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A glance at the developing world

While all regions of the world are struggling with similar issues to some extent, their causes mightbe so different that generalized policies will not be able to help them anymore. People in Latin

America want fair and equal opportunities, job security and cessation of social injustice. Asiaspower has grown very much in the last period and should the openness to entrepreneurship andforeign investment continue, the development of this region will be natural. However, taking a closelook at different parts of the world, we can notice that they are facing problems that cannot bereplicated in other conditions and regions.

While being aggregately one of the most important exporters in the world with a great potential todevelop, Latin America is passing through a very difficult period socially and politically. Coupsdtat, riots and protests have shredded both the confidence of citizens and the potential of growthof the region. Most countries have high poverty rates, no adequate medical systems and low literacyrates, suggesting that this region is rather exploited than helped to develop.

The continent is growing fast due to some countries, having Brazil in the south which is one of themost important emerging markets in the world and part of the BRIC group and Argentina thatregistered continuous growth in the past years despite the global economic crisis. Several free tradeareas and customs unions such as Mercosur, Andean Community or SICA are exempting countriesfrom paying duties and encouraging movement of goods, services and capital. Trade couldconstitute the ground for long term development around the entire continent, as many of thecountries have natural resources including oil, coffee, sugar, natural gas and minerals. Theglobalized world has facilitated the growth of this region in the last decades because developedcountries had the opportunity to import cheap products and services or establish their ownfactories here in order to gain access to the labour force. On the other hand, as most of the revenueof the countries from Latin America came from exports, many governments supported foreign

investors and continuously devaluated national currencies at the loss of their own citizens well -being.

Asia stands still divided in terms of economic stability, with Japan and the Tigers as the fewdeveloped countries, but with a great potential coming from China, India and Russia, the otherthree biggest emerging economies along Brazil. The most important companies in the developedworld invested massively in Asia, seeing the great opportunity it offers in terms of human potentialand knowledge. Asian people demonstrated great perseverance, desire to improve and unequalledefficiency in the industrial process. With few exceptions, political leaders showed vision andstrategic thinking, fostering the growth of the region and its social stability by creating a properenvironment to attract foreign investment and stressing the importance of education among

individuals. While the second half of the twentieth century was very challenging from a politicalpoint of view because of the Cold War and many other international tensions that affected theregion, the last decade has brought Asia unprecedented growth and social development.

European governments have been striving to unify the entire continents policies with the creationof an economic and monetary union. Comprising 31 out of the 47 developed countries identified bythe United Nations, Europe could be considered the most developed continent in the world.However, the vast majority of the Eastern region of the continent is performing not even nearly asgood as the Western side. While countries from the West have been supported after World War II

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by the United States through the Marshall Plan, the other half of the continent fell under the pre-eminence of the Soviet Union which blocked social development and discouraged private property.While some of the former Soviet countries had a good collaboration with the West and transitionedsuccessfully to a market economy, many others have not overpassed this period and are stillstruggling with corruption, an unprepared labour force and social scission. Hopefully, with the

support of their more developed neighbours and the European Union, these countries will furtherdevelop to reach their real potential. Nevertheless, the political challenges will continue torepresent an important part of the future of the region, but their resolve might be the catalyst thatwill bring stability at all levels of society.

Africa is the one continent in the world that struggles the most with poverty, low life expectancy,social segregation and lack of basic healthcare. While most of the Northern countries and SouthAfrica are performing better, Sub-Saharan Africa suffers from a severe lack of resources andknowledge necessary to build an economy upon. This is the perhaps the most affected region of theworld where foreign financial aid has been the only alternative. However, the intervention in thesecountries has evolved to tackle not only the economic aspect, but also health and education. Bill andMelinda Gates Foundation, the United Nations or the IDA are among the few most importantorganizations that have financed and developed projects in this area combatting malaria, providingbasic education and access to water, sanitation or vaccines. This region has represented the majorchallenge of international organizations and most of the worlds aid is directed there, but furtherinnovations will need to be made in order to help the creation of truly stable economies andsocieties in this part of the globe.

