REGIONAL COOPERATION AND ECONOMIC INTEGRATION

PART II:
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total import of these products from the world) record Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Macedonia and Monte Negro. The dependence from this kind of import is even
higher for Kosovo.
The exchange of non-agricultural goods consist mostly of iron and steel, iron and
steel products, mineral fuels, plastics and similar goods that have low level of
industrial finalization. Croatia and Serbia figure as exporters of some electrical
equipment and machinery, which also implies for Bosnia to a certain extent.
However both the export and the import of industrial goods from all member states
are rather fragmented and extensive, which confirms the very low capacity in
industrial production of each of the economies and their inefficiency and low level
of productivity. The inability to provide more sophisticated processed goods on
their domestic and regional market orients these countries to depend significantly
on imports of such products from Western European economies.
Data on trade exchange undoubtedly confirm that by increasing their mutual trade
within the CEFTA-2006 almost all of the countries registered a slight decrement
in the trade with other countries, especially with the EU. This is a confirmation
more for the weakness and low capacity of their economies.
Also, each of the member states depends on trade exchange of goods only on one
or two major trading partners from the region, while the cooperation with the rest
of the member states is insignificant.
All these conclusions point out that the region has not the potential to be the
motor of a significant economic development for its member states at present.
The region is heavily dependent on several developed Western European states,
mostly members of the European Union. It seems that real economic development
of each member state and the whole Western Balkan region could be achieved
through its real economic integration in the EU.
The process of European integration is not an easy task for the Western Balkan
countries. Therefore, they should try to use the given opportunity through CEFTA-
2006 to its utmost as they could ease the EU integration process and enjoy its
benefits. Therefore, even under the conditions of the latest economic recession in
the world they should proceed with the trade liberalization and facilitation, foster
their mutual cooperation, respect and fully implement a good neighborhood policy
and should try to improve the transport and customs infrastructure on multilateral
basis.
REFERENCES:
Draft of the Agreement on Amendment of and Accession to the Central European Free Trade Agreement,
(6yh of April, 2006) Bucharest;
Kapital, (2008), No. 470, (October)Skopje
Kikerkova, I. (2006): Foreign Trade Exchange of the Republic of Macedonia Under Bilateral Free Trade
Agreements in Regional Economic Cooperation in South Eastern Europe, (13-14 th of May) Bankya, Bulgaria;
Kikerkova, I. (2008): Nadvore{na trgovija, Ekonomski fakultet, Univerzitet “Sv. Kiril i
Metodij”, Skopje;
Kikerkova, I. (2008): Nadvore{notrgovskata razmena na Republika Makedonija vo ramkite
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