Introduction

Abstract

This report is the result of a Ford Foundation supported research project on Developing Countries and the Global Trading System. It has involved fourteen scholars from eleven developing countries and a smaller number from the developed world. The scholars from each developing country have prepared a study on a trade issue of central importance to their country, and have participated in a series of project meetings where drafts of these studies and this report were discussed. Companion to this report are two volumes, one containing these country studies and the other containing broader thematic studies also prepared by participants in the project.¹ The report draws not only on this work, but on a large number of meetings, interviews and group discussions that have taken place over the course of the project.²