Assessment of the effectiveness of Ukraine's foreign trade policy with the Middle East and Africa countries

The intensive development of world economic ties remains an integral part of the modern world economy. Foreign trade activities are becoming a major factor in economic development, manifested in the growth of international trade, the liberalization of trade relations and the active participation of countries in the processes of international economic integration. In these circumstances, it is particularly important to carry out qualitative systemic studies designed to analyze the current state, trends and structural changes of national economies under the influence of foreign trade. Such studies require objective statistics and methodological support. The purpose of the paper is to analyze the benefits of the trade cooperation between Ukraine and Middle East and North African (MENA) countries and to determine the possibilities of the use of results in a development of fundamentals of Ukrainian trade policy. The approaches of international organizations to the classification of MENA countries considering the characteristics of the region driven by historical, political and cultural factors are investigated. The comparison analysis of indicators reflecting the foreign trade policy and countries' attitudes towards improving export support in Ukraine and MENA countries is made. The trade complementarity index was calculated for the period 2013 – 2020 in order to determine sectoral priorities for foreign trade cooperation between countries.