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A 'trade bloc' is a large free trade area formed by one or more tax, tariff and trade agreements. Typically trade pacts that define such a bloc specify formal adjudication bodies, e.g. NAFTA trade panels. This may include even a more democratic and participative system, as the EU and its parliament.
Particularly since the demise of most of the world's empires, a number of international—generally regionally based—economic blocs have been developed to promote trade between member states.
Several blocs also have stated or implicit political goals—notably the EU. Varieties of economic blocs include free trade areas, customs unions, single markets, and economic and monetary unions.
One of the first economic blocs was the German Customs Union (''Zollverein'') initiated in 1834, formed on the basis of the German Confederation and subsequently German Empire from 1871.
A trade bloc is established through a trade pact (or pacts) covering different issues of the economic integration.

Contents

Most active regional blocs

List of regional blocs

Other states or entities

Comparison between regional blocs

See also

Notes

External links

Most active regional blocs

It is possible that a country is member of two (or more) different blocs. To avoid overlapping for this classification such countries are only included in the most active of the blocs in question. The "activity" of each block is measured by the following three criteria:

★ to have greater real practical achievements (not only declarations that are not followed by actual actions by its members)

★ to have more recent (or regular) activities (meetings, new agreements, other internal procedures)

★ to have more ambitious plans for future integration and a tighter timescale for it.
Also a country may be classified here as part of the less active regional bloc if the country itself is more active in it; Venezuela, for example, is a member of both the Andean Community and Mercosur. While Mercosur is a more active bloc than the Andean Community, Venezuela itself is much more active in the Andean Community than in Mercosur. Therefore Venezuela is assigned to the Andean Community for the purpose of this classification. (''This is only an example. So, note, that Venezuela is planning to completely integrate with Mercosur by 2010'').
Priority is given to such regional blocs that have ambitions for integration in more spheres than just economy (i.e. political, defense and other spheres). Sometimes activities are divided between different (but related) blocs with small deviations in membership (e.g. NATO and EU members are ''almost'' the same).
Some colors on the map are used multiple times for different blocs. A darker color means ''full member''; a lighter color means ''associate state'', ''observer state'', ''prospective member'', ''candidate'', ''acceding state'' or a similar status.

List of regional blocs

===European Economic Area (EEA)===

★ 'European Union (EU)'

★
★ full members: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom

★
★ candidates: Croatia, Turkey, Republic of Macedonia

★
★ potential candidates: Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia


★
★ free trade agreements with Faroe Islands (non-sovereign autonomous entity of Denmark) and Switzerland (EU-EFTA FTA) (see EU's FTAs)

★
★ common market with Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway

★
★ customs unions with Andorra, San Marino, Turkey (see here)

★
★ currency unions with Andorra, Monaco, San Marino, Vatican City, Montenegro, Kosovo (see here)

★ 'European Free Trade Association (EFTA)'

★
★ full members: Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Liechtenstein

★
★ prospective member: Faroe Islands
===Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA)===

★ full members: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia

★ full members, non-sovereign entities administered by the United Nations: Kosovo
===Caribbean Community (CARICOM)===

★ full members: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago

★ full members, non-sovereign autonomous entities of the United Kingdom: Montserrat

★ candidates for full membership: Dominican Republic (currently an observer)

★ associate members, non-sovereign autonomous entities of the United Kingdom: Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands

★ candidates for associate membership: Netherlands Antilles (currently an observer)
===Union of South American Nations (Unasur/Unasul)===

★ full members of MERCOSUR: Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Venezuela

★ full members of the Andean Community (CAN): Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru

★ full member, CAN associate member: Chile
===Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)===

★ full members: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo
===Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC)===

★ full members: Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon

★ partners as ECCAS members: Democratic Republic of the Congo, São Tomé and Príncipe
===East African Community (EAC)===

★ full members: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda
===Southern African Customs Union (SACU)===

★ full members: Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland

★ partners as SADC members: Angola, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Zambia, Zimbabwe
===Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA)===

★ full members: Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Comoros

★ partners as IGAD members: Somalia
===Greater Arab Free Trade Area (GAFTA)===

★ full members of the Agadir Agreement: Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia

★ full members of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (CCASG/GCC): Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates

★ full members, other: Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Palestinian Authority, Syria, Yemen

★ candidate/s: Mauritania

★ prospective members of the Agadir Agreement: Algeria
===North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)===

★ full members: Canada, Mexico, United States of America
===Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)===

★ full members: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam

★ candidate: Timor-Leste ^[1]
===South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)===

★ full members: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka

★ candidates: China ^{[2] [3]}
===GUAM Organization for Democracy and Economic Development===

★ full members: Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine
===Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC)===

★ full members: Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan
===Pacific Regional Trade Agreement (PARTA or PIF)===

★ full members: Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu

★ full members, non-sovereign autonomous entities of New Zealand: Cook Islands, Niue

★ associate members: Australia,^[4] New Zealand
===Central American Common Market (CACM)===
''Cooperation in the framework of the bloc currently stalled and status in light of DR-CAFTA is unclear''

★ full members: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua
===African Economic Community (AEC)===
Under the umbrella of the African Union it is expected that ECOWAS, CEMAC/ECCAS, SACU/SADC, COMESA/IGAD and EAC will join into a common 'African Economic Community' in 2019.

Other states or entities

★ Americas:

★
★ Cuba: mostly isolated because of political system, possibility for CARICOM or CACM

★
★ Greenland (non-sovereign autonomous entity of Denmark): left the EU in 1985; status regarding FTA and customs union is unclear.

