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Global and regional economic integration - Globalisation in the service of developing countries

Economic integration

Global political and economic structures can have a significant impact on development and poverty in SDC partner countries. SDC is committed to globalisation of the type that fosters sustainable development, in which the world trade order is such that developing countries are given a fair chance to export their products.

Key facts
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Trade and foreign investment have grown substantially in importance in developing countries. In 1980 international trade accounted for 44% of the national economies of developing countries. By 2002 this had climbed to 67%.
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Rapidly-developing countries can mobilise other regions in their wake. African exports have quadrupled due to the Chinese and Indian demand for energy and metal.

The world is becoming increasingly networked – economically, politically and socially. Globalisation entails new opportunities and risks for industrial nations as well as developing countries.

How can developing countries profit from trade? In principle, the global trading system must allow developing countries to sell their products on markets in the North and in regional markets. Yet in the current World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiating round, several industrialised countries are vehemently opposed to lowering trade barriers for agricultural products. SDC is committed to ensuring that the interests of developing countries are more strongly advocated in this so-called Doha development round. Moreover, with projects such as those aimed at education or infrastructures, SDC is helping developing countries to exploit more effectively the opportunities provided by the existing trade system.

The world trade system is not based solely on the WTO's multilateral regulations. More and more countries are signing regional and inter-regional agreements for trading and investment. Such agreements can boost the competitiveness of local economies and increase the bargaining power of regions in international negotiations. The main challenge for these countries is to attract investors by offering favourable conditions without compromising on their national sovereignty.

To prevent economic development progressing at the cost of the environment, all activities must give due consideration to the aspect of sustainability.

SDC focus: Closer attention to the needs of developing countries

SDC systematically supports such economic integration processes, with particular emphasis on sustainable development and the fight against poverty. Above all SDC works to ensure that countries at advanced stages of development, such as India, South Africa, Brazil and China, make a contribution to the development of poorer countries or regions. First, however, a sound corpus of knowledge needs to be built up, for instance in order to determine the impact of China's and India's increased presence in Africa and Latin America. SDC therefore supports the OECD'S Development Centre studies which are highly respected around the world.

The environment is strongly affected by the ongoing trend towards globalisation: positively, for instance as a result of the transfer of clean technologies that allow scarce resources to be used more efficiently; negatively, in terms of the long distances products travel from producer to consumer, and in terms of environmental pollution and climate change. SDC engages in efforts to further develop global and regional trade regulations, to bring them into line with sustainable development.

Additional Information and Documents

Documents
  • Interview with Javier Santiso about development trends in Latin America
    Traverse March 2008
    Download (PDF, 92 KB) :  [de]   [en]   [fr]   [es]  

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