| Summary: | Strong cyclical dynamics, together with
an easing of macroeconomic policies in the United States and
elsewhere, have boosted large parts of the global economy,
into the initial phase of a recovery in 2002. Nonetheless,
the global recovery is fragile, because investment spending
is insufficient to underpin continuing growth, although
long-term prospects remain promising. Although global
competition is creating new opportunities for developing
countries, harnessing globalization requires reducing
barriers to competition, using targeted interventions
carefully, but essentially, supported by sound public
investments. International agreements on investment, and
competition policies can provide benefits through
reciprocity, while agreements on investment policy are
likely to have strong development effects, only if they deal
with the big issues facing developing countries.
Consequently, competition agreements should focus on
restraints to competition that hurt developing countries:
policy barriers in markets abroad; private restraints on
competition; and, trade restraints officially sanctioned.
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