Recent Regional Integration
Regional integration in Europe was consolidated in the Treaty on the European Union (the Maastricht Treaty), which came into force in November 1993 and established the European Union. The European Free Trade Association is a free trade bloc of four countries (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Norway) which operates in parallel - and linked into - the European Union. In January 1994, the North American Free Trade Agreement was formed when Mexico acceded to a prior-existing bilateral free trade agreement between the US and Canada. Latin-American countries initiated the the Southern Common Market Treaty (MERCOSUR) in January 1995. In The Pacific there was the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) in 1993 which looked into reducing the tariffs. The AFTA started in full swing in 2000.
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Famous quotes containing the word integration:
“The more specific idea of evolution now reached is—a change from an indefinite, incoherent homogeneity to a definite, coherent heterogeneity, accompanying the dissipation of motion and integration of matter.”
—Herbert Spencer (1820–1903)