Measuring, monitoring and improving performance in regional integration within ECA, ESCWA and ESCAP regions (ECA)

In a rapidly evolving trade landscape, deepening regional integration is a key priority for many developing countries to achieve economic diversification, industrialization and structural transformation. By bringing countries together around common rules and institutions, regional integration is widely perceived as a powerful vehicle to promote growth, stability and development while easing integration into the global trading system. This project focused on strengthening the capacity of select developing countries to measure, monitor and improve their performance in regional integration within the Africa, Western Asia, and Asia-Pacific regions. Substantial achievements of the project include producing a 2nd edition of the Africa Regional Integration Index (ARII 2019), training 27 African member States on how to use the ARII 2019 for policy analysis and development and creating and disseminating a dedicated ARII 2019 web platform (https://arii.uneca.org/). In addition, 28 African countries were supported to develop national datasets and country profiles on their digital trade integration performance, and a web platform developed (https://dtri.uneca.org/). The collected information is expected to help member States with the negotiation and subsequent implementation of the Protocol on Digital trade under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement. Furthermore, national and regional AfCFTA implementation strategies, with action plans and roadmaps, were developed under this project. An assessment of the impact of the ongoing health crisis on Arab countries’ economic performance, COVID-19 and its impacts on Arab economic integration, which illustrates the best ways to use the System of Indices for Monitoring and Evaluation of Arab countries economic integration performances (SIMAEI), was prepared and shared with member States in Western Asia. A new tool, the Arab Economy-wide Trade Simulator Interface (ATSI), which can be used to evaluate the impacts of trade reforms and external shocks on the economies of 18 Arab countries, was also developed. In addition, a Trade Gateway Platform, which hosts the SIMAEIATSI and other tools related to assessing and monitoring member States’ economic integration, was launched. In the Asia-Pacific region, the Digital and Sustainable Regional Integration Index (DigiSRII) was built for measuring regional integration performance across seven dimensions (trade, finance, value-chains, infrastructure, migration, regulatory cooperation and digital integration). The DigiSRII was used to provide technical assistance and conducting national studies to identify challenges and opportunities in enhancing regional and sustainable digital trade integration. In addition, an interactive tool, the Regional Integration Analyzer (RIA; https://riva.negotiatetrade.org) was built upon the data behind DigiSRII for policy analysts to evaluate the progress of regional integration in the Asia-Pacific region through the lens of sustainable development.  As part of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, 21 Asia-Pacific economies were supported to develop national datasets and analyse national regulatory challenges for digital trade integration with other Asia-Pacific economies.