ABSTRACT
Countries that are close are natural candidates for more intense economic relations than those that are geographically distant. The corollary that one should look for is a variable geometry among participants in a process of 'regionalization'. Latin American country would find it difficult to find common ground on the objectives and concessions granted among all the member countries of integration exercises such as the Mercosur, the Andean Community, or the Central American Common Market. Contiguous countries can expect a set of direct and indirect benefits stemming from regional integration that obviously depends on a successful and harmonious process of approximation among the participating countries. In South Asia there has been an increase in the relative importance of exports of producer goods by spoke countries to the hub countries. In the Andean countries, the share of producer goods in the trade between hubs and spoke countries was reduced for the exports from hubs to spokes and vice versa.
