The EDB System of Indicators of Eurasian Integration: General Findings

For almost two decades, regional cooperation and integration has remained one of the most talked about issues of economic policy of the post-Soviet countries. There are hundreds of initiatives and projects that aim for deepened cooperation between countries in the region. At the same time, to determine the effectiveness of integration strategies a comprehensive system is needed to monitor and assess the current processes of economic, political and social interaction between countries. This can be done with the help of a system of quantitative and qualitative indicators of regional integration. A large scale research project by the Eurasian Development Bank, completed by the end of 2009, led to the creation of such a system. It is intended that the EDB’s System of Indicators of Eurasian Integration (SIEI) should become an instrument to monitor and assess regional integration projects in the post-Soviet space.