News Blaze USA
Developing countries of Asia and the Pacific need bold new domestic policies in order tobenefit from free trade, and industrialized economies should back fairer trade rulesgiving poorer nations the chance to compete in the global marketplace, according to anew United Nations report that lays out an eight-point strategy for development.The UN Development Programme's (UNDP) 2006 Asia-Pacific Human DevelopmentReport, "Trade on Human Terms: Transforming Trade for Human Development in Asiaand the Pacific," was released today in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh and is thefirst in a new annual series, the agency said in a<"http://content.undp.org/go/newsroom/june-2006/asia-hdr-20060629.en">press release."<"http://www.undprcc.lk/rdhr2006/rdhr2006new.asp">Trade on Human Terms comes ata critical time with only a few months left before the end-of-year deadline for thecompletion of the Doha Development Round. We are at the midpoint of the 10-yearBrussels Programme of Action for Least Developed Countries and have less than adecade to achieve the targets of the Millennium Development Goals," said<"http://www.undp.org/">UNDP Administrator Kemal Dervis, referring to targets to slasha host of ills, such as extreme hunger and poverty, by 2015.Among the findings included in the report is that Asia's opening to the global market haspropelled record economic growth and reduced income poverty in much of the region. Itscheap, labour-intensive manufacturing and high-tech goods have made it the "factory ofthe world." East Asia's "miracle" economies, in particular, have used trade to boostexports and accelerate progress in other areas including education, health and genderequality.Yet at the same time, trade has exacerbated inequalities, not only between countries butalso within national borders. And some of the region's most open economies -particularly the East Asian success stories - are grappling with the challenge of "joblessgrowth," with job creation lagging far behind workforce expansion.
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