Forms of international economic relations

The world economy or world economy is the totality of national economies of individual countries connected by a system of international economic relations. The world economy as an integral system emerged at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. as a result of the strengthening of the international division of labor and the creation of international corporations: first, MNCs - transnational corporations, the capital structure of which contains capital from different countries; and then TNCs - transnational corporations that are mononational in the nature of capital, but operating in different countries.

The unification of national economies into a single world economy is based on the international division of labor (ILD). MRT is the concentration of production of certain types of products in the economy of certain countries with the aim of subsequent profitable sale on the world market. The essence of MRI is manifested in the dynamic unity of two production processes - its dismemberment, i.e. specialization (subject, sub-detail, unit, technological) and unification, i.e. cooperation of a dismembered process. In other words, MRT is a method of simultaneous division and combination of labor, which makes it possible to increase the efficiency of the national economy.

Using the principles of MRI, each country, based on its most favorable conditions, finds a product for global consumption. Thus, the producing country benefits from MRI in the form of additional profits, and the consuming countries benefit in the form of satisfying certain needs, which cannot be done without such a division of labor.

World economic relations begin with foreign trade, which, as it develops, forms the world market and gives rise to other forms of world economic cooperation. The most important forms of world economic relations currently include: 1) world trade in goods and services; 2) movement of capital and foreign investments; 3) labor migration; 4) exchange in the field of science, technology and technology; 5) currency and credit relations; 6) international production cooperation; 7) economic integration; 8) the activities of international economic organizations and their cooperation with national authorities in solving global problems.

International trade is one of the most developed and traditional forms of international economic relations. The expansion of international trade is closely related to the globalization of the world economy, as a result of which international commodity flows acquire enormous proportions and cover all regions of the world. A significant impact on the development of international trade is exerted by the activities of TNCs, which form their own domestic markets, determining within their framework the situation, the scale and direction of commodity flows, prices for goods and the overall development strategy. There is intense competition in the field of international trade, since the interests of almost all subjects of the world economy collide here.

International trade consists of two oppositely directed flows - exports and imports. Export - export of goods abroad for their sale on the foreign market. Import is the import of goods into a country for their sale on the domestic market. The difference between a country's exports and imports is called the trade balance.

One of the features of the world market is that the price of a product here is formed on an international scale on the basis of the national values of those countries that are the main suppliers of this product to the world market. As in the domestic market, the world price of an individual product deviates from the market value under the influence of supply and demand.

The formation of international market prices has certain differences from the formation of domestic market prices. This happens because the flow (movement) of funds between countries is far from free. In addition, the most competitive products with low costs and better consumer properties are supplied to international exchange. This is due to the fact that for the production of export goods, as a rule, the most advanced technologies are used and the features of natural conditions are intensively used.

International trade is based on specialization and comparative costs or advantages. Foreign trade is the mechanism by which countries can, by developing specialization, increase the productivity of resource use and thus increase production and income. The principle of comparative advantage states that total output will be greatest when each good is produced in the country that has the lowest opportunity or opportunity cost. It follows that the country exports those goods, the production of which is based on factors of production that are surplus to it, and imports goods for the production of which it is less endowed with other factors of production (Heckscher-Ohlin theory).

Let’s assume that using all its resources, country “A” can produce either 30 tons of wheat or 30 tons of sugar, and country “B” can produce either 20 tons of sugar or 10 tons of wheat. To meet its own needs, country "A" requires 18 tons of wheat and 12 tons of sugar, and country "B" needs 8 tons of wheat and 4 tons of sugar. Exchange proportions within countries: “A” - 1 ton of wheat = 1 ton of sugar; “B” - 1 t of wheat = 2 t of sugar.

If countries specialize, then "A" will produce 30 tons of wheat, and "B" will produce 20 tons of sugar. The proportion of world exchange will most likely be established at the level of 1 ton of wheat = 1.5 tons of sugar. Given the proportions of world exchange, country A will export wheat and import sugar, and country B will do the opposite. Both countries will benefit.

The state of a country's foreign economic activity for a certain period of time is reflected in the balance of payments, which shows the total ratio of payments for all types of transactions abroad and from abroad. An integral part of the balance of payments is the trade balance, which evaluates the amount of exports, imports and foreign trade turnover as the sum of exports and imports, as well as the nature of the trade balance.

Despite the obvious benefits of free global trade, there are a large number of obstacles in its way in the form of duties, quotas, non-tariff barriers (licenses, additional quality standards, environmental friendliness), as well as voluntary export restrictions. The motive for all these restrictions is to obtain additional income for certain groups of people (officials or entrepreneurs). The price of such restrictions is a reduction in production volumes and limitation of consumption by the population.

Historically, in the practice of world trade, there have been two approaches to its regulation - protectionism and free trade. Protectionism is a government policy aimed at encouraging the development of domestic production, protecting it from foreign competition and expanding foreign markets. The most important means of this policy are customs duties. The opposite of protectionism is the policy of free trade (free trade), which is pursued by industrialized countries and the essence of which boils down to the implementation of free trade and non-interference of the state in private business activities. The most important instrument of this policy is the abolition or reduction of customs duties.

The main trend in global economic development is the liberalization of international trade policy norms. For this purpose, “legislation” is being formed in world trade to regulate the relations of trading partners. In modern conditions, such work is carried out within the framework of the WTO (World Trade Organization).

Another radical means of liberalizing foreign trade is the creation of regional unions and markets such as the EU or CIS.

Despite significant progress in foreign trade liberalization, protectionism has not become a thing of history, as evidenced by the outbreak of trade wars between different countries in different markets.

