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TRADE BLOC
A trade bloc is a large free trade area or free trade area formed by one or more tax, tariff and trade agreements. Typically trade pacts that define such a bloc specify formal adjudication bodies, e.g. NAFTA trade panels. This may include even a more democratic and participative system, as the EU and its parliament.
Particularly since the demise of most of the world's empires, a number of international—generally regionally based—economic blocs have been developed to promote trade between member states.
Several blocs also have stated or implicit political goals—notably the EU. Varieties of economic blocs include free trade areas, customs unions, single markets, and economic and monetary unions.
One of the first economic blocs was the German Customs Union (Zollverein) initiated in 1834, formed on the basis of the German Confederation and subsequently German Empire from 1871.
A trade bloc is established through a trade pact (or pacts) covering different issues of the economic integration.
Most active regional blocs
It is possible that a country is member of two (or more) different blocs. To avoid overlapping for this classification such countries are only included in the most active of the blocs in question. The "activity" of each block is measured by the following three criteria:
- to have greater real practical achievements (not only declarations that are not followed by actual actions by its members)
- to have more recent (or regular) activities (meetings, new agreements, other internal procedures)
- to have more ambitious plans for future integration and a tighter timescale for it.
Also a country may be classified here as part of the less active regional bloc if the country itself is more active in it; Venezuela, for example, is a member of both the Andean Community and Mercosur. While Mercosur is a more active bloc than the Andean Community, Venezuela itself is much more active in the Andean Community than in Mercosur. Therefore Venezuela is assigned to the Andean Community for the purpose of this classification. (This is only an example. So, note, that Venezuela is planning to completely integrate with Mercosur by 2010).
Priority is given to such regional blocs that have ambitions for integration in more spheres than just economy (i.e. political, defence and other spheres). Sometimes activities are divided between different (but related) blocs with small deviations in membership (e.g. NATO and EU members are almost the same).
Some colors on the map are used multiple times for different blocs. A darker color means full member; a lighter color means associate state, observer state, prospective member, candidate, acceding state or a similar status.
Most active regional blocs
Regional
bloc 1 |
Area (km²) |
Population |
GDP (PPP) ($US) |
Member
states 1 |
| in millions |
per capita |
| EU |
3,977,487 |
460,124,266 |
11,723,816 |
25,480 |
25 |
| CARICOM |
462,344 |
14,565,083 |
64,219 |
4,409 |
14+1 3 |
| ECOWAS |
5,112,903 |
251,646,263 |
342,519 |
1,361 |
15 |
| CEMAC |
3,020,142 |
34,970,529 |
85,136 |
2,435 |
6 |
| EAC |
1,763,777 |
97,865,428 |
104,239 |
1,065 |
3 |
| CSN |
17,339,153 |
370,158,470 |
2,868,430 |
7,749 |
10 |
| GCC |
2,285,844 |
35,869,438 |
536,223 |
14,949 |
6 |
| SACU |
2,693,418 |
51,055,878 |
541,433 |
10,605 |
5 |
| COMESA |
3,779,427 |
118,950,321 |
141,962 |
1,193 |
5 |
| NAFTA |
21,588,638 |
430,495,039 |
12,889,900 |
29,942 |
3 |
| ASEAN |
4,400,000 |
553,900,000 |
2,172,000 |
4,044 |
10 |
| SAARC |
5,136,740 |
1,467,255,669 |
4,074,031 |
2,777 |
8 |
| Agadir |
1,703,910 |
126,066,286 |
513,674 |
4,075 |
4 |
| EurAsEC |
20,789,100 |
208,067,618 |
1,689,137 |
8,118 |
6 |
| CACM |
422,614 |
37,816,598 |
159,536 |
4,219 |
5 |
| PARTA |
528,151 |
7,810,905 |
23,074 |
2,954 |
12+2 3 |
Reference
blocs and
countries 2 |
Area (km²) |
Population |
GDP (PPP) ($US) |
Political
divisions |
| in millions |
per capita |
| UN |
133,178,011 |
6,411,682,270 |
55,167,630 |
8,604 |
192 |
| Canada |
9,984,670 |
32,507,874 |
1,077,000 |
34,273 |
13 |
| China (PRC) 4 |
9,596,960 |
1,306,847,624 |
8,182,000 |
6,300 |
33 |
| India |
3,287,590 |
1,102,600,000 |
3,433,000 |
3,100 |
35 |
| Russia |
17,075,200 |
143,782,338 |
1,282,000 |
8,900 |
89 |
| USA |
9,631,418 |
296,900,571 |
11,190,000 |
39,100 |
50 |
1 Including data only for full and most active members
2 The first two states in the World by area, population and GDP (PPP)
3 Including non-sovereign autonomous entities of other states
4 Data for the People's Republic of China does not include Hong Kong, Macau and
regions administered by the Republic of China (Taiwan). ██ smallest value among the blocs compared ██ largest value among the blocs compared
During 2004. Source: CIA World Factbook 2005, IMF WEO Database
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- full members: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom
- candidates: Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Romania, Turkey
- potential candidates: Albania, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Serbia, Montenegro
- free trade agreements with Faroe Islands (non-sovereign autonomous entity of Denmark) and Switzerland (EU-EFTA FTA) (see EU's FTAs)
- common market (EEA) with Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway
- customs unions with Andorra, San Marino, Turkey (see here)
- currency unions with Monaco, San Marino, Vatican City (see here)
- full members: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago
- full members, non-sovereign autonomous entities of the United Kingdom: Montserrat
- candidates: Dominican Republic (currently an observer)
- associate members, non-sovereign autonomous entities of the United Kingdom: Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands
- full members: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, Cape Verde
Cooperation in the framework of the bloc currently stalled and status in light of DR-CAFTA is unclear
- full members: Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu
- full members, non-sovereign autonomous entities of New Zealand: Cook Islands, Niue
Under the umbrella of the African Union it is expected that ECOWAS, CEMAC/ECCAS, SACU/SADC, COMESA/IGAD and EAC will join into a common African Economic Community in 2019.
Other states or entities
- Arab States:
- Iraq: aiming at GCC membership, but also possibility for Agadir
- Palestine: problems with status, prospective member for Agadir
- Sahrawi Republic: problems with status, member of the African Union, general possibility for Agadir
- West Asia:
- Iran: problems with political system (for cooperation with established democracies), no suitable bloc (relations with neighbours uneasy), but has possiblity for SAARC[2]
- Turkmenistan: self-imposed isolation, possibility for EurAsEC if it chooses to engage with international organizations
- Israel: isolated by its neighbours, European Neighbourhood Policy cooperation only
- Latin America:
- Cuba: mostly isolated because of political system, possibility for CARICOM or CACM
- Panama: possibility of engaging with CSN or CACM
Comparison between regional blocs
1 not all members participating yet
2 involving goods, services, telecommunications, transport (full liberalisation of railways from 2012), energy (full liberalisation from 2007)
3 telecommunications, transport and energy - proposed
4 sensitive goods to be covered from 2019
5 least developed members to join from 2012
6 least developed members to join from 2017
See also
References
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