertibility of national currencies. The development of interstate economic integration is facilitated by the presence of a number of prerequisites. Thus, integration processes most productively occur between countries that are at approximately the same level of economic development and have homogeneous economic systems. Another one, no less...

Hello, dear readers of the blog site. There are many terms that we insert inappropriately and inappropriately into our speech, without knowing exactly what they mean.

The concept of “integration” also applies to these. Let's figure out what defines this term and in what areas it is used.

The concept of "integration"

Translated from Latin, “integration” is “ insert, connection" Reasoning logically, we conclude that “integrate” means inserting some part into a single whole.

And “integrate” means to combine, merge (for example, companies), intertwine, insert, add, connect, etc.

A simple example: when putting together a puzzle, we integrate its fragments into a single picture. The development of human society is also a series of integrations and (division of the whole into its component parts).

You can integrate something two ways:

1. By introducing an element into an already existing system. Example: The USSR was formed in 1922 as part of 4 republics, and by 1929 there were 7 of them. That is, the new ones were integrated into the USSR.
2. Creating a unified system from disparate fragments. An example is the already mentioned folding of a puzzle.

By what principles can you integrate

Integration can take place based on several principles. Let's consider the main ones in more detail.

Integration in various areas

Integration is a process that is relevant for all areas of human life.

And there are many examples of this:

Integration in the economy

Economic integration (EI) is the bringing together (or unification) of enterprises, industries and regions. If EI goes beyond the boundaries of one country, then we are talking about international economic integration (IEI).

This is a creation mutually beneficial economic relations between states. Regulated by agreements at the international level. Such cooperation gives EI participants increased access to material, labor and financial resources, to the latest technologies and sales markets.

MPEI forms are presented in the diagram:

What and how can be integrated in politics

Political integration (PI) is the bringing together of the activities of political units (states, political parties), the goal of which is mutual cooperation to achieve certain results that are close to all members of the integration community. There are 2 types of PI:

1. domestic: this is integration at the level of parties, as well as political and social movements within a single country;
2. interstate: cooperation between different countries to achieve certain goals, for example, for defense (NATO).

Integration in science and pedagogy

The essence of things and phenomena is an endless process. The deeper and more accurate the scientific research, the more obvious it is that a full study of any object cannot be carried out within the framework of only one scientific discipline.

Biochemistry is one example of two sciences - biology and chemistry. It is impossible to understand the principles of life of biological organisms without knowledge of the chemical processes occurring in their cells and tissues.

Let us give more examples: geophysics, biophysics, cybernetics, etc. Consequently, integration of sciences is combining knowledge accumulated within several scientific disciplines into a single whole to enable a comprehensive study of objects, phenomena, and processes.

The desire to understand the world in which we live dictates the need for scientific integration. And this applies not only to the exact sciences. For example, social science is a complex of disciplines that study all aspects of human society:

1. jurisprudence,
2. economy ( ?),
3. political science,
4. sociology,
5. psychology, etc.

Integration in social science is a consideration of the object under study not within the framework of any of the listed sciences, but in their totality.

Good luck to you! See you soon on the pages of the blog site

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The term “integration” is used in different spheres of life - politics, biology, mathematics, etc. Basically, integration refers to various associations. In economics, this term also has its place.

But here we are talking about the further development of the social character of international production. Integration involves combining the production and scientific potentials of several countries to bring them to fundamentally new production, technical and socio-economic frontiers, to raise their economic cooperation to a higher level of development. As a result of the countries' course towards integration, there should be a gradual convergence of their national economies and the emergence of joint international production.

Thus, economic integration represents the true socialization of production at the international level through the conscious regulation by the governments of the participating countries of the mutual division of labor and international production cooperation.

This kind of socialization is expressed in increasing the production efficiency of each country to approximately the average level within the regional community of states and in the formation of the optimal structure of their national economy.

The main factor encouraging countries to join their efforts is the consideration of economic integration as a means of overcoming the contradiction between the need for effective development of the economy of each country participating in the mutual international division of labor, and the unlimited opportunities that individual countries in the region had to implement this urgent economic task.

Integrating countries plan to increase the efficiency of the functioning of national economies due to a number of factors that arise during the development of regional international socialization of production:

1) the economic space within which economic entities operate is expanding. Competition between enterprises of integrating countries is intensifying, which stimulates them to actively search for more advanced technical means and new technologies that lead to increased production efficiency. This applies to all countries participating in integration, but especially to countries with a less high level of development. More developed countries, by involving their neighbors in integration, contribute to their rapid economic growth and thereby the creation of more capacious markets there;

2) regional economic associations of countries make it possible to create a more stable and predictable situation for the development of mutual trade compared to traditional bilateral or multilateral negotiations, the interests of the participants of which are very different from each other;

3) integration blocs not only improve the mutual trade of their participants, but also strengthen their coordinated position within the framework of trade negotiations in the World Trade Organization. Speeches on behalf of the bloc are more significant and produce better results in the field of international politics;

4) integration associations emerging in the modern world economy provide an opportunity for member countries to take advantage of the benefits of economies of scale. In particular, these advantages can expand the scope of the market, support local producers, especially among new domestic industries, reduce cross-country trade costs and extract other trade benefits based on the theory of economies of scale. In addition, an expanded economic space creates better conditions for attracting foreign direct investment to large markets where it makes sense to create independent production;

5) regional integration associations create a favorable foreign policy environment for their participants. In fact, one of the most important tasks of all currently existing integration blocs is to strengthen the cooperation of their members not only in the economic, but also in the political, military, cultural and other non-economic spheres.

According to E. R. Molchanov (candidate of historical sciences), integration processes are implemented using a number of prerequisites.

Firstly, the levels of economic development of the integrating countries are the same or similar. Typically, international economic integration occurs either between industrialized countries or between developing countries. Moreover, integration processes are noticeably more active between states that are at a similar level of economic development.

Although attempts at integration associations between industrialized and developing countries are taking place, they are at an early stage of development, which does not yet allow us to draw clear conclusions about the degree of their effectiveness.

Secondly, the territorial proximity of the integrating countries, the presence in many cases of a common border. Most integration groups in the world began with several neighboring countries located in close geographic proximity and having common transport communications. Then other neighboring states joined the initial group of countries.

Thirdly, a prerequisite for the emergence of new integration blocks is the so-called demonstration effect. The fact is that in countries participating in international economic integration, there is usually an acceleration in economic growth, lower inflation, increased employment and other positive economic developments, which has a certain stimulating effect on other countries.

For example, the demonstration effect was most clearly manifested in the desire of some Eastern European countries to become members of the European Union as soon as possible, even without any serious economic prerequisites for this.