Questions for self-control:

1. Basic forms of international economic relations.

2. What is the international division of labor?

3. Define the concepts of “export”, “import”, “trade balance”.

4. Name the types of foreign trade policy of the state.

Currently, the forms of international economic relations have expanded significantly. In modern conditions, the main forms of international economic relations are the following:
1) foreign and world trade;
2) credit relations;
3) currency and payment and settlement relations;
4) migration and export of capital;
5) international labor migration;
6) international integration processes;
7) creation and development of transnational corporations and financial institutions;
8) interstate regulation of international economic relations (regulation of monetary, financial, trade relations);
9) activities of international credit and financial institutions (IMF, IBRD) in the field of international economic relations;
10) scientific, technical and industrial cooperation.
Foreign and world trade. Foreign trade occupies a prominent place in the system of international economic relations. For many Western countries, it has recently become the main factor in economic development. This applies to industrialized countries, which export a significant part of their products to other countries. The wide exchange of goods between countries as a result of the growth of foreign trade creates conditions for the development of the world market and world trade. The modern world market is a sphere of exchange that covers the total commodity circulation of various countries, which are its constituent organic elements. Today it is impossible to imagine a single country, not a single nation that could do without foreign trade, even the smallest countries.
The need to grow global trade is due to a number of reasons:
1) development of national commodity production and exchange, including foreign trade;
2) the ongoing uneven development of individual sectors of social production, which is inherent in a market economy;
3) the tendency of constant expansion of production in order to make a profit, characteristic of countries with a market economy.
The desire to make a profit and the relatively narrow scope of national markets for the sale of products force corporations, companies, and enterprises to go beyond the boundaries of their market, which ultimately leads to the search for foreign markets.
Credit relations. In the field of international economic relations, credit relations arise in three cases:
1) in connection with foreign trade lending;
2) as a result of the movement of loan capital within the global market;
3) in connection with international payments.
Foreign trade lending includes export lending and import lending. Export lending is carried out: in the form of purchase contributions, which are issued by exporters of a particular country to foreign producers in the form of bank lending as loans for goods in the exporter’s country; in the form of loans for goods located within the country; loans against goods and trade documents in the country of export, unsecured blank loans. The significance of the first three loans is to accelerate the circulation of the exporter’s capital, i.e. transformation of its part from commodity to monetary.
Import credit is also provided through commercial and bank credit. Trade (or corporate) credit includes an open account credit (the exporter credits the importer's account as his debt with the cost of goods sold and shipped, and the importer must repay the loan when due); bill credit (the exporter enters into a deal to sell goods on credit, issues a draft to the importer); private insurance (the insurance company takes on the risk of export credits and pays for the insolvency of the importer with its exports); state guarantees (the risk of non-payment is borne by the state). In the USA and Japan, state guarantees are issued by export-import banks, in England - by the Department of Export Credit Guarantee, in Germany - by the Interministerial Committee on Export Credits, in France - by the Insurance Company for Foreign Trade.
A bank credit for imports includes: a credit issued upon acceptance or consent of the importer's bank to pay the exporter's draft; acceptance-reimbursement loan (acceptance of a bill by a bank subject to receipt of a guarantee on it from a foreign bank servicing the importer); direct bank lending to foreign buyers; credit lines (for their foreign borrowers to pay for foreign trade transactions, a type of credit line is a renewal or rollover line, which is widely used in the Eurocurrency market); factoring (an exporter who has sold goods on credit terms receives a number of services from the factoring company in the form of debt collection, accounting of export drafts, and control); leasing (transfer of legal ownership of goods to the consumer); compensation transactions (long-term loan based on mutual supplies of goods of equal value); multinational contract insurance (includes huge sums jointly insured by commercial banks and national export credit insurance companies).
Currency and payment and settlement relations. These relationships also represent a form of international economic relations. These include currency relations between different countries; foreign exchange transactions between various participants in the foreign exchange market, representing official centers for the purchase and sale of currencies based on supply and demand, currency arbitrage, which makes it possible to use the difference in currency quotes on international and national foreign exchange markets; development and regulation of the national foreign exchange market, as well as participation in the operations of the international foreign exchange market, implementation of foreign exchange restrictions and the use of foreign exchange clearings.
In turn, payment and settlement relations represent the regulation of payments for monetary claims and obligations that are formed as a result of economic, political, scientific, technical and cultural relations between states, legal entities (companies, enterprises) and citizens of different countries. Settlements are carried out through commercial or specialized banks servicing foreign trade, usually by non-cash method.
Migration and export of capital. The export of capital is the placement of capital abroad in order to systematically obtain additional profits through the use of local production, material and labor resources. If, when selling goods as a result of unequal exchange, part of the profit created in another country is appropriated and there is a one-time realization of the profit, then when exporting capital, profit is appropriated continuously as long as the invested capital is owned by foreign companies. The modern world economy and international economic relations are characterized by increased export and migration of capital.
The process of intensifying the export of capital is currently determined by the following factors:
1) the development of the world market and the involvement of an increasing number of countries in it;
2) further concentration and centralization of capital in national economies;
3) overaccumulation of capital in the national loan capital markets of industrialized countries;
4) the interest of individual countries in the influx of foreign capital due to a lack of domestic capital.
The main features of the export of capital at the present stage is its migration to both developing and developed countries. At the same time, the tendency towards the export of capital to developed countries (the USA, Western Europe, Japan, and vice versa) has intensified, which is mainly due to the absence of serious economic and political shocks. Other features of the export of capital continue to be military-political aspects, broad government support, strengthening the dominance of transnational corporations, the presence of unequal exchange, and periodic monetary and financial shocks leading to rapid migration of capital to a particular country.
International labor migration. Labor migration is one of the important forms of international economic relations in modern conditions. The internal labor markets of some countries are external sources of replenishment of the army of hired labor of other countries. Only that part of the hired workers who are forced to sell their labor abroad falls into the sphere of the world labor market.
The presence of a global labor market is due to the international migration of workers, i.e., the intersecting flow of migration (departures from countries) and immigration (entry into the country). International labor migration is the movement of wage earners across state borders in search of work. When leaving his country, a worker is an emigrant, and when entering another country, he is an immigrant. The main reason for the movement of hired labor is fluctuations in demand for it from various spheres of the market economy represented by the private and public sectors. The unevenness of capital accumulation in different countries necessitates the international exchange of labor. This exchange, as a rule, occurs spontaneously, in waves, reflecting a reaction to changing needs of capital. A number of Western economists who take a Malthusian position call the reason for migration the pressure of the “surplus population” on the productive forces. To a certain extent, this interpretation is acceptable for a number of developing countries, where the growth of productive forces lags behind population growth due to high birth rates. At the same time, “excessive overpopulation” in developed countries is caused by pushing workers out of production, and migration is caused by uneven demand for hired labor. Therefore, capital accumulation there can create sources of migration and determine the direction of flows. In general, the spontaneous transfer of excess labor from one part of the world economy to another personifies the uneven development of a market economy.
International integration processes. One of the forms of international economic relations is the integration processes taking place within the framework of the world economy. Integration is interstate regulation of national economies; the formation of a regional economic complex with a structure and proportions aimed at the needs of certain economies; eliminating national barriers to the movement of goods, capital, services and labor; creation of a single regional market; ensuring the overall growth of productive labor and living standards in the countries of the combined group. The best example of such integration is the European Economic Community (EEC).
