AFTA - a step towards intensified economic integration?

Abstract

Since the early nineties, regional economic integration enjoys a second boom period after the first boom in the sixties. The European Economic Area (EEA) between the EC and the EFTA, the so-called Europe Agreements between the EC and the CSFR, Poland and Hungary, the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta), Mercosur in the Southern Cone of Latin America and, finally, the Asean Free Trade Area (Afta) are cornerstones of this boom. They are supplemented by many attempts in Sub-Saharan Africa either to revitalize old schemes (ECOWAS) or to implement new ones like in Eastern and Southern Africa.