The Middle East and North Africa is one of the least globally and regionally integrated regions in the world. Although it is home to 5.5 percent of the world's population and 3.9 percent of the world's gross domestic product, the region's share of nonoil world trade is only 1.8 percent. Today's policy makers face critical development challenges that have been brought to the forefront by the Arab Spring, which they can address by boosting growth, fostering diversification, and stimulating employment.
This book summarizes the constraints to and opportunities for deepening economic integration within the region and beyond. In addition to trade and investment reform, the book discusses other dimensions of economic integration including physical connectivity, cross-border trade facilitation, infrastructure networks, and the vital role of logistics services. It notes that building strategic infrastructure networks while opening infrastructure services to competition and trade could help reduce production costs, increasing foreign direct investment, promote knowledge spillovers, and expand markets. And logistics performance, which varies substantially across the region, can be improved through more efficient border crossing facilities and better monitoring harmonizing of customs performance.
Finally, citing the large number of preferential trade agreements in place, Regional Economic Integration in the Middle East and North Africa Beyond Trade Reform stresses that these agreements can serve as a stepping-stone to global market integration.