Regional integration efforts were created in order to remove economic barriers between nearby countries and prevent conflicts. It involves the trade of good without tariffs and quotas; free movement of services, labor, and capital; removal of trade policies that provide an advantage to local businesses; and better property rights. After World War II, there has been a dramatic rise in the number of Regional Trading Agreements (RTA) submitted to the GATT (124 RTAs during 1948-1994) and more after the World Trade Organization (WTO) was created (265 RTAs) (Pengiran, 2003). The main motivation for the countries involved was to improve the economy by expanding the markets from local to regional/global. Wealthy countries almost always did the initiative, but less-developed countries also benefit from the integration. East Asia regionalization efforts followed suit, most especially after the economic crisis during 1997. The financial crises and depression became a wake-up call to avoid similar incidents in the future. The organizations described below will include the major regional integration efforts, their histories, and advantages/disadvantages of each one.
             Regional Integration first started in Europe through the Maastricht Treaty in November 1993. This created the European Union (EU) whose aim was to prevent another war after World War II by joining the countries in economic and political cooperation. Right now, it has 25 member countries making use of a single constitution and a single currency system called the Euro. The EU is the largest and most powerful regional integration effort right now. It evolved from simple economic cooperation into a federation system. At the same time, it was able to maintain each member's sovereignty and national interest. As of 2004, it had the largest economy in the world has a GDP of 12,481,824 million dollars with a significant trade surplus ("Europe
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