In the 80s XX century An integration grouping emerged in Asia, ASEAN (Southeast Asian Free Trade Association), which included a number of Asian countries, as well as the USA, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The leaders of this market group were Japan, the USA and the so-called “eastern tigers” - Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, and China. The main direction of the Association is the liberalization of trade, customs duties, investments, mutual credit assistance, mutual access to the securities markets. ASEAN, organized later by Western European integration, still lags behind the latter in solving a number of important integration problems.
Under the influence of competition and imbalances in trade and payment balances with the countries of Western Europe, Japan and a number of countries in Southeast Asia, a new integration grouping, the North American Free Trade Area, was created in 1992, which included the USA, Canada and Mexico with the aim of further liberalizing trade, movement of labor and capital. The development of this integration scheme is still very slow due to the significant gap between the economic potential of the United States and Canada, on the one hand, and Mexico, on the other.
In addition to the powerful and large integration groups mentioned above, smaller ones formed by developing countries operate on various continents. This is the Andean Pact, which includes such Latin American countries as Chile, Argentina, Peru, Uruguay, Paraguay, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, which provides for the liberalization of trade and investment between these countries.
The goal of all integration processes carried out between different countries is to increase the efficiency of national economies, capital markets, and foreign trade. As evidenced by the practice of recent years, the process of integration is deepening and expanding, since it brings certain benefits to both individual states and their populations.
Development of transnational corporations and financial institutions. An important form of modern international economic relations is the activity of transnational corporations and financial institutions. In the late 60s - early 70s. XX century The activities of transnational corporations became most clearly visible and began to actively create a production, sales, dealer and financial network in the national markets of other countries. As a result, they had a significant evolutionary impact on the formation of international economic relations by influencing foreign and world trade, the investment process, capital markets, foreign exchange transactions, labor migration, and the transfer of new technologies.
In turn, the scale of operations of transnational companies required credit and investment services, which were undertaken by transnational commercial and investment banks, as well as insurance, investment companies and private pension funds. It was these institutions, starting from the 60s. of the last century are engaged in providing bank loans, placing and purchasing large bond loans (Eurobonds) and Euroshares on the Eurocurrency market, which makes it possible to satisfy the needs for loan capital of transnational corporations and ensure their financing. Due to this connection, the globalization of modern international economic relations is carried out. At the same time, the activities of corporations and banks are not always efficient enough. In a number of cases, these institutions engage in currency speculation, transfer short-term capital (“hot money”) from one country to another, receive additional profits due to high interest rates, and conduct speculative transactions with securities, especially derivatives, which undermines the stability of the market capital, and foreign exchange markets. An example of such actions is the monetary and financial shocks in 1992, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2008-2009.
Interstate regulation of international economic relations. This regulation, being a form of international economic relations, allows them to be maintained for a long time at a level of relative stability.
Interstate regulation, as a rule, comes down to the development of a common policy between a group of countries in the field of various areas of international economic relations: trade, migration of capital and labor, foreign exchange policy, customs tariffs, investments. This regulation is carried out through meetings of the ministers of finance, trade, economy, heads of government and states. Such coordination regulation is carried out either within the framework of integration groupings or outside them. Since the 70s. last century, regulation of international economic relations is carried out at the level of the G8 countries - the leading industrialized countries of the West (USA, Japan, Germany, France, England, Russia, Canada and Italy). They usually make global decisions in the field of world trade, monetary policy, investment, and capital migration. Currently, these decisions are decisive for many other countries and international financial institutions.
Activities of international financial and credit institutions. Their activities in the post-war years also became an important form of international economic relations. This applies to the IMF, IBRD, EBRD, BIS, as well as regional institutions of this type.
The main activities of these institutions boil down to providing monetary and financial assistance to various countries in the form of loans to stabilize the economy, equalize balances of payments, implement large targeted projects, and regulate monetary and foreign exchange systems. Most of the monetary resources sold by these institutions go to assist developing countries and, to a lesser extent, developed countries (mainly small countries, countries of Eastern and Central Europe, the CIS), and countries with economies in transition.
Recently, the role of institutions such as the IMF, IBRD, and EBRD has sharply increased in the system of international economic relations in terms of providing loans for the development of national economies. At the same time, the IMF and the World Bank determine the main parameters in relation to economic development (the volume of money supply, the size of the budget deficit, the level of inflation, interest rates, the restructuring of certain sectors of national economies).
Scientific, technical and industrial cooperation.
In the post-war years, scientific and technical cooperation was widely developed within the framework of the world economy. This is due to the impact of the achievements of the scientific and technological revolution on international economic relations. The rapid development of productive forces and labor productivity makes it possible to overcome the existing differences in the conditions of economic growth of individual countries.
Scientific, technical and production cooperation can be carried out either through licensing and patent relations, which was typical mainly for capitalist countries (carried out mostly through the private corporate sector), or through agreements on scientific and technical cooperation between states, as was practiced between socialist countries in 60 - 80's twentieth century, as well as between them and some developing countries.
An important place in the implementation of scientific and technical cooperation is occupied by integration groups such as the European Union or ASEAN. Thus, in Western countries, especially among NATO members, scientific and technical cooperation is carried out in the field of weapons production, mainly in aviation and rocket science, as well as in nuclear energy. For example, the Tornado multi-role fighter is the result of scientific, technical and production cooperation between England, France, and Italy. New European fighter of the 21st century. is also being developed by a number of European countries, in particular England, France, Germany, and Spain.
Large private corporations also carry out the same scientific and technical cooperation on a number of targeted projects. The development and production of a civil aircraft such as the Airbus, for example, has been carried out for a long time by French and English aviation corporations. Cooperation is also due to the saving of financial resources of corporations, since it is difficult for one corporation to implement such a project. Russia and the United States in the field of space exploration, along with joint flights on the orbital station, began to carry out specific scientific and technical cooperation in the development of individual components of space technology.
Scientific and technological cooperation, which manifests itself in a variety of forms, contributes to the industrialization and increase in the technological potential of a number of countries, and especially some developing ones. In this regard, Russia has been cooperating with India for a long time, which has allowed the latter to increase its scientific and technical potential in the field of metallurgy, mechanical engineering, energy, and the production of military aircraft. Similar assistance was provided to Finland many years ago.
In addition, one of the forms of scientific and technical cooperation is the training of personnel and specialists, the exchange of scientists, the conclusion of agreements between academies of sciences, universities, scientific and other institutions of higher education. This form of cooperation allows us to prepare national working potential for new technologies, scientific developments, and production processes. All this ultimately contributes to accelerating the pace of economic development and increasing the efficiency of the economies of individual countries. Scientific, technical and industrial cooperation is reflected, as a rule, through the trade and balance of payments of the participating countries and, accordingly, is served through foreign trade and the international payment and settlement system operating within the framework of modern international economic relations.