International economic integration cannot be spontaneous. Experience has shown: for the real socialization of production between any countries, it is necessary to consciously carry out the process of developing the international regional division of labor and international production cooperation, while relying on certain economic guidelines. Thus, an important fundamental specificity of the integration stage of development of economic cooperation between interested countries is that it necessarily involves a political decision of the parties to transfer the mutual division of labor to a new level and the free development of international production cooperation. Such a transition of the international regional division of labor to the integration stage necessarily directs the conscious collective regulation by the governments of interested countries of many foreign economic actions and changes in national reproduction processes in accordance with these actions.

The attitude of the merging countries towards third countries is a problem of economic integration. Each international economic integration is formed precisely as a regional socialization of production. However, very often in economic literature and especially in periodicals one can find the statement that this integration is not isolated from third countries, nor is it fenced off from them by insurmountable barriers. Naturally, there is no complete isolation of integrating partners from third countries. But still, ordinary economic relations cannot be equated with integration. This is because any integration has some kind of economic edge that fences off its participants from third countries.

Participants in international economic integration set the task of increasing the efficiency of operating enterprises to a high level not only on their territory, but also throughout the integrating community, and non-integrating but cooperating states primarily care about their individual interests and are not allied or contractual partners to improve efficiency throughout the group of cooperating states. This is the fundamental difference between them. Third countries do not undertake any obligations to rebuild the entire structure of their economy, to bring resource expenditures and other economic indicators that are a sign of an integrating collective of states to a certain agreed level. That is why, although the merging countries do not represent an isolated organization, having embarked on the path of integration, they must act separately in a certain sense of the word. It is planned that these states will cooperate on the basis not simply of the development of the international division of labor and international production cooperation, but on the basis of the formation of these cardinal ways of socializing international production in the direction of speedily increasing labor productivity and production efficiency in all countries of the community. There is no isolation from the world, but a certain economic isolation is evident.

Thus, integration processes bring closer to the development of economic regionalism, as a result of which certain groups of countries create for themselves more favorable conditions for trade, for the movement of capital and labor, than for all other countries.

Even without paying attention to the obvious protectionist features, economic regionalism is not a negative factor for the development of the world economy if the group of integrating countries, simplifying mutual economic ties, does not establish less favorable conditions for trade with third countries than before the start of integration. It turns out that economic regionalism, while liberalizing economic ties between countries of one group, should not lead to their complication with all other countries. As long as regionalism does not worsen the conditions for trade with the rest of the world, it is considered a positive factor in the development of the global economy.

Currently, there are about 20 international economic associations of integration type located in different parts of the globe.

2. Forms of international economic integration

International economic integration in its development goes through a number of stages:

1) free trade zone;

2) customs union;

3) common market;

4) economic union and political union.

All these stages have a characteristic feature, which is that certain economic barriers are eliminated between countries that have entered into one or another type of integration. As a result, a common market space is formed within the integration association, where free competition takes place, and under the influence of market regulators (prices, interest, etc.) a more efficient territorial and sectoral production structure arises. Because of this, all countries only benefit, as labor productivity increases and costs for customs control are saved. At the same time, each stage of integration has specific features.

Free trade zone - countries participating in it voluntarily renounce the protection of their national markets only in relations with their partners in this association. With third countries, each free trade zone participant determines its own tariffs. This type of integration is used by EFTA countries, NAFTA and other integration groups.

Customs Union. The members of the union jointly establish a single customs tariff for third countries, which makes it possible to more reliably protect the emerging single regional market space and present itself in the international arena as a unified trading bloc. But at the same time, the participants of this integration association are deprived of part of their foreign economic sovereignty. A similar version of integration was carried out within the European Union.

Common Market. All conditions of the customs union remain significant here. In addition, within the framework of the common market, restrictions on the movement of various factors of production are eliminated, which strengthens the economic interdependence of the member countries of this integration association. At the same time, freedom of intercountry movement requires a higher organizational level of interstate coordination of economic policy.

The common market is not the final stage in the development of international economic integration.

To form a mature market space, the following activities must be completed:

1) make the same tax levels;

2) eliminate budget subsidies to individual enterprises and industries;

3) overcome differences in national labor and economic legislation;

4) unify national technical and sanitary standards;

5) coordinate national credit and financial structures and social protection systems.

The implementation of these measures and further coordination of the national tax, anti-inflationary, currency, industrial, agricultural and social policies of the participants in this integration bloc will entail the creation of a single intraregional market. This stage of integration is usually called an economic union. At this stage, the merging countries create management structures capable of not only observing and coordinating economic actions, but also making operational decisions on behalf of the entire international bloc.

The prerequisites for the highest level of regional integration of a political union are formed with the development of an economic union in countries. This type of regional integration involves the transformation of a mature single market space into a single economic and political organism. As a result of the transition from an economic union to a political one, mutual foreign economic relations of the countries participating in it are being restructured into intrastate ones. The problem of international economic relations within the borders of this region ceases to exist.

3. Development of integration processes in Western Europe

The basis of what is called the European Union should be considered the Paris statement of the French Foreign Minister R. Schuman on May 9, 1950, which proposed placing all coal and steel production in France and Germany under common supreme leadership. As a result, in April 1951, the Treaty of Paris was signed establishing the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), which included six states - Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, France, and Italy. The treaty came into force in 1953.

Aspiration in the 1950s and 1960s. creating separate political structures within the framework of existing economic structures was not successful, since they were premature. The signing of the Treaty of Rome in 1957 creating the European Economic Community (EEC) turned all attention to solving economic problems. The European Economic Community, formed on a customs union and a common policy, especially in agriculture, was approved, as well as the European Atomic Energy Community - Euratom. The Treaty of Rome, which entered into force, thus united the ECSC and the EEC.

In December 1969, a decision was made in The Hague to expand communities and deepen integration. On January 1, 1973, Denmark, Ireland and Great Britain joined the “six”, Greece in 1981, Spain and Portugal in 1986, Austria, Finland and Sweden in 1995, Poland in 2004 , Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Cyprus, Malta. The EU currently has 25 member states.

After about two decades, different approaches to the interpretation of priorities and the nature of the driving forces inside and outside the group began to be discovered in the European Community. But the Treaty of Rome prioritized the principles of free trade and market liberalization. There was a need to resolve certain contradictions, which largely arose as a result of the evolution of world economic life:

1) between the political and economic goals of the Community;

2) between the priority political and economic objectives of individual member countries; between political supporters of maintaining national priorities;

3) between those who actively advocated giving European institutions greater autonomy in the decision-making process.

