Regional economic integration

Regional economic integration is the process of uniting several countries in the same geographical area to create a single economic zone. It is a liberal economic option that favours the economic integration of states through various market rules. An economic integration zone has been considered in several writings as a source of economic growth due to the various effects of free trade.Based on various models of integration, the entire world has been subdivided into several "regional blocs", of which the European Economic Union is a prime example. According to the theory of economic integration developed by Bela Balassa in 1961, the integration process passes through five main stages: The creation of a Free Trade Area (FTA), the establishment of a Customs Union (CU), the creation of a Common Market (CM), the creation of an Economic Union (EU), and the final stage which is the creation of an Economic and Monetary Union (EMU).