Regional integration and development of intra-regional trade in North Africa: what potential trade?

Abstract

For developing countries, economic integration provides both a response to the structural challenge of the small size national markets and a strategic tool to mitigate the negative effects of a too unbalanced multilateralism. Structured regional market in a free trade area or customs union confers tariff preferences between the countries concerned, under derogation of Article XXIV of GATT/WTO. Beyond the development of trade which is their raison d’être, more sophisticated integration projects also create other dynamics, including regional roots and greater predictability of national policies, which are essential to FDI attractiveness, facilitation of political dialogue between partner States and strengthening of their negotiating power in the international arena.