Central European Free Trade Agreement

Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) in relation with International Trade

In the context of trade organizations, Christopher Mark (1993) provided the following definition of Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA): A regional cooperation organization and prospective free trade area including the Czech Republic, Hungary , Poland, and Slovakia. Objectives include regional coordination and cooperation following the collapse of CEMA, to help offset members' current difficulties competing in Western markets and to help pave the way for eventual EC accession. Elimination of barriers to trade among participants in industrial products is to be phased over an eight- year transition period. The CEFTA agreement signed in December 1992 covered 25 percent of intra-group trade initially, to be increased to 85 percent within four years. Under the rubric of the Visegrad Group or Trojkat, the group functioned principally as a mechanism for cooperation on security and other non-trade issues and for promoting ..integration into Western political and economic structures.