Much of the emphasis on globalization has been on opening up often extremely protectionist markets in the developing world. But the World Bank’s recently released Global Economic Outlook 2002 also emphasizes the other end of the equation — developed countries must liberalize their own markets, allowing in textile and agricultural imports from the developing world.
In a press release announcing publication of the Global Economic Outlook, Uri Dadush, Director of the World Bank’s Economic Policy and Prospects Group, said,
To make this happen, the developed countries have to be willing to put agriculture and textiles on the negotiating table because those are the products that the world’s poor produce. A round that brings down barriers in agriculture, advances the timetable on textiles, and agrees to curtail antidumping at the same time it takes up the concerns of the industrialized countries has the potential for being a true ‘Development Round.
The World Bank predicts short term economic problems due to the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States, but thinks the long term prospect for the global economy is very good. Growth in trade in 2001 decline sharply from 13 percent in 2000 to as little as 1 percent in 2001, but it is expected to rise to 7.3 percent 2002-2003.
Source:
Launching ‘Development Round’ Could Help Poor Countries Facing Global Downturn. World Bank, Press Release, November 2001.