· International trade in goods and services;
· Capital migration;
· Migration of labor;
· International scientific and technical cooperation;
· International monetary relations.

Balance of payments: essence, structure.

Basic forms of international economic relations

International economic relations (MEO)-- economic relations between states, regional groups, transnational corporations and other entities of the world economy. International economic relations are implemented through the following forms:

1) international trade in goods and services;
2) international movement of entrepreneurial and loan capital;
3) international labor migration;
4) international scientific and technical cooperation;
5) international monetary relations.

International trade arose in the process of the emergence of the world market in the 16th-18th centuries. Its development is one of the important factors in the development of the world economy. International trade is the exchange of goods and services across national borders. This exchange is based on the principle of comparative advantage proposed by D. Ricardo. In accordance with this principle, the state should produce and sell to other countries those goods that it is able to produce with the greatest productivity and efficiency, that is, at relatively lower costs than other goods in the same country, while buying those goods from other countries , which it is not capable of producing with similar parameters.

In relation to international trade, a state can pursue two types of policies: free trade and protectionism.

Protectionism is a policy aimed at protecting the national economy from foreign goods and limiting imports. Protectionist policy has the following directions:

organization of customs taxation, providing for high customs duties when importing finished products and lower ones when exporting;

establishment of non-tariff barriers, which include contingent (establishing a certain quota, or share, for the export or import of certain goods), licensing (obtaining permission to carry out foreign economic activities) and state monopoly (establishment of the exclusive right of state bodies to carry out certain types of foreign economic activity).

Free trade , or free trade policy, is the opposite of protectionism. It is based on liberalization, the essence of which is that the state sets the goal of opening the domestic market to foreign goods and services in order to increase competition in the domestic market. At the same time, it is assumed that national enterprises will withstand competition.

In real life, modern states combine both free trade and protectionism in their foreign economic policies.

International trade includes two interrelated processes: export , or export, and import , or import. The total amount of exports and imports of goods and services forms foreign trade turnover.

The real benefits (or real losses) that international trade brings are reflected in a country's trade balance.

Trade balance - is the ratio of payments abroad for imported goods and services and receipts from abroad for exported goods and services over a certain period of time. If receipts exceed payments, then the balance of payments of a given country is active; if the difference between these payments and receipts is negative, then the balance is passive. The difference between receipts from abroad (the amount of exports) and payments abroad (the amount of imports) is called trade balance .

The second form of international economic relations is export of capital . Export of capital - is the export of capital by legal entities and individuals for the purpose of more profitable placement or use.

Among the main reasons causing the movement of capital from one country to another are the following:

1. The unevenness of capital accumulation in different countries and the emergence of a relative surplus of capital in some national markets. At the same time, in some there is an overaccumulation of capital, that is, the formation of its relative surplus in a country where it cannot find highly profitable use, in others there is a relative surplus.
2. The impossibility of investing capital effectively or investing it at a high rate of return.
3. The presence of customs barriers that prevent the export of goods, which leads to the replacement of the export of goods with the export of capital to penetrate commodity markets.
4. Bringing producers closer to sources of raw materials, as well as the opportunity for capital owners to use factors of production that are cheaper than domestic ones in economically less developed countries (low wages, low prices for raw materials, water, energy).

Thus, purpose of capital export is to obtain a higher rate of profit in another country due to the advantages associated with its use here compared to national economic conditions. There are two forms of capital export: entrepreneurial and loan.

Entrepreneurial capital exported either to create their own production abroad in the form of direct investment, or to invest money in local companies in the form of portfolio investment. Direct investments are associated with the emergence of new or acquisition of ready-made enterprises and require complete control over enterprises. Portfolio investments consist of purchasing shares of foreign enterprises in amounts that do not provide ownership or control over them. Such investments are made when they seek to place their funds in different sectors of the economy or when the legislation of the host country prevents direct investment.

Loan capital exported in the form of loans, or credits that bring interest.

On the basis of the export of capital and the creation of enterprises in other countries, the internationalization and transnationalization of capital and the creation of transnational corporations (TNCs) occur.

The modern export of capital is characterized by the following features:

In the growth of the scale of export of productive capital with direct investment in the field of new technologies.

In the export of capital, carried out mainly between highly developed countries.

The increasing role of developing countries as exporters of capital.

The next form of international economic relations is international labor migration . It represents the movement of the country's working population outside its borders. Emigration- departure of the country's population abroad. Immigration- entry of the population of other countries into the territory of a given country. Historically, migration processes arose many centuries ago. The first mass movement of workers was the importation of slaves from Africa to America. In the 40s XIX century There was an explosion of emigration from Ireland to the United States due to the “potato famine.” A new wave of migration from Europe to the USA was noted in the 20s. XX century Currently, two new flows in labor migration can be distinguished: firstly, there is a “brain drain” - a steady flow of highly qualified specialists and members of their families to the United States. Today, more than 700 thousand people legally immigrate to the country. per year. Secondly, the influx of labor from Mexico, the Caribbean and Asia into the United States and developed European countries. At the beginning of the new century, 84% of all immigrants came from these regions.

In total, according to rough estimates, there are currently more than 35 million migrant workers in the world. The annual number of migrants in the world currently exceeds 100 million people. The reasons for labor migration can be different.

Among the main reasons for migration are the following:

1. Economic. In recent years, they have played an increasingly important role in finding work, increasing income, living standards, etc. Chronic unemployment, which exists in some countries (especially underdeveloped ones), has become an important factor in increasing migration. This is also facilitated by the increase in the amount of exported capital in recent years, the creation of an extensive network of branches of large companies abroad, since, following the capital, those wishing to get a job flock to these countries.
2. Non-economic (demographic, political, religious, national, cultural, family, etc.). International labor migration between developed countries occurs primarily for non-economic reasons. In this case, the prestige of the job or company, the opportunity for professional growth, career, and cultural needs play a significant role.

