Foreign Trade in the Kaliningrad Region in 2000-2014, Growth Rates, Structure and Prospects

Abstract

The article discusses the dynamics, commodity structure and geography of the Kaliningrad region’s foreign trade since 2000. It has been shown that a free customs zone regime, which was established in the framework of a special economic zone (SEZ) in the Kaliningrad region with the import-substituting economy producing for the Russian market based thereon, has the key impact on the dynamics and structure of trade. At the same time, exports from the region, which reached the peak in 2007, have not returned to the same volume. Given are some suggestions concerning the improvement of the Kaliningrad region’s foreign trade in the changed geopolitical context.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n6s7p257