We have witnessed the integration of more and more countries into the world markets and a sharp rise in global trade. During the past 30 years, the cross-border exchange of goods and services increased ninefold (in terms of volume) to more than $ 7,000 billion in 2003. At the same time, substantial changes in the regional composition of trade flows have occurred.
While the industrial countries’ real share in world exports has gone down from 70% to 60%, that of developing countries has gained ground. The fast-growing economies in East Asia, in particular, have been extremely successful in integrating into the world economy. Their market share of world exports went up from 6% in the 1970s to about onefifth in 2003.