There are the following types of international labor migration:

Permanent or irrevocable , that is, relocation with a change of residence.

Cyclic or periodic , that is, moving for a certain period with a return to the previous place of residence.

Pendulum or shuttle , which is the regular movement of the population to work or study from one country to another and back.

Adjustable , based on the organized recruitment and regulation of specialists.

Unregulated , which consists in independent movement of the population (family reunification, moving to the previous place of residence after the end of the employment contract).

Legal carried out in accordance with current legislation.

Illegal , contrary to current legislation.

Migration of low-skilled labor , consisting in its movement from developing countries to industrialized ones.

Migration of highly skilled labor , or “brain drain”, carried out as the departure of specialists to industrialized countries.

Practice shows that labor migration can be beneficial both for countries exporting labor and for countries receiving it. For the labor exporting country:

1) it is a source of currency into the country (transfers to families and upon the employee’s return from abroad);
2) the departure of labor abroad means an improvement in the situation on the domestic labor market and a reduction in unemployment in the country;
3) at the same time, transfers sent to the country allow families to increase the level of consumption, increase aggregate demand, stimulate the development of production, i.e., enable the country as a whole to more successfully solve a complex of internal socio-economic problems. Part of the money received through the purchase of shares, land, and real estate is directly invested in the development of the national economy;
4) those working abroad, in the process of work, acquire new professional skills, experience, and knowledge, which they use when returning home, increasing their productivity.

For the labor importing country: reduction in production costs. Immigrant workers receive significantly lower wages than local workers, which reduces production costs and increases the competitiveness of national goods on the world market. If skilled labor is imported, the country's training costs are reduced.

However, labor migration can also have negative consequences. Among the negative consequences of labor migration are: trends in the growth of consumption of funds earned abroad, the desire to hide income received, “brain drain”, and in some cases, a decrease in the qualifications of working migrants.

It is no coincidence that recently, in the interests of neutralizing the negative consequences and enhancing the positive effect obtained by the country as a result of labor migration, the means of both state policy and interstate policy have been used quite widely. A specialized UN agency that carries out activities in the global labor market to solve problems of labor migration, employment, conditions of organization and remuneration of labor, vocational training, is International Labor Organization (ILO) .

international scientific and technical cooperation . It represents the participation of legal entities and individuals in global scientific developments in order to obtain new knowledge and use it in economics and technology. global migration capital cooperation

International scientific and technical cooperation takes the following forms:

Material, consisting in the exchange of high-tech products.

Intangible, consisting of the exchange of drawings, descriptions, patents, licenses.

Providing services in the form of exchange of specialists, technical personnel, assistance in the field of management and marketing.

Commercial exchange of scientific and technical knowledge, consisting of technology transfer under licenses, engineering, consulting.

Non-commercial exchange of scientific and technical information, consisting of holding international conferences and symposiums.

Intercompany cooperation in the field of research and development, carried out in applied research and associated with the development and creation of prototypes of products.

The most important form of international economic relations is international monetary relations . This is a set of economic relations that arise during the functioning of money in international circulation. Payment and settlement transactions in the global economy are carried out through currency relations. International monetary relations are carried out within the framework . International monetary system is a set of rules, laws and institutions that regulate currency relations.

Components international monetary system are:

1) types of money performing the functions of an international means of payment and reserve;
2) interstate regulation of international currency liquidity;
3) interstate regulation of exchange rates;
4) 4 interstate regulation of currency restrictions and conditions of currency convertibility;
5) the regime of international currency markets and gold markets;
6) unification of the main forms of international payments;
7) international monetary and credit organizations that regulate currency relations.

Exchange rate is the price of one country's currency expressed in the currency of other countries. Exchange rates can be fixed, floating or intermediate. If a state strictly establishes the exchange rate relationship between its national currency and foreign ones, then such an exchange rate is called fixed . With a fixed exchange rate, the Central Bank sets it at a certain level in relation to the currency of another country or to a currency basket. The peculiarity of a fixed exchange rate is that it remains unchanged for a certain time, and its change occurs as a result of an official revision (devaluation or revaluation). A fixed exchange rate is usually established in countries with strict foreign exchange restrictions and non-convertible currencies. An exchange rate that changes in response to changes in the demand for and supply of a given currency is called floating exchange rate . Only 26 countries out of 187 members of the IMF have a floating exchange rate. The Republic of Belarus has a floating exchange rate. It fluctuates within a certain currency corridor.

The state of the exchange rate is influenced by two groups of factors:

structural factors , reflecting the state of the economy of a given country. These include: indicators of economic growth (GDP, industrial production), the state of the balance of payments, growth of the money supply in the domestic market, the level of inflation and inflation expectations, the solvency of the country and confidence in the national currency in the world market;

market factors related to changes in the situation in sectors of the global financial market: speculative operations in foreign exchange markets, the degree of development of the securities market competing with the foreign exchange market;

conditions of currency convertibility. Currency convertibility (reversibility) - is the free exchange of the currency of one country for the currency of other countries. A currency can be fully convertible, partially convertible or non-convertible. The currency of countries in which there are practically no currency restrictions on all types of foreign exchange transactions for all currency holders (residents and non-residents) is fully convertible. There are now 20 such countries (USA, Germany, Japan, UK, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Arab oil-producing countries). With partial convertibility in the country, restrictions remain on certain types of transactions and for individual currency holders. A currency will be inconvertible if the country has almost all types of restrictions and, above all, a ban on the purchase and sale of foreign currency, its storage, export and import.

International monetary organizations regulating currency relations at the interstate level. The most influential of them are: the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

An important form of international economic relations is international economic integration , which is a process of economic and political unification of countries, allowing for a coordinated interstate economic policy. Economic integration provides a number of favorable conditions for interaction between countries: wider access to various resources, the possibility of production for the entire integrated group of countries, the creation of privileged conditions for their enterprises and firms, the harmony of joint solutions to social problems.

Among the forms of economic integration the following can be distinguished:

free trade zones , within which customs duties and other trade restrictions between participating countries are abolished;

customs union , which implies, in addition to the free trade zone, the establishment of a single foreign trade tariff and the implementation of a unified foreign trade policy in relation to the countries that are part of it;

payments union , which allows for mutual convertibility of currencies and the functioning of a single unit of account;

Common Market , providing its participants with a coordinated economic policy, freedom of movement of goods, capital and labor;

economic union , providing for the coordination of macroeconomic policy and the unification of legislation in key areas - currency, budget, monetary, as well as the creation of interstate bodies with supranational functions;

free economic zones (FEZ), which are distinguished by the absence of restrictions on the activities of foreign firms, the right to transfer their profits and capital to their country, as well as their infrastructure support.

