Abstract:
The trend towards the expansion of preferential trade agreements (PTAs) is
becoming more and more apparent. Traditional PTAs that rely on border terms
are transitioning to deep PTAs that include high border terms and a variety of
post-border terms, but the relationship between deep PTAs and sustainable
development has not received significant attention. Using a data from 1990 to
2021 in 23 selected African countries, the study empirically examined the
impact of deep PTAs on sustainable development, economic, environmental,
and social dimensions of sustainable development in Africa by using
bootstrapped quantile regression. The results show that deep PTAs have a
positive impact on sustainable development, the economic and social
dimensions of sustainable development. Again, the results also show that deep
preferential trade agreements have a negative impact on the environmental
dimension of sustainable development. This study highlights the importance of
deep PTAs for improving sustainable development and provides new ideas for
governments to assist in the formulation of policies that can effectively
improve their development. The study therefore recommends that
governments should actively engage in negotiations with potential partners,
and strengthen trade agreements that include measures for deeper integration.
The study also recommended governments should manage urbanisation
through urban design that prioritises sustainable development, such as
investments in renewable energy sources, and the implementation of effective
environmental policies.
