The Effects of Regional Integration in Central Asia

Since gaining independence, Central Asian countries have created and joined many regional economic organizations. It is not clear whether these organizations, especially the Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC), have boosted integration of this region. In this paper, I conclude that exports of Central Asian countries have benefited from integration but EurAsEC has failed to live up to the expectations of its member states. This is due mainly to the different levels of economic development, defective industrial structures, and poor marketization in EurAsEC member states. At present, an initial market-based trade integration network has formed in Central Asia and has had excellent accomplishments, but the governments of Central Asian countries have still not realized the network's function and advantage.