Cross-Border Initiative in Eastern and Southern Africa : Regional Integration by Emergence

Cross-Border Initiative in Eastern and Southern Africa : Regional Integration by Emergence

Over the past few decades Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries have tried various arrangements to promote economic integration. Most of these arrangements have focused on promoting greater intra-regional trade. Nevertheless, despite some increase in intra-regional trade in some of the groupings (e.g., COMESA, SADC and UEMOA), overall intra-regional trade in SSA is less than 10 percent of the region's total trade. In the past decade, some of the arrangements have also started to focus on promoting greater intra-regional investment flows (e.g., UEMOA, COMESA). The experience to date has brought out two key issues that are likely to shape the debate over the integration approaches in SSA over the next decade. These are: a choice between "integration by design" and "integration by emergence"; and the relative importance given to the promotion of intra-regional trade and investment. This article presents a synthesis of the issues as well as the experience in dealing with these issues under the Cross Border Initiative (CBI) in Eastern and Southern Africa and Indian Ocean countries.

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Gorjestani, Nicolas
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2000-09
Subjects:CAPITAL GOODS, CAPITAL MARKET, CAPITAL MARKET DEVELOPMENT, CROSS-BORDER FLOWS, CUSTOMS, DEREGULATION, DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, ECONOMIC INTEGRATION, ECONOMIC REFORM, EXCHANGE SYSTEM, EXPORT BIAS, FLOW OF INVESTMENT, FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT, FOREIGN INVESTMENT, FREE TRADE, FREER TRADE, GLOBAL MARKETS, GOOD GOVERNANCE, HARMONIZATION, HUMAN CAPITAL, HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT, INTERMEDIATE GOODS, INTRA-REGIONAL TRADE, INTRAREGIONAL TRADE, INVESTMENT FLOWS, JUDICIAL REFORMS, LIBERALIZATION, LOWERING TRADE, MARKET INTEGRATION, NON-TARIFF BARRIERS, PEER PRESSURE, POLITICAL STABILITY, POTENTIAL BENEFITS, PRIVATIZATION, REGIONAL INTEGRATION, REGIONAL LEVEL, REGIONAL MARKET, REGIONAL TRADE, REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT, REGULATORY FRAMEWORKS, RULES OF ORIGIN, SMALL ECONOMIES, TARIFF BARRIERS, TARIFF REFORM, TARIFF REGIMES, TARIFF STRUCTURE, TAX, TAX REFORM, TRADE LIBERALIZATION, TRADE OPENNESS, TRADE REFORM, TRADE REGIMES, TREATY, TREATY OBLIGATIONS, WELFARE GAINS,
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2000/09/12356864/cross-border-initiative-eastern-southern-africa-regional-integration-emergence
https://hdl.handle.net/10986/9834
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Summary:Over the past few decades Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries have tried various arrangements to promote economic integration. Most of these arrangements have focused on promoting greater intra-regional trade. Nevertheless, despite some increase in intra-regional trade in some of the groupings (e.g., COMESA, SADC and UEMOA), overall intra-regional trade in SSA is less than 10 percent of the region's total trade. In the past decade, some of the arrangements have also started to focus on promoting greater intra-regional investment flows (e.g., UEMOA, COMESA). The experience to date has brought out two key issues that are likely to shape the debate over the integration approaches in SSA over the next decade. These are: a choice between "integration by design" and "integration by emergence"; and the relative importance given to the promotion of intra-regional trade and investment. This article presents a synthesis of the issues as well as the experience in dealing with these issues under the Cross Border Initiative (CBI) in Eastern and Southern Africa and Indian Ocean countries.

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