Miracle growth like East Asia's will not result, but if the goal is convergence with the West at Spanish and Portuguese rates, then we find reason for hope. Trade Our analysis of CEEC exports to the EU shows that there is little evidence that Eastern Europe as a whole is developing significant new export sectors. The emergence of new export sectors such as transport equipment and electronics has been limited to the advanced Visegrad countries. Analysis of movements in unit values for the region reveals little improvement in competitiveness in those sectors which dominated CEEC trade and production prior to the transition, slow progress in newly-emerging sectors through 1992, and then accelerating progress as those countries which undertook structural adjustment began putting their difficulties behind them. While the CEEC 6 have all experienced rapid export growth, they have not all been equally successful in moving up the technological ladder into the production and export of more sophisticated, differentiated, high value-added goods.
Hungarian exports are relatively high value added.
While this was already true before the transition, producers have succeeded in raising value added still further and moving into the production of higher-tech products. Similar trends are evident in the Czech Republic, though they are not equally strong. In Romania and Bulgaria , in contrast, export unit values have stagnated. The Association Agreements did not significantly reduce tariffs or ease quotas in a way that impacted trade volume. Tariff barriers were already low by 1992 thanks to the granting of GSP preferences, and this has permitted a rapid expansion of EU imports from the CEECs , especially relative to EU imports from other developing countries.