Preparations for making fundamental decisions were intensified in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

After the signing of the Single European Act (SEA) in 1986, changes occurred in the Community Regulations, namely:

1) decisions were made to gradually move away from the dominance of the Common Agricultural Policy in favor of solving other economic and social problems;

2) tasks have been set for the large-scale development of scientific and technological research;

3) significant changes have been made to the budget policy of the Communities;

4) the task was set to introduce a single currency by the end of the 1990s;

5) in connection with the completion of the Uruguay Round, a new situation arose in the system of international economic relations, which posed the task of adjusting foreign economic priorities.

European integration has traditionally been based on two main elements - trade liberalization and market relations. Nevertheless, a situation later developed in the European Communities in which member countries were forced (for various reasons) to make decisions to remove a number of barriers to expanding trade between the grouping countries.

The success of the Six in eliminating internal trade barriers contributed to the decision to deepen integration and expand the community. (The Hague, 1969) And in 1980 it became clear that the decision to create an Economic and Monetary Union was premature. The introduction of four more countries into the European Communities a few years later “unexpectedly revealed” new difficulties. This led to the expansion of markets and the emergence of completely new additional factors, which, as it turned out, were not thoroughly calculated. In addition, such an expansion pushed back the construction of a real single market to a “not very near future.”

In the 1970-1980s, the EU's technological lag behind the USA and Japan became apparent. At the state level, the goals were adjusted. Economic policy had to be based on the theory of endogenous growth, in which scientific and technological progress (investments in human capital, education, science) acquired great importance.

EU specialists have taken a very serious look at the problem of the relationship between the volume of intra-bloc trade, market size, scale of production at the level of the national economy and the competitiveness of companies. It was found that in a limited market, private companies can achieve significant cost reductions only by increasing the scale of production. In a number of industries, foreign capital has become so embedded in the economy of the European communities that it has begun to displace local companies and divide the market in its own way.

However, the EU was able to turn the situation around. As one of the main elements for accelerated progress towards a single market, the decision was made in 1979 to create the European Monetary System (EMS). The main idea was to form a so-called “currency stability zone” within the EU. The European Monetary System began operating in March 1979. Initially, four goals were set: achieving monetary stability within the EU; simplifying the convergence of economic development processes; giving the system the status of a key element of a growth strategy in conditions of stability; providing a stabilizing influence on international monetary and economic relations. The main element of the EMU was the monetary unit of account - the ECU, determined on the basis of a basket of currencies reflecting the relative share of member countries in the EU's gross national product, in intra-EU trade, as well as their contribution to exchange rate support mechanisms.

By the mid-1980s, for various reasons (both internal and external), the countries of Western Europe clearly realized that without taking new decisive political measures, the required pace for creating a single market would not be achieved.

On July 1, 1987, the Single European Act came into force. The first part of the document reaffirms the desire of the member countries to consistently move towards the creation of a genuine European Union. The second part of the act contains provisions on the procedure for interaction between the Council, the Commission of the European Communities (CEC) and the European Parliament and on the decision-making procedure. The main thing is the rejection of the principle of unanimity in the development of communitarian legislation, which slowed down the integration process. The date for the transition to a single market was set, implying freedom of movement of capital, goods, services and labor - December 31, 1992. The third part talks about cooperation in the field of foreign policy. The task of developing a common foreign policy for the EU countries was set, and a scheme of political cooperation was fixed. The final part of the document contains general provisions on the application of articles of the Act.

To highlight the fundamental essence of the creation of the CES single market, a special action plan was created. It consists of 300 points to eliminate various obstacles in the trade and economic sphere. In other words, the White Paper. The fruits of the implementation of this plan, to a greater or lesser extent, determine the current level of integration. The first group of provisions of the White Paper is the dismantling of physical barriers to cooperation. Firstly, this is the elimination of the mechanism of national import control (depriving the governments of member countries of the formal possibility of acting contrary to the common foreign trade policy). Secondly, the operation of cargo clearance within international trade has been significantly simplified. The Schengen Agreement on the absolute elimination of control over the movement of all citizens who live in the territory of countries that have signed this document is also of considerable importance. It established unified visa control.

An impressive step forward has been made in the implementation of the second group of tasks - the elimination of technical obstacles and the alignment of norms and standards. Financial services occupy a special place. Since 1993, any resident bank can fully carry out all banking operations in any country that is a member of the integration group. The sale of shares in the authorized capital to citizens and companies is allowed, insurance activities, the service market, etc. are liberalized.

The most difficult problems are tax ones. They arose as a result of the implementation of the third group of tasks. The document clarifies that the single market mechanism does not call for a rapid and rigid equalization of national indirect tax rates. The basis of the problem is the tax structure.

Such “supranationalization” has certain features for both EU states and their business operators.

Firstly, unified budget discipline and unification of the money markets of EU countries at the macroeconomic level under the monitoring of supranational financial institutions makes it possible to more reliably fight inflation and lower interest rates.

Secondly, a single monetary policy and currency for business operators determine the unity of monetary and foreign exchange regulation, including stock exchange, throughout the EU, a significant reduction in comparison with a multi-currency environment of overhead costs for settlement services, price and currency risks, timing of funds transfers and, as a result, a noticeable decrease in the working capital needs of these operators.

Thirdly, for individuals, maintaining accounts and traveling within the EU becomes cheaper, because when exchanging banknotes, their original cost is reduced due to differences in purchase and sale rates and payment of commissions.

Fourthly, the single currency can withstand the dollar and the yen much more stable.

Requirements for the state of finances of countries newly joining the EU, and especially countries of Eastern Europe, are becoming more stringent, this, in turn, reduces the burden for the European Union associated with its potential expansion.

The structure of EMU is a two-tier system of banks. It consists of the newly established European Central Bank (ECB) and the central banks of the member countries. The ECB is the head of this system.

Since 1994, the European Monetary Institute (EMI) began its work. The EMI was modified by the ECB at the final stage of the EMU (1 January 1999).

Progress towards EMU went through 3 stages. The first - preparatory - until January 1, 1996, the second - organizational - until December 31, 1998 and the final - until 2002). The last stage, in turn, is divided into three more specific stages (“A”, “B” and “C”).

During the first stage, participants removed all or almost all restrictions on the mutual movement of capital. The implementation of the programs began with the stabilization of budgets, prices and other financial policy indicators, adherence to which became mandatory for participation in the Union.

The second stage was dedicated to the completion of these financial stabilization programs and the formation of the legal and institutional framework of the Union.

At stage “C” (January 1, 2002 – July 1, 2002), all types of transactions and settlements within the Union switched to the Euro, and national banknotes were exchanged and withdrawn from circulation. Foreign trade and other contracts are converted into euros. The Supranational Institutions of the Union carry out their activities in full.

