REGIONAL COOPERATION AND ECONOMIC INTEGRATION

CEFTA-2006 TRADE COOPERATION
Biljana Sekulovska-Gaber, Ph.D.
Associate professor
Ss Cyril and Methodius University,
Faculty of Economics - Skopje,
Macedonia
TRADE LINKS BETWEEN THE COUNTRIES IN THE REGION
OF SOUTHEAST EUROPE: ARE THE NEIGHBORS OF THE
REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA BACK
Abstract:
The year 2009 marks a historic double anniversary in the European continent. Twenty
years ago, the Iron Curtain crumbled, and peaceful democratic change transformed
Central and Eastern Europe. In May this year, EU celebrated the 5 th anniversary of the
latest enlargement that brought altogether 12 new Member States. The latest enlargement
is a win-win situation. Trade between the old and new member states grew almost threefold
in less than 10 years. An even more illustrative is the fivefold growth of trade among new
member states. But, what is the situation like in the “rest” of Europe – in the Region
of Southeast Europe (SEE) and precisely in the Republic of Macedonia What is the
trade structure like and is the level and development of regional trade integration such
(especially after the lastly signed CEFTA 2006 agreement), so it can promote regional
cooperation between neighbours These are the main questions and concerns that this
paper tries to answer, providing detailed statistical analysis of the level of trade and the
level of participation of each country in the Region in international trade relationships,
the level of regional integration, as well as the concentration of imports and exports of the
Republic of Macedonia in the period 2000-2008.
Key words: trade flows, geographical concentration of imports and exports, regional
cooperation, CEFTA 2006, Southeast Europe, Republic of Macedonia
INTRODUCTION
The region of SEE encompasses the “Eastern Balkans” (Bulgaria and Romania) and the
“Western Balkans” (including all successor states of the former SFR Yugoslavia minus
Slovenia, plus Albania). Since Romania and Bulgaria are already members of the EU, they
are not taken as members of “our SEE group”. So, in this article we are practically dealing
with the countries which formed the so called SEE-5 group (which incorporates Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, the Republic of Macedonia and Serbia, plus Albania),
making the difference between the concept of “Western Balkans” and the SEE-5 group of
countries inexistent. (European Commission, 2006, p. 41).
As a direct product of the Stability Pact of 1999, the European Commission recommended
a new strategy with reference to the countries from the “region” of Southeast Europe -
the Stabilization and Association Process (SAP), with their basic legal instruments - the
Stabilization and Association Agreements (SAA). Those agreements which contain
a substantial trade liberalization component, are already signed between EU and all
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