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After promoting in the 1970s a more egalitarian international trade system, developing countries abandoned the prospects of finding an alternative route to their development and have massively participated in the Uruguay Round. Results have been disappointing, and developing countries, particularly in the Latin American-Caribbean (LAC) region, are now also pursuing economic integration at the regional level. The 1990s have in fact been characterised by the general revival of regionalism, a trend considered by many legal scholars and economists as dangerous for multilateralism. The debate is ongoing, and the WTO is currently attempting to better monitor the impacts of regionalism. In any case, regional integration agreements (RIAs) are now present in all parts of the world, and developing countries seem to consider that such arrangements offer promising opportunities than lack in multilateral agreements. More particularly, LAC countries are now pursuing economic integration at the bilateral, subregional, regional and even hemispheric level with the current negotiations for a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). But the creation of a FTAA faces many obstacles, caused by wide disparities in the level of economic development within the region and the incredible variety of existing RIAs throughout the Hemisphere. And it remains to be seen if equity and social concerns will be better reflected in a regional agreement than at the multilateral level.

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The main purpose of this paper was to explore the role economic partnership agreements play in regional integration. The whole paper was premised on identifying the nature of economic partnership agreements that is conceived as a free trade arrangement. Therefore the paper discussed the feasibility of the reciprocal principle between the European Union and ACP countries, and further indicated that there is no need to implement the principle of reciprocity at present. The paper also discovered that, due to the fact that unequal trade relations between the EU and the ACP countries still exist, the implementation of the EPAs is most likely to generate the complementary but non-competitive trade relations between the EU and the ACP countries. Such a situation could result in the ACP countries over-independence on the EU's market. ACP countries are not expecting to such integration. In addition the paper ascertains that the EPAs themselves could contain the intrinsic negative impacts such as discrimination against the third countries on regional integration.

The main purpose of this paper was to explore the role economic partnership agreements play in regional integration. The whole paper was premised on identifying the nature of economic partnership agreements that is conceived as a free trade arrangement. Therefore the paper discussed the feasibility of the reciprocal principle between the European Union and ACP countries, and further indicated that there is no need to implement the principle of reciprocity at present. The paper also discovered that, due to the fact that unequal trade relations between the EU and the ACP countries still exist, the implementation of the EPAs is most likely to generate the complementary but non-competitive trade relations between the EU and the ACP countries. Such a situation could result in the ACP countries over-independence on the EU's market. ACP countries are not expecting to such integration. In addition the paper ascertains that the EPAs themselves could contain the intrinsic negative impacts such as discrimination against the third countries on regional integration.