4. North American Free Trade Association (NAFTA)

On December 17, 1992, an agreement was concluded between the United States, Canada and Mexico to create the North American Free Trade Association (NAFTA).

On January 1, 1994, implementation of this agreement began. This agreement was a continuation and development of the bilateral free trade agreement between the United States and Canada, signed in 1988.

NAFTA creates conditions for the construction of an integral market space on the American continent.

The creation of NAFTA made it possible to remove trade barriers between the participating countries and led to the liberalization of the foreign investment regime and labor migration between them.

Of course, NAFTA had an impact throughout the Western Hemisphere and caused enormous political and economic changes there. Chile and other South American countries were ready to join NAFTA.

The creation of NAFTA is considered a new chapter in the history of international integration. It originated in Western Europe in the 1950s and then “moved” to the American continent.

However, unofficial integration between the United States and Canada began during the interwar period and developed over the years. In the 1970s Integration between the United States and Mexico began. Now all this has received institutional and legal registration.

Integration process in the 1960s occurred widely in developing countries. More than 30 free trade zones, customs or economic unions have emerged in Africa, Latin America and Asia. But most of them were not prepared either economically or politically and failed.

The United States played a decisive role in the development of North American integration. They have long supported Western European integration (the Marshall Plan).

On the one hand, because for a long time the United States was at the zenith of its economic, scientific and technological power, the competitiveness of American goods was very high, and the dollar was stable and “omnipotent.” The United States did not need special trade liberalization agreements with any country in the Western Hemisphere.

However, Canada and Mexico were not ready for integration with Big Brother. They feared losing economic independence and state sovereignty in such cooperation.

The level of development of the northern and southern partners of the United States is many times lower.

And only over time did the national economies of Canada and Mexico reach such a level of development and openness when economic priorities began to outweigh political stereotypes of mistrust.

Negotiations on the creation of NAFTA went on for quite some time.

They began in the summer of 1990 between George W. Bush and S. de Gortari. In January 1991, Canadian Prime Minister B. Mulroney joined them.

The text of the treaty was developed by February 1992, signed on December 17, 1992. In Canada, it was ratified by the House of Commons on May 27, 1993 (140 votes in favor, 124 against), and by the Senate on June 23, 1993. (142:30).

In the United States, the House of Commons adopted the treaty on November 17, 1993 (ratified) (234: 200), and the Senate (61: 38) soon after.

Basic provisions of the agreement.

Within 15 years, the complete abolition of trade barriers between the three participants was carried out. The exchange of finished products was most decisively freed from restrictions; since the beginning of 1994, duties on trade in food and industrial goods have been reduced by 65%. Over the next 5 years, they were reduced by another 15%, and most of the remainder were eliminated by 2003.

Smooth liberalization is envisaged for the markets for energy resources, agricultural goods, automobiles, and textiles. Thus, with regard to agricultural products, Mexico has entered into bilateral agreements with each of the partners. But she immediately abolished the licensing of imports of such goods from the United States by 25%. Other quantitative and tariff restrictions were abolished within 10–15 years.

Mexico has completely eliminated the previous 20% duty on US- and Canadian-made computers, while the duty on similar products from third countries is gradually being reduced to 3.9%.

For 10 years, Mexico has lifted most restrictions on car imports.

The capital migration regime between Canada and the United States has been sufficiently liberalized. Mexico has relaxed restrictions on the share of American and Canadian investors in the equity capital of their companies. In the future, participation in those areas where it was limited was planned to be expanded: from December 18, 1995 - to 49%, from January 1, 2001 - to 51%, from January 1, 2004 - to 100%. In enterprises that assemble cars, manufacture components and parts for them, and in construction companies, 100% participation has been allowed since January 1999.

In addition, Mexico pledged to lift restrictions on foreign participation in banks and insurance companies. This allowed American and Canadian financial capital to take over 1/3 of the Mexican insurance market.

A special part of the NAFTA agreements are parallel agreements on the protection of the environment and labor markets. The "maquiladora economy" in the border areas did not adhere to environmental standards. Therefore, it is planned to tighten environmental standards. This also applies to labor protection.

To resolve controversial issues, bi- and tripartite arbitration commissions may be created as necessary. The party that is found guilty is not required to immediately change its national standards or labor laws, but other partners may impose sanctions against it, including fines of up to $20 million.

In 1994, decisions were made to admit new members to NAFTA.

Along with individual applicants, entire blocs of countries were included. Thus, the ambitious South American common market consisting of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay (MERCOSUR) announced its readiness to join NAFTA.

Caribbean island states have joined NAFTA. The George W. Bush administration entered into a framework agreement with the Caribbean Common Market (CARICOM), which unites six English-speaking countries that have created a real common market with a single currency, but numbering only 5 million people.

5. Integration processes in Asia

The role of international integration processes in the Asia-Pacific region is great. MPEI contributed to the economic development of the countries of the region, the growth of consumption and production, etc. An “Asian quadrangle” has emerged in the region: Japan – China – NIS – ASEAN.

ASEAN – Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a subregional organization created in 1967. It included Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, and later Brunei and Vietnam. In economic publications, in a number of materials from UNCTAD and the IBRD, the concept of ASEAN-4 is found, meaning the first four countries.

A significant factor in the development of economic ties in the Asia-Pacific region is the growing sentiment in favor of Asian solidarity and the search for common Asian values. Consideration of intraregional interaction and, in particular, connections within the “Asian Quadrangle” occurs primarily in such areas as trade, direct investment, inter-company partnerships, as well as at the interregional level.

Three most important areas of regional integration based on and within ASEAN were developed. The first of them is market. The choice is given to a free trade zone; there is a gradual reduction in tariffs in mutual trade in order to ultimately, along with the theory of comparative advantage and for more efficient use of resources, provide complete freedom to locate production in one of the ASEAN countries.

Liberalization of intraregional trade is carried out either through product tariff reductions or through their general reductions. This, in theory, speeds up the process. Singapore followed this scheme.

Market-institutional is the second direction of regional integration. Its distinctive feature is the combination of selective trade liberalization with the use of some forms of interstate regulation.

This path was used by supporters of targeted industrialization. This strategy is based on region-wide industrial cooperation, as well as the coordination of development plans of ASEAN countries at the international level, the implementation of joint projects and is supported by administrative and political measures. This focus was developed in Indonesia, which believes that the integration process and the introduction of a market regime within the group should be preceded by the industrialization of all its members and the development of compensation mechanisms.

