PERSPECTIVES ON REGIONAL CO-OPERATION

Regional organisations are a major feature of the global economic system. The basic purpose of regional organisations, recognised within the framework of the UN, is to ‘make use of deliberate governmental and private efforts to strengthen South-South trade and economic links more rapidly than would be the case if such links were to be created only by market forces.

OBJECTIVES AND METHODOLOGY

Objectives: The basic purpose of the study was to examine and assess:

1. Conditions for effective intra-ECOWAS trade.

2. ASEAN experience of regional co-operation, both successes and failures, taking the economic, strategic and political elements of the co-operative experience into consideration;

3. The ASEAN policy and experiences of inter-regional co-operation-areas (i.e. co-operation with other regions), institutional mechanism and problems faced;

4. Lessons for the ECOWAS, if any, from ASEAN experiences in regional and inter-regional co-operation; and

5. Academic views and opinions regarding the possibilities of benefits of intra-regional trade.