CEFTA 10 years on: its contribution to the cefta economies

Deadline for submitting full papers: Thursday, 15 September 2016 (16:00 GMT)

Since the signing of the CEFTA agreement in December 2006, the Free Trade Area has played an important role not only in trade facilitation but also more widely in terms of economic integration, institutional harmonisation and political approximation. Intra-regional trade, long lagging behind, increased substantially in the years after the signing of the agreement while the share of intra-industry trade within the region has also been on the rise. The encompassing nature of CEFTA allows for more market competition and learning; for example, the principle of the cumulation of origin allows the development of a regional supply chain and fosters integration across sectors and industries in CEFTA – while it also encourages FDI flows both from outside the region and from within. At the same time, CEFTA has facilitated information sharing and direct collaboration with regard to customs and trade policies more generally, thus also encouraging political dialogue, institutional approximation and capacity building among the Parties of the region.
To celebrate the 10 years of CEFTA agreement, LSEE, the Research Unit on South Eastern Europe at the London School of Economics, and Montenegro as the CEFTA Chair in Office supported by the Secretariat are launching a paper competition on the theme “CEFTA in 10 years on: its contribution to the CEFTA economies”.

They invite original scientific papers that seek to address the contribution of CEFTA to the economies of the CEFTA Parties, either in general or in relation to specific elements of CEFTA or specific policy areas and sectors of the economy. The competition is open to papers from all fields of the social sciences, including but not restricted to economics, geography, development, political science, public administration, law, management, business studies, environmental studies, industrial relations, international studies, etc. Papers should be of a standard academic format, in line with disciplinary practices, and should not exceed 8,000 words (including tables, footnotes and references).

The competition is open to researchers holding, or studying towards, a PhD (doctorate) degree who are currently affiliated to an accredited higher education institution from the CEFTA region, or an equivalent public or private research institution or organisation. Co-authored papers are eligible but, to be considered for the award, the lead author should meet all eligibility criteria.


Papers will be reviewed by a Selection Committee of academics affiliated to LSEE and coordinated by the CEFTA Secretariat. One ‘best paper’ award (worth €3,000) will be awarded to the paper that is deemed to be of the highest quality on the basis of scientific rigour, clarity of analysis and presentation, and policy relevance. The scientific committee will also grant up to two commendation awards (worth €1,000 each) for runner-up papers. The decisions of the committee are final. Winning authors (one per paper) will be invited to present their papers and to receive their awards during the CEFTA Week in Podgorica in November 2016; and to submit their papers for publication (subject to standard refereeing practices) in the LSEE Papers series (ISBN: 978-0-9572614).

Full papers, including a 250-word abstract and up to three keywords, should be submitted electronically in anonymised form by Thursday, 15 September 2016 (16:00 GMT) to academia@cefta.int.

A title page, giving the affiliation, contact details and short bio of the author(s) should also be submitted as a separate file. The subject line of the email should read “CEFTA@10 competition” only, and all application material should be in MS Word format.

 LSEE
Research on South Eastern Europe
European Institute, LSE

Cowdray House, COW 2.01
Houghton Street
London WC2A 2AE
Tel: +44(0)20 7955 7198