Promoting regional economic cooperation

Subregional and regional integration offers a multisectoral framework of cooperation which combines the tools of trade expansion with cooperation in respect of investment, services, transport, customs facilitation and other areas which mutually enhance each other's effectiveness. Producers can benefit from economies of scale. Subregional integration is a means to diversify into new export products, to encourage many new firms to export for the first time, to gain experience on the regional market, and to become competitive in certain branches where the regional market exceeds the threshold of cost effectiveness. Subregional integration can therefore constitute a major stage in the learning process for attaining international competitiveness and, in certain industries, a phase in the process leading towards later expansion towards world markets. It can also strengthen the position of members in trade negotiations.