NEW DEVELOPMENT TRENDS E. Ya. ARAPOVA Candidate of Economic Sciences MGIMO (U) of the Russian Foreign Ministry Keywords: East Asia, ASEAN, financial markets, investment, regional development, economic integration World Bank experts predict that the group of East Asian States will grow by 7.1% in 2014 (at the time of writing, the year was still incomplete and its results are unknown), which will be mostly supported by the high growth rate of the Chinese economy (about 7.6%). Despite a slight slowdown in the economic growth of the region's countries compared to the average growth rate in 2009-2013 (at 8%), East Asia continues to maintain its position as the world leader in terms of regional development. Of great interest is the answer to the question: what is the reason for this growth today? East Asia has always followed its own export-oriented model of economic development, which for several decades has helped countries in the region to occupy leading positions in terms of the growth rate of their economies. As a result, the impact of the global financial crisis of 2008-2009 was relatively lower here than in other regions of the world. First, there was some "postponement" of the negative impact of external factors. If for most developed countries of the West, negative trends were reflected in the statistics of 2008, then for Asia, 2009 was a turning point. This was partly due to the accumulation of a "safety cushion" in the form of significant international reserves, and partly due to the expansion of regional integration processes and the development of regional cooperation in the financial sector. Its goal was to increase regional financial stability and create mechanisms for rapid response to external threats. Second, Asian countries have generally managed to maintain "favorable external economic positions in the context of flexible exchange rates, significant international reserves and less dependence on short-term external financing"1. However, the crisis of 20 ... Read more