Highlights

Complementarities between Egypt, Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, and the Palestinian Territories are significant, pointing at substantial potential welfare gains from increased trade and investments and economic integration. This group of seven countries, defined as the “New Levant” for the purposes of this study, appears to be well positioned to benefit from dynamic gains of integration given the geographical proximity to major markets. Furthermore, similarities in stages of economic development, resources endowment, or factor costs generate high potential to benefit from competitiveness and complementarities. The volume and structure of trade and investment flows among the New Levant countries indicate that there are large untapped potentials for deeper and wider integration in the sub-region. This report discusses how to tap these large potentials for mutual benefit. 

Live Discussion on the Untapped Potential for Economic Integration in the Levant: http://live.worldbank.org/untapped-potential-economic-integration-levant