The third direction intends to implement individual projects on a regional scale. oppose complex management schemes. The driving force behind regional integration is the private sector, which involves creating conditions for the favorable growth of large multinational companies that would be able to take over the main place in regional business.

In January 1991, at the Singapore Summit of ASEAN countries, the parties once again spoke in favor of developing cooperation. The task has been set to organize a free trade zone by 2007, gradually reducing intra-ASEAN tariffs.

Currently, quite active efforts are being made in the Asia-Pacific region to develop cooperation within the framework of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Organization (APEC), created in 1989.

The first APEC Ministerial Conference took place in December 1989 in Canberra (Australia). It was attended by 12 founding countries (Australia, USA, Japan, Canada, New Zealand, South Korea and six ASEAN countries. Subsequently, a number of new member states joined APEC.

In 1998, Russia joined this organization. By its nature, goals, concepts, and even the composition of its participants, APEC looks like a rather atypical regional grouping for today’s world. Such an economic association was founded by states with very different conditions and levels of economic development, economic structures, traditions, and psychology. But developed and developing countries act as equal partners.

The APEC Action Program was adopted in Osaka in November 1995. This program of action aims to achieve the long-term goal of free and open trade and investment by no later than 2010 for industrialized countries and 2020 for developing countries. According to the adopted document, the process of liberalization and assistance within APEC will be comprehensive and comply with WTO standards.

This document contains provisions on the gradual reduction of tariffs, on the reduction of non-tariff measures, on the need to develop cooperation in the field of energy, transport, etc.

It follows from this that APEC is an organization at the beginning of its journey. So far, only declarative, non-binding measures have been taken. Currently, this economic grouping is not connected by close interaction, interpenetration, or mutual influence. For this association to become integrated from an economic point of view, time is needed.

In its activities, APEC relies on already existing formations, for example, ASEAN, as well as on groupings that may emerge or are currently working sluggishly, for example, the Council for Pacific Cooperation (PTEC), a non-governmental organization that attracts scientists, businessmen, etc. to its work.

In 1989–1992 The highest governing body of APEC held annual meetings of the ministers of foreign affairs and economics of the participating countries. Since 1993, the highest body of the meeting has been the heads of state and heads of government of the member countries of this organization. However, annual ministerial meetings have been preserved, at which reports from APEC working bodies are heard and the organization’s annual budget is approved.

The current leadership of APEC is carried out by a group of authorized representatives of the member countries of this organization, who meet quarterly. They form the Board of Directors, the leadership of the APEC Secretariat and the working groups of this organization. The Chairman of the Board of Directors is elected alternately from among ASEAN members and non-ASEAN members. He appoints the APEC Executive Director for a period of 1 year.

The APEC Secretariat (headquartered in Singapore since 1992) deals with operational issues, conducts correspondence, publishes APEC materials and documentation, and coordinates the activities of APEC working groups.

There are ten working groups within APEC: on trade; investments and industrial technologies; human resource development; energy; sea ​​resources; telecommunications; transport; tourism; fishing; information and statistics.

APEC maintains active business ties with private businesses. In a number of working groups, private business circles have their representatives.

The Pacific Economic Council (PEC) received observer status in APEC. In 1993, the chambers of commerce of Australia and Indonesia created another international organization - Asia-Pacific Business, which deals with stimulating small and medium-sized enterprises and joined the activities of APEC.

6. Integration processes in South America

Integration processes in South America are of impressive interest and are instructive for many countries around the world. Serious problems in the development of integration in the region are the lack of good transport links between countries; natural conditions (Cordillera, equatorial forests) also complicate mutual exchange between neighbors.

All this differs significantly from the conditions of Western Europe, whose territory easily allows for the creation of an extensive transport system.

This past did not contribute to integration due to the weak complement of national economies, so they were focused on exporting goods with similar characteristics.

The transition of most Latin American countries to an open economy model, with the help of which they hoped to overcome the economic crisis and adapt to new conditions of the world economy, as well as modernize their production potential, did not bring them significant success in the 80s. The desire to increase the physical volumes of exports did not accompany the increase foreign exchange earnings due to lower world prices for raw materials, was affected by the negative impact of protectionist barriers and the presence of external debt.

In connection with the world development experience, Latin American countries have put forward a new theory of regional integration, which is not an alternative to integration into the world economy, but, in their opinion, the optimal basis for the development of relations between Latin America and other regions of the world. As a result, the problem was raised of changing the old style of integration, aimed first at replacing imports within regional markets, which did not correspond to the newest model of development of Latin American countries.

A clearly formulated theory of “open regionalism” began to be developed, i.e. integration based on low customs barriers and more open to the world market.

The development of subregional cooperation gained additional impetus after the creation of NAFTA in the early 1990s and the proclamation by George W. Bush of the so-called “Initiative for the Americas,” which provided for the formation of a free trade zone “from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego.”

Naturally, George Bush's initiative was designed to strengthen the US position in Latin America, to provide a kind of response to the strengthening of integration trends and processes in other regions of the world.

An analysis of economic processes in South America allows us to imagine the following reasons that led to the acceleration of integration in the region.

First reason– this is increasing competition in trade, on the one hand, and increasing income from the use of new technologies and investments, on the other. All this caused the formation of larger and more open markets.

Second reason The acceleration of integration processes was the liberalization of foreign trade undertaken by South American countries in the late 1980s.

Third reason consists in a decisive revision of the mechanisms of integration in the region.

In the ongoing intensification of integration processes in South America, MERCOSUR - the Aggregate Market of the Southern Cone Countries, formed in 1991 by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay and in a short time became one of the main participants in real regional integration - is becoming increasingly important.

Today, MERCOSUR is a large integrated market in Latin America, where 45% of the population (more than 200 million people), 50% of total GDP (over $1 trillion), 40% of foreign direct investment, more than 60% of total trade turnover and 33% of volume of foreign trade of the continent.

The contract on the formation of MERCOSUR provided for the abolition of all duties and tariffs in mutual trade between the 4 countries, i.e. the organization of an FTA in the subregion by December 31, 1994.

During the transition period at the end of 1994, the Common Market Council (composed of foreign ministers), the Common Market Group, an executive body that operates permanently and has an administrative secretariat headquartered in Montevideo and 10 technical commissions, were created to guide the integration process. which report to the Common Market Group and deal with issues of trade, customs regulation, technical regulations, monetary and financial policy, industrial technology, macroeconomic policy, land and sea transport, agriculture and energy.

The rise of MERCOSUR is not without its challenges. Despite the goals set, the member countries of this group were unable to agree by the appointed deadline (January 1, 1995) on the absolute abolition of tariffs in intraregional trade.