★
★ Panama: possibility for Unasur or CACM

★ East Asia:

★
★ Japan, South Korea: negotiations for cooperation in ASEAN Plus Three format, proposed Comprehensive Economic Partnership for East Asia (CEPEA) as part of the East Asia Summit

★
★ Mongolia: currently little probability to join any bloc, possibility for EurAsEC and East Asia Summit

★
★ North Korea: isolated because of political system

★ West Asia:

★
★ Armenia, currently little probability to join any bloc, weak EU links (European Neighbourhood Policy)

★
★ Iran: problems with political system, relations with neighbours uneasy, but has possibility for SAARC ^[5]

★
★ Israel: isolated by its neighbours, European Neighbourhood Policy cooperation only

★
★ Turkmenistan: self-imposed isolation, possibility for EurAsEC or GUAM

★ Non-UN States:

★
★ Taiwan: problems with status, cooperation at WTO level under the name of Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu

★
★ Sahrawi Republic: member of the African Union, problems with status, possibility for Agadir and GAFTA

Comparison between regional blocs

		Activities
Regional bloc		Free Trade Area	Customs Union	Economic and monetary union		Free Travel		Political pact	Defence pact	'Other'
				Single Market	Currency Union	Visa-free	Border-less
'EEA'	EU	in force 2	in force	in force	in force 1	in force	in force (Schengen 1 and CTA 1)	in force	in force (NATO 1 and CFSP/ESDP 1)	ESA 1, Euratom
	EFTA	in force	in force 1	in force 1		in force 1	in force (Schengen treaty 1)	in force1 (EFTA Court EFTA Surveillance Authority)	in force (NATO 1)	ESA 1, Euratom
	'Common'	in force1	in force1	in force1		in force1	in force (Schengen treaty 1)		in force (NATO 1)	ESA 1, Euratom
'CEFTA'		in force	in force					in force	in force
'CARICOM'		in force	in force	in force 1	in force 1 and proposed common	in force 1	proposed	proposed
'Unasur/Unasul'	MERCOSUR	in force	in force			in force		proposed for 2014 [6]
	CAN	in force	in force 1			in force
	'Common'	proposed for 2014 4	proposed for not after 2019	proposed for 2019	proposed for 2019	in force[7]		proposed for 2019
'ECOWAS'		in force 1, 3	in force 1		in force 1 and proposed for 2009 1 and proposed common	in force 1	proposed	proposed	in force
'CEMAC '		in force	in force	proposed	in force	proposed			in force
'EAC'		in force	in force		proposed for 2009	proposed		proposed for 2010
'SACU'		in force	in force	proposed for 2012	de-facto in force 1 and proposed common for 2016	proposed [8]
'COMESA'		in force 1	proposed for 2008		proposed for 2025
'ECOWAS'		in force 1, 3	in force 1		in force 1 and proposed for 2009 1 and proposed common	in force 1	proposed	proposed	in force
'GAFTA'	Agadir	in force
	CCASG/GCC	in force	in force	proposed for 2007	proposed for 2010
	'Common'	in force
'CEFTA'		in force	proposed			in force 1		in force	in force
'NAFTA'		in force	proposed		proposed				in force (NATO 1 Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America and NORAD)	Commission for Environmental Cooperation
'ASEAN'		in force 5		proposed for 2015 [9]	proposed [10]	in force [11]		proposed for 2015 [12]	proposed for 2020 [13]
'SAARC'		in force 6	proposed	proposed	proposed
'GUAM'		in force GUAM’s New Impetusunit	proposed			proposed	proposed	proposed[14]	proposed[15]
'EurAsEC'		proposed	proposed	proposed		in force [16]			in force 1
'PARTA'		''in effect'', proposed	in force1		proposed			proposed
'CACM'		''in effect''7, proposed	proposed	proposed
'AEC' (''for reference'')		proposed for 2019	proposed for 2019	proposed for 2023	proposed for 2028			proposed for 2028

¹ not all members participating yet

² involving goods, services, telecommunications, transport (full liberalisation of railways from 2012), energy (full liberalisation from 2007)

³ telecommunications, transport and energy - proposed

⁴ sensitive goods to be covered from 2019

⁵ least developed members to join from 2012

⁶ least developed members to join from 2017

⁷ status is unclear

See also

★ Globalization

★
★ List of international trade topics

★
★
★ International organisation

★
★
★
★ List of trade blocs

★
★
★
★
★ WTO

★
★
★
★
★
★ APEC

★
★
★
★
★
★ SCO

★
★
★ List of Free Trade Agreements

★
★
★
★ TAFTA

★
★ Anti-globalization movement

★
★ World Economy

★
★
★ Economy of Africa

★
★
★ Economy of Asia

★
★
★ Economy of Europe

★
★
★ Economy of North America

★
★
★ Economy of Oceania

★
★
★ Economy of South America

Notes

1. Timor Leste Keen To Be Asean Member In Five Years
2. India, Bhutan's Big Question: China in SAARC
3. [1]
4. seeks further integration with ASEAN Australia Seeks Free-Trade Accord, Asean Membership at Summit
5. Iran Considering to Join SAARC, Says Kharrazi
6. Definidos critérios para o Parlamento do Mercosul
7. CNN
8. Prensa Latina
9. Asean Trade Mins Meet To Speed Up Plans For Single Market
10. Envisioning a single Asian currency
11. ASEAN To Sign Accord On Visa-Free Travel
12.
13. ASEAN defense ministers aim for security community
14. Organizational structure of the GUAM
15. Ukraine suggests setting up GUAM peacekeeping unit
16. Itar-Tass

External links

★ Info about GCC

★ Info about EurAsEC

★ Info about CEMAC

★ Americas blocs