Economic Brief: Intra-CAREC Trade-Business as Usual or about to Change?

In a new economic brief, CAREC Institute’s Chief Economist Dr. Hans Holzhacker provides insights in CAREC countries’ mutual trade against the background of the region’s trade with its main trading partners Russia, the EU, and the PRC.

The paper gives a short overview of products that CAREC countries trade among themselves. The brief shows that the product composition of intra-CAREC trade is similar to the one of the region’s global trade. It concludes that business as usual is not sufficient and that in order to intensify intra-CAREC trade as well as the region’s global exports, the product portfolio of CAREC countries’ industry and agriculture has to be widened. This has become even more pertinent due to global decarbonization efforts and green transition, widely discussed now in connection with efforts to revive the global economy after the slump caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

To broaden the range of products and services that can be exported is not easy and requires a whole set of measures in areas such as trade policy, coordination of sectoral policies, diversification, and business reforms. The CAREC Integrated Trade Agenda 2030 calls for such policies and offers support. Especially, the countries that are in the center of CAREC trade flows should step up their initiatives for industrial change and closer cooperation within CAREC