Abstract:
This paper intends to compare intra-ASEAN’s (of the 5 founding nations) exports and
income with intra-SAARC’s (of the 7 founding nations) performance. Intra- ASEAN’s
three different historical policy interventions are: the introduction of Preferential Trade
Agreement (PTA) in 1977, the unilateral liberalization following the severe recession of
the mid-1980s and the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) formation in 1992. Intra-
SAARC’s three different historical policy interventions are: the adoption of South Asian
Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in 1985, the introduction of South Asian
Association for Regional Cooperation Preferential Trading Agreement (SAPTA) in 1995
and the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) formation in 2004. Findings indicate that
the ASEAN-5 countries’ economies are moving together through time and emerged as a
powerful integrated area as a consequence of all of the above three interventions, but
not those of SAARC member countries.
