Radziievska S. The Influence of Regional Integration on the Competitiveness of the Economy of Ukraine.

The thesis focuses on the theoretical and practical aspects of interrelationship between international integration and the level of competitiveness of the nations involved. A new approach to viewing competition as cooperation has been suggested to reveal the transformation of competitive relations from rivalry to cooperation between countries belonging to the same international integration organization. A country's competitive position in the integration system is defined. Ukraine's external economic relations with the European Union, the Common Economic Space, the Black Sea Economic Cooperation and the Organization for Democracy and Economic Development - GUAM are analyzed to identify the existing and newly-obtained competitive advantages and to provide recommendations for building competitiveness for each regional integration vector. Special attention is paid to the role of nontariff and transit tariff instruments in foreign trade regulations for using geopolitical advantages of Ukraine as a transit state. The competitiveness growth based on the decline of the hryvnia exchange rate worsens the conditions for the future use of our country's potential. The transition from price competition to differentiation competition is substantiated. Some recommendations on the building of national competitiveness and a closer integration of Ukraine within the world economy are given.