Mercosur participants agreed to temporarily maintain, for a transitional period (until 2000), a significant number of exemptions from the general order, which vary for each of the four countries.

For example, Uruguay received the right to the widest list of temporary exceptions from duty-free trade between MERCOSUR member countries - 950 positions of the bloc’s unified customs nomenclature for a period until 2000, Argentina - 221 positions until 1999, Brazil - 28 positions until 1999 ., Paraguay – 272 positions until 2000. It was not possible to coordinate uniform external tariffs on imports of goods from countries that are not members of MERCOSUR within the planned time frame. However, the parties have coordinated a schedule according to which it is planned to annually reduce these tariffs in equal shares until they are completely abolished within a newly agreed upon time frame.

The MERCOSUR Treaty establishes the abolition of non-tariff restrictions, with the exception of not only measures regulating trade in arms, military equipment, ammunition, radioactive materials, precious metals, but also restrictive measures aimed at protecting the health and morals of citizens, national and cultural property. Non-tariff regulatory measures that are not restrictive in nature also remain and are subject to streamlining and harmonization.

Still, this very voluminous and complex work carried out by the MERCOSUR special committee on non-tariff restrictions has not yet been completed. Today, general anti-dumping regulations are being developed by the Trade Commission.

7. Integration processes in Africa

Integration processes in Africa began in the early 1960s. The countries of this continent had different levels of economic development. If we compare it with the world level, it was and remains low. Both then and now there is a wide dispersion in income, in terms of financial potential, transport capabilities, etc. By the early 1990s. Of the four dozen countries that are classified as underdeveloped, 25 are located on the African continent. At the same time, GDP per capita ranges from $80 in Mozambique to $500 in Mauritania. After 1960, about 40 different international economic and financial organizations emerged on the continent, which advocated the development of integration both across a wide range of economic spheres of activity and within individual industries, although the definitions of “integration” or “integration” were not always present in the founding documents. international division of labor."

The former metropolises had a great influence on the development of integration processes in Africa, but, as a rule, such influence was used to achieve certain goals - not to let them out of the sphere of interests, etc. An example is various groupings of French-speaking, English-speaking countries, etc.

At the initial stage, organizations specific to African conditions appeared, for example, seven organizations of the so-called “river profile”: OMVG (Organization for the Development of the Gambia River Basin), OMVS (Organization for the Development of the Senegal River Basin), Organization for the Exploitation and Development of the Katera River Basin, etc. The emergence of these organizations is a natural process inherent in this continent and the specific economic conditions existing at that time in Africa.

Structures were also created that, according to African researchers, could well become a kind of centers for “concentrating processes and turning them into integration”: the African Forestry Organization, the International Union of Cocoa Producing Countries, the Association for the Development of Rice Growing in West Africa, etc.

It was precisely this process that could continue, since countries in general had a monocultural production structure, and other economic components that could in some way impede rapprochement, cooperation, and expansion of trade did not prevail.

However, due to a number of reasons, both objective and subjective, development was rather sluggish. We should not forget that in the 1960s and 1970s in Africa there was a very strong influence of TNCs. Thus, in 1977, the East African Community (EAC) ceased to exist. YOU is a group that showed great hope to integration apologists. Nevertheless, the activities of TNCs, which controlled commodity flows from sales to sales, at a certain stage disrupted regional cooperation programs.

Due to the active economic diplomacy of developing countries, including African ones, the international community has regulated individual approaches of TNCs to cooperation. Through a series of Lomé Conventions, the conditions for cooperation between EU member states (and therefore their former metropolitan countries) and developing countries were developed.

From the point of view of some experts in Africa, regional integration processes are beginning to increasingly obey economic logic.

In response to priority needs, increasing efforts are being directed towards the implementation of the Treaty on the gradual establishment of the African Economic Community (AEC), acting as a common market based on existing regional organizations. The agreement on it came into force in May 1994.

The plan for the gradual creation of AfES, which consists of six stages, should be implemented within 34 years. The main elements of the AfEC are the already existing subregional groupings: ECOWAS, COMESA, SADC, SAMESCA, EUDEAC. In this regard, priority attention was paid to them, to their comprehensive strengthening and strengthening the coordination of their activities.

The transformation of the AfES largely depends on the further “well-being” of subregional African groupings, which currently leaves much to be desired.

Perhaps the practical effect of AfES is a process in the rather distant future. However, the Community development process itself can give impetus to the modernization and unification of the structures of economic interaction between African countries, increase the intensity and volume of their cooperation, which ultimately should lead to the expansion of African markets, the emergence of relatively large needs in connection with equipping new enterprises and other facilities created in Africa on a collective basis.

In West Africa, the most visible activity is that of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which aims to gradually create a common market in the region. ECOWAS was formed in 1975 and consists of 16 states. In July 1995, at the 18th ECOWAS summit, the official entry into force of the updated Community Treaty (signed in Cotonou in 1993), with which a number of states in this subregion cooperate, was announced.

The implementation of the Community's plans encounters significant difficulties due to differences in the levels of economic development of states, their unequal approaches to the use of government and market levers to solve economic, financial, trade and other problems. Increasing the effectiveness of ECOWAS is largely hampered by the rivalry between the French- and English-speaking countries of the subregion and their closer attachment to the former metropolises than in other regions, as well as internal problems in Nigeria, which, according to a number of states, is the “locomotive” of integration processes in West Africa.

There is an agreement to transform the Preferential Trade Area of ​​Eastern and Southern Africa (PTA) into the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), which was signed in November 1993 in Kampala, Uganda. The plans of this agreement include the formation of a common market, a monetary union by 2020, and cooperation in the economic, legal and administrative spheres. The idea of ​​creating a Common Market envisaged the merger of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the PTA into COMESA.

At the SADC summit (August 1994) in Gaborone (Botswana), a decision was made on the separate existence of 2 organizations - in southern and eastern Africa, respectively.

At a meeting of the COMESA Council of Ministers with the participation of 16 member countries, which took place in April 1996, in addition to considering the results of activities in 1995, tasks were set for the development of integration: the need to increase industrial production in the region, remove tariff barriers to trade, introduce common external tariff. The following positive facts were noted: a constant increase in the volume of intraregional trade (an average of 10.1% per year), a partial reduction in customs tariffs, and the abolition of almost all non-tariff barriers by countries.

At the same time, the creation of a Common Market in this African region is complicated by the fact that there is a significant stratification in economic development between countries, and the unstable political situation and monetary and financial sphere.

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is a political-economic regional bloc formed in 1992 on the basis of the Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADC), which existed since 1980. SADC now consists of 12 states.

