Recent trends in the implementation of trade and development strategies in developing countries

Abstract

Globalization in the 21st century, like any profound process occurring in society, brings both new opportunities and risks. One tool that helps countries overcome continued economic uncertainty is strategic planning. Despite the fact that the scientific community is still debating whether the state should coordinate a country’s economic processes, in practice the number of strategic trade and economic initiatives is constantly growing. This article analyses trends in the design of trade and economic strategies in developing countries from 2000 to 2015, reasons for growing interest in implementing such initiatives, and changes in the structure of strategic documents. Calculations are based on systematic and graphic analyses of data published by the International Trade Centre and the World Bank. The results of this analysis show that increasing interest in implementing trade and development initiatives in the 2000s was preceded by a World Bank policy aimed at alleviating the burden of high-indebted by poor countries. This policy required beneficiaries to have a poverty reduction strategy (e.g. the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers — PRSP). The development of PRSPs helped to create and/or restore institutional mechanisms needed to implement such initiatives, which had been lost back in the 1980s. The promotion of the global development goals—Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 2000–2015 and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2015–2030, adopted by 193 UN member states — served as a trigger for scaling up the development of strategic initiatives. Such initiatives adopted in developing countries, with the support of international organizations, were focused mainly on solving the food and nutrition problems and improving basic social services. Their successful implementation improved existing planning practices and increased the effectiveness of state institutions in developing countries. At the same time, the first positive results returned faith in the effectiveness of these strategic programs for the development of a country’s economy. This created an impulse for the capacity of developing countries to implement later trade and economic strategies without the support of third organizations, giving them the autonomy to allocate resources in high valueadded sectors. Nevertheless, despite all the efforts in developing countries, the weak points of these initiatives remain poor elaboration of action plans and the lack of financial resources to achieve stated objectives.