THE STATE OF THE ART

however, that helping poorer countries to help themselves is not
a matter of charity, but rather one of enlightened self-interest. The
president of the World Bank, James D. Wolfenson, stated this view
clearly in a 1997 speech, saying:

``We can insulate ourselves from whole sections of the world for
which crisis is real and daily but which to the rest of us is largely
invisible. But we must recognize that we are living with a time
bomb and unless we take action now, it could explode in our
children's faces.''

``If we do not act, in thirty years the inequities will be greater.

With population growing at 80 million a year, instead of 3 billion
living on under $2 a day, it could be as high as 5 billion . . . in thirty
years, the number of conflicts may be higher. Already we live in
a world which last year alone saw twenty six interstate wars and
23 million refugees . . . without economic hope we will not have
peace. . .''

And economics is fundamentally changing the relationships

between the rich and the poor nations. Over the next twenty five
years, growth in China, India, Indonesia, Brazil and Russia will
likely redraw the economic map of the world as the share in global
output of the developing and transition economies doubles. Today
these countries represent 50% of the world's population but only
8% of its GDP. Their share in world trade is a quarter of that of the
European Union. By the year 2020, their share in world trade could
be 50% more than Europe's . . . we share the same challenge. The
fight against poverty is the fight for peace, security and growth for
us all.''

James D Wolfenson

In short, many feel that the developed world cannot afford to turn its
back on the rest of the world if it is to assure its own future prosperity
in the long term the risks are simply too high. There is a broad
agreement among interests as diverse as big business, government, and
the anti-WTO groups that reducing the world's gross inequalities is a
vital long-term objective.

The devil is in the detail. While some countries have had notable

development success over many decades, such as Japan, Singapore,