The founders of SADC intended that the development of cooperation should proceed according to the position of “flexible geometry” and varying tempos of integration processes both between individual countries and groups of countries within the Community. Today's Community Action Program is valued at $8.5 billion and contains 446 joint projects. Only 10–15% of the program can be financed from its own resources.

At a consultative conference with external donors on the mobilization of financial and human resources (Lilongwe, February 1995), a resolution was adopted to establish special bodies on the topics of finance and investment and on the topics of labor and employment.

Within SADC, such bodies still have an advisory status. In August of the same year, the formation of a unified energy system for the countries of Southern Africa was established. The corresponding Memorandum and Protocol on the joint use of water resources were also signed.

At the same time, they decided to intensify efforts to create a free trade area in Southern Africa by 2000. The main “donors” (“cooperating partners”) of SADC have been formed - the Scandinavian countries, which provided up to 50% of external funding, the European Union and the United States. In September 1994, the Berlin Declaration was signed with the EU, which provides for the exchange of integration experience, collective planning and implementation of development programs.

In February 1996, a bilateral Memorandum of Understanding in the trade and economic field was signed with the United States, providing for priority areas of cooperation in agribusiness, energy, finance, infrastructure development, etc.

The United States is directing its African partners mainly to develop interaction through private entrepreneurship with a gradual winding down of government programs.

Nowadays, the Community is taking measures to gradually unify approaches to creating an investment climate, tax and customs legislation acceptable to all.

Integration processes in Southern Africa are occurring with some difficulties, encountering obstacles of an objective and subjective nature. Even in this region, where relatively prosperous countries are located, there remain serious differences between them in economic and social development, distribution and the personal ambitions of some government leaders.

Of course, the nature of subregional development is largely determined by the position of South Africa, an economically strong country in the region. Transforming SADC into a truly strong integration grouping will take some time. In Central Africa, in terms of economic integration, the Customs and Economic Union of Central Asia (UDEAC), consisting of six countries, has developed somewhat dynamically.

Over the entire period of its existence, intraregional trade has increased 25 times. As a result, a single external customs tariff was introduced, and on the basis of the joint participation of the EUDEAC countries in the “French franc zone”, the Monetary Union of Central Africa was formed with a central institution called the Bank of Central African States. It issues means of payment that are common to all participants. Credit cooperation bodies also operate within UDEAC: the Development Bank of Central African States and the Solidarity Fund.

The problems of the development of this economic group include different levels of economic development of countries, homogeneity and weak diversification of national economies, underdeveloped infrastructure, and political instability in a number of countries.

The members of the Union decided to gradually modify the EUDEAC into the Economic and Monetary Community (EMECA), i.e., to reach a higher level of integration. This conclusion was made in March 1994.

ME Integration – This is a process of uniting countries based on the development of deep sustainable relationships, division of labor between national economies and the implementation of a coordinated interstate economic policy. Integration is aimed at creating an effective structure of national economies, gradually bringing closer and equalizing the levels of their economic development. The ultimate goal of integration is to improve the standard of living of the population of a given country.

Reasons influencing integration:

1. Deepening the international division of labor.

2. Scientific and technical process and scientific and technological progress associated with it.

3.Internationalization of ME.

4.Increasing the degree of openness of national economies.

Main characteristics, which together distinguish it from other forms of economic interaction between countries:

eliminating restrictions on the movement of goods, as well as services, capital, and human resources between the countries participating in the agreement;

harmonization of the economic policies of the participating countries;

interpenetration and interweaving of national production processes, the formation within the region of technological unity of the production process;

broad development of international specialization and cooperation in production, science and technology on the basis of the most progressive and deep forms, joint financing of economic development;

related structural changes in the economies of the participating countries;

convergence of national legislations, norms and standards;

targeted regulation of the integration process, development of bodies governing economic interaction (both interstate and supranational management mechanisms are possible);

regionality of the spatial scale of integration.

Main types of integration :

1. Free Trade Zone (FTA). Within the framework of the FTA, trade restrictions between the participating countries are abolished, and above all this concerns customs duties.

2.Customs union. Along with the functioning of the FTA, a unified foreign trade tariff is established and a unified foreign trade policy is pursued in relation to third countries. Interstate relations concern only the sphere of exchange in order to provide the participating countries with equal opportunities in the development of mutual trade and financial settlements.

3. A more complex form of integration is the creation of a common market (FTA, Customs Union + free movement of capital and labor, as well as coordination of economic policies).

4.Economic and monetary union (EMU): Common market + harmonization of economic policies.

The most significant integration economic organizations in the main regions of the world economy:

European region

European Union (originally European Economic Community)

European Free Trade Association (EFTA)

Central European Free Trade Area (CEFTA)

Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)

Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC)

North American region

North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)

Asian-Pacific area

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum

Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)

South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)

South American region

Latin American Integration Association (LAI, formerly Latin American Free Trade Association - LAST)

Andean Group, or Andean Pact Caribbean Community and Caribbean Common Market

Southern Cone Common Market (MERCOSUR)

6 Integration processes in the CIS and the prospects for their development.

The severance of established ties as a result of the collapse of the USSR was very painful (it is estimated that from 1/3 to 1/2 of the drop in GDP in the CIS member countries in 1992-1995 was due to the consequences of the destruction of these ties).

At the first stage, they manifested themselves in attempts to protect, at least partially, the former single economic space from disintegration processes. These attempts primarily affected areas where the cessation of ties had a particularly adverse impact on the state of the national economy (transport, communications, energy supplies, etc.). Integration trends in the post-Soviet space are generated by the following main factors: division of labor, which could not be changed in a short period of time; the desire of the broad masses of the population in the CIS member countries to maintain fairly close ties; technological interdependence, uniform technical standards.

The decision to create the CIS was made by the presidents of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine simultaneously with the signing of the Belovezhskaya Agreements on the dissolution of the USSR at the end of 1991. Subsequently, all former Soviet republics, except the Baltic ones, joined the CIS. Russia is the natural core of the CIS. Of all the post-Soviet republics, it accounts for over 3/4 of the territory, almost 1/2 of the population and about 2/3 of GDP.

The institutional foundations for the implementation of integration processes within the CIS are laid down in the Agreement on the Establishment of an Economic Union, signed in September 1993, as well as in the documents specifying and developing it - the Agreement on the creation of a free trade zone and the Agreement on assistance in the creation and development of industrial, commercial, credit -financial, insurance and mixed transnational associations (April 1994), the Agreement on the implementation of a coordinated antimonopoly policy and the Agreement on cooperation in the field of investment activities (December 1993) and a number of others.

