ABSTRACT
Recently, efforts geared towards regional economic integration have occupied an important position in the realm of policy-making processes worldwide. This is supported by the fact that the number of Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) has shown an increasing trend over time. Given the importance and relevance of RTAs, a substantial amount of literature has emerged on this issue. This is the “new context”, which has implications not only for the trade policy-making process but also for policies relating to investment, technology, and so on, alongside macroeconomic management. These have wider implications for global economic management as well. The “new context” thus needs to be understood and analyzed in a more comprehensive manner.
