الكتب

Arab countries are facing, as most other developing countries, a number of economic challenges inherited from the 12th century and which may be exacerbated in the 21st century. Among these challenges are globalisation, water crises and sustainable development, technological change, and economic consequences of the peace process.

Globalisation, as a growing international integration of markets for goods, services and capital, can be driven by various forces. First is the unprecedented increase in the international trade flow of about fifteen-fold during the last four decades (as opposed to a six-fold increase of the worldâ??s population). Developing countries increased their share of global trade to 30 percent in 1995, compared with 24 percent in 1985. One of the important features of global trade is the increasing share of intra-firm trade, encouraged by foreign direct investment (FDI). Multinational world trade amounted to US$5.3 trillion in 1992, compared to world exports of US$4.6 trillion (UNCTAD, 1998).