The Charter defines the goals of the Commonwealth: to promote the integration of CIS members in the economic, political and humanitarian fields, to maintain and develop contacts and cooperation between people, government institutions and enterprises of the member countries. The CIS is an open organization for other countries to join.

There are many problems within the CIS. The main obstacles to integration are the reluctance of member countries to make any restrictions on their sovereignty, without which real integration is impossible or has an extremely narrow framework, economic difficulties, and the incompleteness of the construction of a new socio-economic system.

Structure of CIS bodies: Council of Heads of State, Council of Heads of Government, Councils of Foreign Ministers, Defense Ministers and Border Force Commanders, Interparliamentary Assembly, Economic Court, Economic Council and Executive Secretariat.

Prospects for the CIS Apparently, positive aspects in the regionalization of the CIS still prevail, and they may well be combined with general integration processes, and often stimulate them.

The final result of the interaction of integration and integration processes in the post-Soviet space will depend on many reasons, including the results of reforms, the state of the economy, the policies of the ruling circles of the CIS member countries, people's awareness of the importance of rapprochement, the policies of third countries, and other factors, both within the CIS , and beyond. But the main factor will be the results of the development of the Russian economy and systemic reforms in Russia - the natural integration core of the CIS.

The potential for increasing exports of finished products outside the CIS is extremely limited due to the low competitiveness of manufacturing products and fierce competition in world markets. But the technological division of labor and uniform standards, the popularity of manufactured products, the nature of the general engineering training of personnel, etc. are the basis for expanding mutual exchange. . A significant reduction in mutual trade turnover compared to inter-republican supplies in the Soviet period and a reorientation of foreign economic relations to third countries do not mean the disappearance of the objective basis for integration into the CIS. These changes were a natural reaction to the inconsistencies of the previous division of labor, aggravated by the difficulties of the transformation period and the peculiarities of the political development of the CIS member countries. But now this reorientation is being completed, and centripetal tendencies are beginning to appear more and more. The objective prerequisites for closer integration will certainly strengthen after the completion of reforms and economic recovery in these countries. The obstacles on this path are the same as at the level of the entire Commonwealth: first of all, the reluctance to limit one’s sovereignty and properly take into account the interests of partners, doubts about the benefits of rapprochement.

Integration associations of various types received their greatest development in the second half of the twentieth century. Despite the differences in approaches, ideology, definitions and names of certain integration processes and groupings, some common features and patterns can be identified in them. Historically, integration evolves through several main stages, each of which indicates the degree of its maturity.

Main stages of the integration process

On the first level, when countries are just taking the first steps towards mutual rapprochement, agreements are concluded between them preferential trade agreements. Such agreements can be signed either on a bilateral basis between individual states, or between an already existing integration grouping and an individual country or group of countries. In accordance with them, countries provide more favorable treatment to each other than they provide to third countries. In a sense, this is a departure from the most favored nation principle, which was sanctioned by the GATT/WTO under the so-called temporary agreements leading to the formation of a customs union. Preferential agreements, which provide for the preservation of national customs tariffs of each of the countries that have signed them, should be considered not even as the initial, but as a preparatory stage of the integration process, which becomes such only when it takes on more developed forms. No interstate bodies are created to manage preferential agreements.

On the second level integration countries are moving towards creating free trade zones , providing for not a simple reduction, but a complete abolition of customs tariffs in mutual trade while maintaining national customs tariffs in relations with third countries. In most cases, the conditions of a free trade zone apply to all goods except agricultural products. A free trade area can be coordinated by a small interstate secretariat located in one of the member countries, but often does without it, coordinating the main parameters of its development at periodic meetings of the heads of the relevant departments. A classic example of such a free trade area is the European Free Trade Association, which has existed since I960.

Third level integration is related to education customs union - the agreed abolition by the group of national customs tariffs and the introduction of a common customs tariff and a unified system of non-tariff regulation of trade in relation to third countries. The Customs Union provides for duty-free intra-integration trade in goods and services and complete freedom of their movement within the region. Typically, a customs union requires the creation of a more developed system of interstate bodies coordinating the implementation of a coordinated foreign trade policy. Most often, they take the form of periodic meetings of ministers heading the relevant departments, which in their work rely on a permanent interstate secretariat.

When the integration process reaches fourth level- common market) - integrating countries agree on freedom of movement not only of goods and services, but also factors of production - capital and labor. Freedom of interstate movement, under the protection of a single external tariff, of factors of production requires an organizationally significantly higher level of interstate coordination of economic policy. Such coordination is carried out at periodic meetings (usually once or twice a year) of the heads of state and government of the participating countries, much more frequent meetings of the heads of ministries of finance, central banks and other economic departments, supported by a permanent secretariat. Within the European Union, for example, these are the European Council of Heads of State and Government, the EU Council of Ministers and the EU Secretariat.

Finally, on the fifth, at the highest level, integration turns into economic union , which, along with a common customs tariff and freedom of movement of goods and factors of production, also provides for the coordination of macroeconomic policies and the unification of legislation in key areas - foreign exchange, budgetary, monetary. At this stage, there is a need for bodies endowed not only with the ability to coordinate actions and monitor economic development, but also to make operational decisions on behalf of the group as a whole. Governments consistently renounce some of their functions and thereby cede part of state sovereignty in favor of supranational bodies. Such interstate bodies with supranational functions are vested with the right to make decisions on issues relating to the organization without coordination with the governments of member countries. Within the EU, this is the EU Commission.

Monetary union is a form and at the same time a major component of an economic union. The characteristic features of a monetary union are: 1) coordinated (joint) floating of national currencies; 2) establishment by agreement of fixed exchange rates, which are purposefully supported by the Central Banks of the participating countries; 3) creation of a single regional currency; 4) the formation of a single regional bank, which is the issuing center of this international currency unit. In developing countries, monetary union refers to clearing agreements. Today, the so-called “Euro area” is the most striking example of a monetary union.

It is fundamentally possible for the existence and sixth level integration- ­ political union , which would provide for the transfer by national governments of most of their functions in relations with third countries to supranational bodies. This would effectively mean the creation of an international confederation and the loss of sovereignty by individual states. However, not a single integration group has not only reached such a level of development, but does not even set itself such tasks. Most of the integration groups existing in the world are still at the stage of formal integration, that is, they are going through the second and third stages of the integration process. 1

Thus, integration is a multi-level process, at each level providing for the unification of various sectors of national economies, and in the future, areas of government. The integration process takes place in stages due to differences in the structure and development of individual economies. At each level there is its own system of criteria for assessing the effectiveness and depth of integration processes, which allows us to talk about the degree of interpenetration of the economies of national states.