Chapter IV Inclusive and sustainable growth in the two regions: assessments, challenges, opportunities

The previous chapters have described the observed rates of economic growth, as well as the trade and investment patterns which characterize the current state of the economy. However, neither ensuring economic growth rates or trade and investment volumes, nor cooperation between the two regions should be any state’s development goal per se. Instead, the ultimate objective should be improving the welfare of the citizenry. A perspective on the prospects for economic development, sources and external effects of growth, the uniformity of participation of economic agents in the processes of production and distribution can be formed using the concepts of sustainable and inclusive growth. Sustainable economic growth is that which can be maintained at a stable level over a long period. In particular, economic growth largely based on the extraction and use of nonrenewable natural resources risks a loss of stability with the gradual depletion of those same resources. In this regard, growth is also referred to as sustainable if its attainment is not associated with a negative impact on the environment. According to a narrower concept, inclusive growth is economic growth accompanied by the creation of an enabling environment for improving quality of life and ensuring equality of opportunities for all of a country's population groups. Thus, ensuring economic inclusiveness is essential for sustainable economic growth. The present chapter aims to identify the two regions’ advances and challenges in ensuring inclusive economic growth and provides additional insight into such an important aspect of sustainability as ecological friendliness, resorting to progress in addressing climate change as a litmus test.