What does regional trade in South Asia reveal about future trade integration? : some empirical evidence

Download or read book What does regional trade in South Asia reveal about future trade integration? : some empirical evidence written by Nihal Pitigala and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2005 with total page 71 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author further demonstrates through additional statistical measures--including revealed comparative advantage indices, trade concentration, and trade competition profiles--that the trade structures that have evolved among the South Asian Countries may not facilitate a rapid increase in intra-regional trade. But there is evidence that previous unilateral trade liberalization efforts in the South Asian countries have already had a positive impact in boosting both intra- and extra-regional trade. Continuing the process of unilateral liberalization, in parallel with regional integration, would aid the South Asian countries to continue to diversify their still narrow export bases and potentially evolve new comparative advantages and complementarities that could facilitate the successful implementation of SAFTA"--Abstract.