International integration processes have received the greatest development in Western Europe. Here, an example of the largest integration regional association can be considered European Union (EU) . The EU has established a free exchange of national currencies and created a European monetary system with its own mechanism for the formation of payments and the establishment of exchange rates. A collective currency unit (euro) was established, which became an international means of payment. In this integration association, numerous border and customs barriers separating states have been overcome. All this allowed us to achieve a number of positive results, which include direct cost savings due to lower costs when eliminating trade and production barriers, gains from the unification of markets and increased competition. Integration has helped Western European capital in a number of economic spheres to compete on an equal footing with its main competitors - the USA and Japan.

In North America stands out North American Free Trade Association (NAFTA) , which includes the United States, Canada and Mexico. Among the 20 regional groupings of Asia and Latin America, one can distinguish Latin American Free Trade Association (LAFTA) , Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) .

A number of countries of the former USSR (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine) formed in 1992. Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). A distinctive feature of this integration association is the reintegration of countries that were previously part of a single state on a new equal basis corresponding to their modern status.

In 1996, an agreement was adopted on the creation Customs Union between Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, as well as more advanced in terms of integration Commonwealth of Belarus and Russia , which in 1997 was transformed into Union of Belarus and Russia . In 1999, an agreement was signed to transform this entity into Union State , the integration process within which continues to deepen. On October 10, 2000, in Astana (Republic of Kazakhstan), the heads of state (Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan) signed the Treaty establishing the Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC). The Treaty lays down the concept of close and effective trade and economic cooperation to achieve the goals and objectives defined by the Treaty on the Customs Union and the Common Economic Space. Organizational and legal instruments for the implementation of the agreements reached, a system for monitoring the implementation of decisions made and the responsibility of the Parties are provided.

The integrity of the world economy is ensured by the fact that there is a system of international economic relations, the main of which are: international trade in goods and services, export of capital, international migration of labor, international scientific and technical cooperation, international monetary relations, international economic integration.

The most important and historically very first element in the system of world economic relations is international trade , which is a set of transactions for the exchange of goods and services between countries.

Among the main reasons causing international trade are the uneven distribution and provision of different countries with economic resources, the presence in different countries of different technologies with different levels of efficiency.

Trade relations between countries are based on principle of comparative advantage . According to this principle, a country specializes in the production of those goods that it can produce at relatively lower costs compared to other countries. Thus, it is beneficial for each state to export abroad a product in the production of which it has a comparative advantage, and to import from abroad a product that is produced in this country relatively less efficiently. It follows that international trade includes two interrelated processes: export , or export, and import , or import. The total amount of exports and imports of goods and services forms foreign trade turnover.

The real benefits (or real losses) that international trade brings are reflected in the country's balance of payments . Balance of payments is the ratio of payments abroad (for imported goods and services) and receipts from abroad (for exported goods and services) for a certain period of time. If receipts exceed payments, then the balance of payments of a given country is active; if the difference between these payments and receipts is negative, then the balance is passive. The difference between receipts from abroad (the amount of exports) and payments abroad (the amount of imports) is called balance of payments .

The relationship between exports and imports is regulated by the state through a policy of protectionism and free trade. Protectionism is a policy aimed at protecting the national economy from foreign goods and limiting imports. Protectionist policy has the following directions:

· organization of customs taxation, providing for high customs duties when importing finished products and lower ones when exporting;

· establishment of non-tariff barriers, which include contingent (establishing a certain quota, or share, for the export or import of certain goods), licensing (obtaining permission to carry out foreign economic activities) and state monopoly (establishment of the exclusive right of state bodies to carry out certain types of foreign economic activity).

Free trade, or free trade policy, is the opposite of protectionism. It is based on liberalization, the essence of which is that the state sets the goal of opening the domestic market to foreign goods and services in order to increase competition in the domestic market. At the same time, it is assumed that national enterprises will withstand competition.

In real life, modern states combine both free trade and protectionism in their foreign economic policies.

International trade is of great importance for the functioning of the world economy, which consists in the following:

· with its help, the limited national resource base is overcome;

· it expands the capacity of the domestic market and establishes connections between the national market and the world market;

· thanks to it, it ensures the receipt of additional income due to the difference in national and international production costs;

· it helps to expand the scale of production by attracting foreign resources.

Several areas can be distinguished in the international trade activities of the Republic of Belarus: developing export opportunities and meeting import needs; attracting foreign investment and creating joint ventures in order to introduce new technologies and produce new types of products; creation of additional jobs; mastering the production of products that are competitive on the world market; formation of extensive credit relations with foreign governmental and non-governmental organizations.

The Republic of Belarus carries out foreign trade operations with more than 100 countries and the list of these countries is constantly expanding. The main trading partners of Belarus are Russia and other CIS countries, Germany, Poland, USA, Hungary, Brazil, France. Among the main items of Belarusian exports are: mineral and nitrogen fertilizers, tractors, gas stoves, refrigerators, televisions, light industrial products, fiberglass.

The international economic organization that regulates trade relations between various countries is World Trade Organization (WTO) . The WTO regulates about 90% of global trade. The purpose of the WTO is to establish fair conditions of competition between producers, reduce the level of import duties, eliminate non-tariff barriers, and expand international exchange.

The second form of international economic relations is export of capital , which is the export of capital by legal entities and individuals for the purpose of more profitable placement or use.

Among the main reasons causing the movement of capital from one country to another are the following:

· overaccumulation of capital, that is, the formation of its relative surplus in a country where it cannot find highly profitable use;

· the opportunity for capital owners to use in economically less developed countries factors of production that are relatively cheap compared to domestic ones (low wages, low prices for raw materials, water, energy);

· increased demand for capital in the countries where it is exported, which is ensured by the uneven development of the economies of different countries. At the same time, in countries that are in need of foreign investment, more favorable conditions are created for this purpose: bank interest rates and dividends are increased, special benefits and guarantees for the profitable use of imported capital are provided.

