The Influence of Transport Infrastructure on the Integration in Eurasia and Latin America

This project involves discovering the role of transportation networks in international and especially regional trade. The study has two major purposes: 1).To investigate the effects of transport infrastructure on international trade and the process of international cooperation and integration. 2) To estimate the prospects of developing transport infrastructure in particular regions. Transport links appear to be the basis for trade throughout the world, while in certain areas their weakness erect barriers not only for trade, but for regional integration and conflict resolution as well. For this reason the purpose of the paper is to explore the cases of successful and failed economic integration and demonstrate the need of developing transport infrastructure. Among the methods of the study are: analyzing scientific literature and statistics; comparative study of regional cases in Eurasia and Latin America as well as ongoing development projects in the area. The results reveal that certain areas in South America and Central Asia lack transport infrastructure that significantly slows down their development compared with the NAFTA union or western European countries. As regards developed countries, the results partly support the expectations that it is beneficial for them to support transport infrastructure projects abroad.