Regionalism beyond Trade and Investment

Formal regional coordination and cooperation have extended to related areas, namely, other international economic linkages and national policies which affect trade. The perceived need to deepen regional (or multilateral) arrangements stems partly from the fact that, as a result of the close association of activities, non-tariff restraints, for example on services such as transportation or communications, or different rules on intellectual property or different national technical standards can interfere with the movement of goods. Beyond this, however, the increased contacts and integration that come from increased trade flows lead to common interests and common approaches to other problems. The regional initiatives are parelleled by what has happened at the multilateral level with the extension of the responsibilities of the GATT and the WTO to services, labour mobility, intellectual property, technical and health standards, and rules for public procurement, and the proposed extension to questions of competition policy, the environment, and labour policy. At the regional level, the groups have non-economic common interests even before any increased trade or investment integration.