The Arab World is the largest conflict zone of the world and social tensions have taken bigproportions. The Syria civil war, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistanare the most important military conflicts following the end of the Cold War and they have allhappened in the Middle East. The region is also home of one of the most famous terroristorganization in the world, Al-Qaeda, and of the Lebanese political military group, Hezbollah. Even if

the importance of these events was raised due to international intervention and presumed hiddeninterests in the oil resources of the region, the most profound wound of these territories appears tobe religion, being the root of the many civil conflicts, the motivation for terrorist attacks and eventhe source of legislation.

Research and innovation are some of the most important drivers of economic growth mentioned inthe Europe 2020 Strategy . In the South-East, we can find that Serbia, Croatia and Montenegro arecreating policies to nurture the development of these fields and transform them into competitiveadvantage, suggesting the region is aligning to Western tendencies and moving towards change.

Initiatives in Africa are beginning to show results and after a long period of stagnation, the region isregistering economic growth that is predicted to continue in the next years, creating the premises

for the continent to take its rightful place in the world economies. However, poverty, youthunemployment, unequal distribution of wealth and proper medical services are still problems thatAfrican people and governments will have to face.

Peace in the Middle East is one of the most desired outcomes for the future and internationalsummits are being organized in order to bring together leaders of this region to resolve their issues,among them the recent Geneva II Middle East Peace Conference. Although it is a delicate subject, if

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the efforts to tackle it are successful, the reconstruction of the region can become an economicengine for the world due to its vast resources and power of influence.

The OECDs 2013 Development Co-Operation Report shows that new goals to end poverty mustinclude empowering people, which seems to be a shift of vision towards a more sustainabledevelopment and long-term concern regarding aid. In the same time, the World Bank is arguing thatin the future aid will not be about money anymore, but rather about transferring knowledge. Thereare only 1.2 billion people in world now living in extreme poverty, half of the number from 2000when the first millennia objective to reduce poverty was settled. However, all indicate that one ofthe challenges of the future will be how to help people construct their own economies and beindependent of humanitarian aid.

Some of the instruments to help development around the world have already been created and theyrepresented the basis of globalization, but from now on they would probably be mature enough tohelp the entire world grow. The World Trade Organization, the International Labour Organization,the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund are some of the institutions whosepurpose is to tackle globally the reduction of poverty.

Looking at the Americas, we can find The Caribbean Community has moved towards the creation ofa common market in order to foster economic growth in the region. Other important organizationssuch as Mercosur, the Andean Community, and the Central America Integration System (SICA) arecovering almost all Latin America and create the premises for development in the region, whileNAFTA and FTAA are creating bonds between the North and the South.

ASEAN and the Eurasian Economic Community in Asia, EBRD and the European Union, ECOWASand the South African Development Community are some of the most important internationalagreements that will enable the world to have coherent regional and foreign policies, a fair tradeenvironment and the opportunity to transfer knowledge across states. The Lom Conventionfollowed by the Cotonou Agreement created the premises for inter-continental collaboration

between the European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of states (ACP), aimingto eradicate poverty while supporting the gradual integration of ACP countries into the worldeconomy.

The World Economic Forum is gathering leaders from around the world in all fields to discussinternational concerns and shape global agendas, the G8 summits bring together the heads of statesof the most developed countries in the world in order to discuss issues of worldwide interest, whilethe G20 major economies consult on matters of international financial systems.

In conclusion, it seems that all the institutions and agreements that can make the eradication ofpoverty possible and create a bridge towards a better future, are already established andfunctioning. Taking into consideration their past experience, they should be able to best understandthe different regions of the world and create tailored solutions that integrate each specific potentialand economic stage of development.

I believe that not only these regions encounter themselves in different stages, but they havedifferent histories and social wounds that have to be addressed in order to build real economiesupon. They need to be understood and treated as equal partners in international relations andhelped not to overcome short-term problems, but rather build sustainable economies and empowertheir citizens.