REGIONAL COOPERATION AND ECONOMIC INTEGRATION

Macedonia
REGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS AND REGIONAL COOPERATION
Macedonia (Graph 5) shows different levels of relative total performance from the falling
behind to the second line of developed category. Most cases – 9 indexes from 19 – are the
catching up layer, which is the 16,5-33% of the best performances on OECD basis. The best
relative performance the country expresses in economic freedom and human development;
however the global competitiveness results are much more under the performance of other
countries both in terms of the whole range in the research as well as of the selected ten
countries. The relative material underdevelopment can also be seen in the GDP index of the
Human Development Index. In case one links it to the sub-indexes of the GCI, it turns out
that it is not the level of production which appears as bottleneck but rather the efficiency of
production as well as its innovative potential.
A high level relative performance appears in reducing the government size and environment
stresses. Shrinking the role of state in the economy as well as liberalisation are important
factors of transition; however these elements are quite far a distance from competitiveness,
though the relatively better performance in human factors (education) and in the possibility
to launch business are promising and may help increasing the performance of many fields
that used to be produced by the state. The international rankings also reflect Macedonia in
the contradiction of opening markets and enterprises poisoned with a relatively high level
of corruption.
The environmental factor improves the overall performance of the country; however it is
worth noting that even if the natural and mental aspects of the environment are relatively
well off, the social and institutional capacity of Macedonia to make use of the environmental
advantages is quite low.
Bulgaria
Overall, Bulgaria (Graph 6) shows a performance one category higher than Macedonia: low
middle layer. 4 indexes are in the high middle part or above, 5 low middle cases, 5 belong
to the catching up category and in 4 cases the country is falling behind. These latter are all
indexes of the global competitiveness. In the case of Bulgaria not only the efficiency and
innovation factors are weak – which is a general feature of the region – but also the basic
requirements. Romania is another example of relatively low basic competitiveness but in
her case the innovation and efficiency factors contribute more to global competitiveness.
Like in the case of Macedonia the environmental and economic freedom issues enhance the
relative performance of Bulgaria on OECD basis. Bulgaria however shows better results in
freedom to launch business, which is linked to a higher level of freedom from corruption.
In terms of the environmental sustainability the natural reservation is either not supported
too much with social and institutional capacities, though at a higher rate than in Macedonia.
This better performance, however, goes together with a much lower level of global
stewardship. In this respect the highest contradiction appears again in the case of Romania
where a leading performance of environmental systems (81,4) and reducing environmental
stresses (90,6) are blocked by the relatively lowest level of global stewardship and second
lowest in social and institutional capacity.
The human factor shows a quite interesting picture. Bulgaria has the highest score in the
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