Towards regional economic integration in South Asia: Prospects and problems

The concept of regional economic integration has slowly gained acceptance in South Asia. South Asian Preferential Trading Arrangement was operationalized in 1995 under the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) to promote trade and economic integration among the member countries. Despite geographical proximity and similar cultural attributes among the South Asian countries making economic integration feasible, the level of economic integration in the region is low. This paper attempts to explore the reasons of low economic integration in South Asia. The data show that the..