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Asia's Interests in Globalization and the Multilateral Trading System
The present essay begins by examining the underlying characteristics of the globalization phenomenon, and in particular those that apply to the developing member countries of the Asian Development Bank. It then examines both the traditional market-oriented issues emerging from the Uruguay Round agreements and the nontraditional trade-related issues of investment, competition and antitrust, labor standards, environmental protection and regional arrangements that were not included in the original GATT disciplines but that now represent major barriers to the globalization process. These regulatory issues and other factors underlying the potential impact of the globalization process on the transformation of the Asian economies have important implications for Bank operations, and they are highlighted at the end of the essay.