Entrepreneurial capital exported either to create their own production abroad in the form of direct investment, or to invest money in local companies in the form of portfolio investment. Direct investments in fact, they provide complete control over objects of foreign investment. Newly established or acquired ready-made enterprises become branches of a main company located in another country, which forms the center of an international production association. Portfolio investments consist in the acquisition of shares of foreign enterprises in amounts that do not provide ownership or control over them. Such investments are made when they seek to place their funds in different sectors of the economy or when the legislation of the host country prevents direct investment.

Loan capital exported in the form of loans, or credits that bring interest.

The consequences of the export of capital for the country importing capital are ambiguous. On the one hand, it contributes to the development of the economy of a given country. On the other hand, foreign capital supports the beneficial, one-sided, mainly raw materials, development of the national economy of the country where the capital is imported.

TNK is an enterprise that:

1. Has subsidiaries in two or more countries.

2. Has a decision-making system that allows economic policy to be implemented from one or more centers.

3. Provides such a connection between subsidiaries that each of them influences the activities of the others.

TNCs noticeably change the structure of all world trade, largely subordinating it to their interests, because they are:

· technical leaders of global production;

· active competitors in the field of access to foreign natural resources;

· the most mobile entrepreneurs in the struggle for new, including foreign, markets.

In the global economy, there are about 40 thousand TNCs with unlimited economic power. Among them are the following: the American corporations EXxon (oil refining), IBM (computer equipment), BOEING (aircraft manufacturing) and GENERAL MOTORS (automotive manufacturing), the Anglo-Dutch corporation ROYAL DUTCH SHELL ( oil refining), Japanese "HITACHI" (electronics). TNCs control about 50% of global industrial production; 90% of the world market for wheat, corn, timber, tobacco; 85% of the copper and bauxite market. They own 80% of all world patents and licenses.

The modern export of capital is characterized by the following features:

1. Increasing the scale of export of productive capital with direct investment in the field of new technologies.

2. In the export of capital, carried out mainly between highly developed countries.

3. The increasing role of developing countries as exporters of capital.

The next form of international economic relations is international labor migration . It represents the movement of the country's working population outside its borders.

Among the main reasons for migration are the following:

· economic (decrease in demand for labor and increase in its supply, increase in demand for highly qualified specialists in developed countries, interstate differences in wages);

· foreign economic (demographic, political, religious, national, cultural, family, etc.).

There are the following types of international labor migration:

1. Permanent or irrevocable , that is, relocation with a change of residence.

2. Cyclic or periodic , that is, moving for a certain period with a return to the previous place of residence.

3. Pendulum or shuttle , which is the regular movement of the population to work or study from one country to another and back.

4. Adjustable , based on the organized recruitment and regulation of specialists.

5. Unregulated , which consists in independent movement of the population (family reunification, moving to the previous place of residence after the end of the employment contract).

6. Legal carried out in accordance with current legislation.

7. Illegal , contrary to current legislation.

8. Migration of low-skilled labor , consisting in its movement from developing countries to industrialized ones.

9. Migration of highly skilled labor , or “brain drain”, carried out as the departure of specialists to industrialized countries. Among its reasons are high wages, better working and living conditions, and social comfort.

A specialized UN agency that carries out activities in the global labor market to solve problems of labor migration, employment, conditions of organization and remuneration of labor, vocational training, is International Labor Organization (ILO) .

International scientific and technical cooperation takes the following forms:

1. Material, consisting in the exchange of high-tech products.

2. Intangible, consisting of the exchange of drawings, descriptions, patents, licenses.

3. Provision of services in the form of exchange of specialists, technical personnel, assistance in the field of management and marketing.

4. Commercial exchange of scientific and technical knowledge, consisting of technology transfer under licenses, engineering, consulting.

5. Non-commercial exchange of scientific and technical information, consisting of holding international conferences and symposiums.

6. Intercompany cooperation in the field of research and development, carried out in applied research and associated with the development and creation of prototypes of products.

The most important form of international economic relations is international monetary relations . This is a set of economic relations that arise during the functioning of money in international circulation. Payment and settlement transactions in the global economy are carried out through currency relations. International monetary relations are carried out within the framework international monetary system , which is a set of rules, laws and institutions that govern these relationships.

Its constituent elements are:

1. Main international means of payment (national currencies, gold, EURO).

2. The mechanism for establishing and maintaining exchange rates. Exchange rate is the price of one country's currency expressed in the currency of other countries. Exchange rates can be fixed or floating. If a state strictly establishes the exchange rate relationship between its national currency and foreign ones, then such an exchange rate is called fixed . An exchange rate that changes under the influence of changes in demand for a given currency and its supply is called floating exchange rate . Under a fixed regime, a depreciation in the exchange rate is called devaluation , and the increase is revaluation . In conditions of floating exchange rates, similar processes are called depreciation and appreciation of the currency. The method of directly influencing the exchange rate is currency interventions - impact on the exchange rate of the national currency through the purchase and sale of foreign currency. Thus, in order to increase the exchange rate of the national currency, the central bank sells foreign currency in exchange for national currency and, conversely, to reduce the exchange rate, it buys foreign currency in exchange for national currency.

The state of the exchange rate is influenced by two groups of factors:

· structural factors , reflecting the state of the economy of a given country. These include: indicators of economic growth (GDP, industrial production), the state of the balance of payments, growth of the money supply in the domestic market, the level of inflation and inflation expectations, the solvency of the country and confidence in the national currency in the world market;

· market factors related to changes in the situation in sectors of the global financial market: speculative operations in foreign exchange markets, the degree of development of the securities market competing with the foreign exchange market.

3. Conditions for currency convertibility. Currency convertibility - this is the free exchange of the monetary unit of one country for the currencies of other countries and for internationally recognized means of payment in various international payments. The currency is considered convertible , if it meets three criteria: used without restrictions for any international payments, exchanged without restrictions for any other currency, this exchange is carried out at a certain official rate. There are external and internal convertibility. Internal convertibility means that citizens and individuals of a given country can, without restrictions, buy foreign currency at the current exchange rate and make settlements with foreign partners in this currency. With external convertibility free exchange of any currencies into national currency applies only to foreign citizens and individuals. From the point of view of the convertibility regime, there are:

· free convertible currency (SCR), which has full external and internal convertibility;

· partially convertible currency , exchangeable only for some foreign currencies;

· non-convertible currency , which includes the currencies of countries with strict bans and restrictions on the import, exchange, sales and purchases of national or foreign currency.

