Exhibit 2.1 regional groupings and their nations

African Financial Community: CAEMC and

WAEMU members.

AFTA (ASEAN Free Trade Area): ASEAN

members.

Andean Group (the Cartagena Agreement): Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela.

ANZCERTA (Australia–New Zealand Closer Economic Relations Trade Agreement): Australia and New Zealand.

APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation): Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, Chinese Taipei (Taiwan), Thailand, and the USA.

Arab/Middle East Arab Common Market: Iraq, Jordan, Sudan, Syria, United Arab Republic, and Yemen.

ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations): Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Benelux Customs Union: Belgium, the

Netherlands, and Luxembourg.

CAEMC (Central African Economic and Monetary Community): Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon.

CARICOM (Caribbean Common Market): Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Christopher-Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago.

Central American Community: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama.

CFA Franc Zone: the Comoros, members of the

WAEMU and the CAEMC.

CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States): Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Moldova, Russia,Tajikistan,Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.

East Africa Customs Union: Ethiopia, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.

ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States): Benin, Cape Verde, Dahomey, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, and Upper Volta.

EEA (European Economic Area): Iceland, Norway, and EU members.

EFTA (European Free Trade Association): Austria, Finland, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland.

EU (European Union): Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the UK (plus ten new members).

GCC (Cooperation Council of the Arab States of the Gulf): Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

Group of Three: Colombia, Mexico, and

Venezuela.

LAIA (Latin American Integration Association): Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

Mahgreb Economic Community: Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, and Morocco.

Mercosur (Southern Common Market): Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement): Canada, Mexico, and the USA.

OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development): Australia, Canada, Iceland, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, Turkey, the USA, and EU members.

RCD (Regional Cooperation for Development): Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey.

SICA: El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and

Nicaragua.

WAEMU: (West African Economic and Monetary Union): Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo.

trade agreements with Singapore and Chile, while Mexico has done the same with the EU. Singapore has also concluded free trade deals with Australia and Japan. It should be apparent that countries forming a free trade area do not need to share joint boundaries.

Customs union

A customs union is an extension of the free trade area in the sense that member countries must also agree on a common schedule of identical tariff rates. In effect, the objective of the customs union is to harmonize trade regulations and to establish common barriers against outsiders. Uniform tariffs and a common commercial policy against non- members are necessary to prevent them from taking advantage of the situation by shipping goods initially to a member country that has the lowest joint boundaries. The world’s oldest customs union is the Benelux Customs Union. A more recent example is the one formed between Turkey and the European Union; this took effect in 1996.

Common market

A common market is a higher and more complex level of economic integration than either a free trade area or a customs union. In a common market, countries remove all customs and other restrictions on the movement of the factors of production (such as services, raw materials, labor, and capital) among the members of the common market. As a result, business laws and labor laws are standardized to ensure undistorted competition. For an outsider, the point of entry is no longer dictated by member countries’ tariff rates since those rates are uniform across countries within the common market. The point of entry is now determined by the members’ nontariff barriers. The outsider’s strategy should be to enter a member country that has the least non- tariff restrictions, because goods can be shipped freely once inside the common market.