ANALYSIS OF ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE OF THE GROUP OF 15, WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO INTER-TRADE BETWEEN EGYPT AND THE GROUP COUNTRIES.

The world   community has witnessed a great interest in the
phenomenon of blocks in international and regional economic relations. This
led to the formation of the network of economic globalization and the increase
of competition in local and international markets.
In spite of the contribution of the developing countries in general, and the
Group of 15 in particular, in their economic blocks, the volume of inter-trade
among such countries is still limited.
The research objective is to analyze the general economic
performance of the Group of 15, with particular reference to inter-trade
between Egypt and the Group. It also investigates the limitations and
obstacles facing export development and limiting expansion of inter-trade
among the Group countries.
The problem of the research relates to reasons of limited contribution
of the Group exports to international trade, and limitations of its inter-trade in
spite of availability of natural and human resources.
The results of this study was:
1)       Egyptian Export to the groups of 15 was in 1998, 215 million 12 thousand
Egyptian Ie. That is to say that the 1.6% of the total of the Egyptian
export. This percentage is considered very limited.
2) Egyptian export from the Groups of 15 was in the same year 3900 million
Egyptian Ie. That is to say that the 8,8% of the total of the Egyptian
import .. Which means that the deficit in the trade balance is not in sight of
Egypt, whether on the group level only or on the local country level. With
exception of some countries such as Algeria. The Egyptian export to the
country group was represent in Algeria with 25%, India 22%, Sri Lanka
13, 1 %, Malaysia 13,4% and Brazilian 11 % .
3) The Egyptian imports from the country groups was represented in Brazilian
with 23,1%, Malaysia 21 %, Argentina 20,7%, India 16% , Indonesia
8,8%. This state represented 90% from all the Egyptian imports from the
country group.
4) The recommendation of this study was important enough to
encouraged the Egyptian export to the country of groups with different
elements; such as support of the exchange trade, between the country
groups.
The research is divided into five sections: -
The first section deals with the concept and objective of the Group, in
addition to major economic projects adopted.
The second section presents an analysis of economic performance
for most of the Group countries using famous economic indicators.
In the third section, an analysis of the inter-trade between Egypt and
the concerned countries is presented.
Section four deals with limitations and obstacles that limit the
efficiency of inter-trade of the Group.
The last section presents the Conclusions and Recommendations of
the research.