4. Forms of international payments.

5. Regime of international currency markets and world gold markets.

6. International monetary organizations regulating currency relations at the interstate level. The most influential of them are: the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The content of their activities lies in the desire to create a mechanism for coordinating world monetary relations that would combine market opportunities with government regulation. These organizations promote the development of international economic relations by establishing norms for regulating exchange rates and monitoring their compliance, developing reforms to improve the global monetary system, providing credit resources to member countries of these international organizations, identifying trends in the economic development of these countries and developing recommendations for their progressive orientation and development.

Among the forms of economic integration the following can be distinguished:

· free trade zones , within which customs duties and other trade restrictions between participating countries are abolished;

· customs union , which implies, in addition to the free trade zone, the establishment of a single foreign trade tariff and the implementation of a unified foreign trade policy in relation to the countries that are part of it;

· payments union , which allows for mutual convertibility of currencies and the functioning of a single unit of account;

· Common Market , providing its participants with a coordinated economic policy, freedom of movement of goods, capital and labor;

· economic union , providing for the coordination of macroeconomic policy and the unification of legislation in key areas - currency, budget, monetary, as well as the creation of interstate bodies with supranational functions;

· free economic zones (FEZ), which are distinguished by the absence of restrictions on the activities of foreign firms, the right to transfer their profits and capital to their country, as well as their infrastructure support.

International integration processes have received the greatest development in Western Europe. Here, an example of the largest integration regional association can be considered European Union (EU) . The EU has established a free exchange of national currencies and created a European monetary system with its own mechanism for forming payments and establishing exchange rates. A collective currency unit (euro) was established, which became an international means of payment. In this integration association, numerous border and customs barriers separating states have been overcome. All this allowed us to achieve a number of positive results, which include direct cost savings due to lower costs when eliminating trade and production barriers, gains from the unification of markets and increased competition. Integration has helped Western European capital in a number of economic spheres to compete on an equal footing with its main competitors – the USA and Japan.

Related information.

International economic relations is a multi-level complex of economic relations between individual countries, their regional associations, as well as individual enterprises (transnational, multinational corporations) in the world economic system.

Types of economic relations:

· between individual states;
between the state and enterprises;
· between enterprises;

The forms of world economic relations are as follows:

1. International trade in goods and services;

Exchange of goods and services across state borders. International trade consists of imports and exports.

Import consists of purchasing products in another country.

Export- sales of products to other countries.

2. International movement of entrepreneurial and loan capital;

Export of funds from one country to another for their profitable placement. The export of capital is carried out in the form of entrepreneurial (direct and portfolio investments) and loan capital.

Direct investments- is an investment of capital in foreign enterprises, providing the investor with control over them. For such control, the investor must own at least 20-25% of the company's share capital.

"Portfolio investments means the purchase of securities of foreign companies. Unlike direct investments, such investments do not provide the right to control the activities of enterprises and are used mainly for the growth of financial resources by receiving interest and dividends on invested capital.

Removal of loan capital- is the provision of medium- and long-term loans to foreign companies, banks, and government agencies in cash and goods in order to make a profit due to a favorable interest rate.

3. International labor migration;

International labor migration is the international movement of workers associated with the search for employment in other countries. This process is explained by the possibility of obtaining higher incomes and better prospects for social and professional advancement.

4. Creation of joint ventures;

The creation of joint ventures, which makes it possible to combine funds, technologies, management experience, natural and other resources from different countries and carry out common production and economic activities in the territory of any one or all countries.

5. Development of international corporations;

The development of international corporations whose activities are carried out mainly through foreign direct investment from one country to other countries. There are transnational and multinational corporations.

Transnational corporations (TNCs)- This is a form of international business, with the parent company owned by the capital of one country, and branches located in other countries of the world. The vast majority of modern international corporations take the form of TNCs.

Multinational corporations (MNCs)- these are international corporations both in terms of their activities and capital, i.e. its capital is formed from the funds of several national companies.

6. International scientific and technical cooperation.

International scientific and technical cooperation represents the exchange of results of scientific research and development, technical and technological innovations. This cooperation can be carried out through the exchange of scientific and technical information, scientists and specialists, carrying out research work and developing scientific and technical projects, etc.

Definition of integration. Objective preconditions and motives of integration processes.

Economic integration- the highest level of the international division of labor; the process of developing deep and sustainable relationships between groups of countries, based on the implementation or coordinated interstate economics and policies. In the course of economic integration, reproduction processes, scientific cooperation, and the formation of close economic, scientific, production and trade ties take place.

The forms (stages) of economic integration are: preferential zone, free trade zone, customs union, common market, economic union, full integration.

The development of integration processes is the most important characteristic of the modern world economy. The processes of international economic integration noticeably intensified in the second half of the 20th century. in various regions of the globe.

The starting point of integration is direct international economic (production, scientific, technical, technological) ties at the level of primary subjects of economic life, which, as they develop, affect the gradual merging of national economies at the basic level. This is inevitably followed by mutual contact between state economic, legal, social and other systems, right up to the definite merging of management structures.

Main goal integrating entities: increasing the volume and expanding the range of goods and services offered on the basis and as a result of ensuring the interdependence of economic activities in international relations.

The development of integration presupposes the presence of certain prerequisites:

· Firstly, the integrating countries must have approximately the same level of economic development and maturity of the market economy. Their economic mechanisms must be compatible.
· Secondly, the presence of a common border and historically established economic relations. Usually countries that are located on the same continent in close geographical proximity are united, for which it is easier to solve transport, language and other problems.
· Thirdly, the presence of complementary economic structures of the integrating countries (their absence is one of the reasons for the low efficiency of integration in Africa and the Arab world).
· Fourthly, the commonality of economic and other problems that the countries of a particular region actually face.
· Fifthly, the political will of states, the presence of countries that are leaders in integration.
· Sixthly, the so-called “demonstration effect”. Under the influence of the successes of certain integration associations, as a rule, other states also have a desire to join this organization. Thus, the demonstration effect of the EU stimulated 10 CEE countries to submit applications to join the European Union.
· Seventh, the “domino effect”. Since integration leads to a reorientation of economic ties of member countries towards intraregional cooperation, the remaining countries remaining outside the association experience some difficulties, and sometimes a reduction in trade with countries included in the group. As a result, they are also forced to join the integration association. For example, this is how the “Group of Three” arose in Latin America after Mexico became a member of NAFTA (Venezuela and Bolivia signed free trade agreements with it).”