An Analysis of the Agricultural Sector of the Economic Cooperation Organization Region and its Contribution to Food Trade

Abstract

This paper intends to present the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) as an example of regional integration, and focuses on the agricultural production of the member states, revealing their contribution to the export and import of food. The methodology used for attaining these objectives consists of a multiple linear regression study and a multicriteria ranking achieved by applying two procedures specific to regional rankings. The multiple regression showed a direct link between the export of food and cropland and an inverse link between the export of food and agricultural land. The second method – the multicriteria ranking helped to make comparisons between the analysed countries of ECO.