Uruguay round revisited, African economic integration reviewed

Abstract

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) weighs in with much the same evidence. "In certain product categories, e.g. cocoa and coffee the erosion of preferences could be as high as 100%; minerals and metals could be severely hit; and Africa's narrow export base would reveal itself for What it always had been, the Achilles heel of Africa's development prospects. The Ministers will consider some sobering statistics. International investment by Transnational corporations (TNCs) have surpassed trade to become the most important mechanism for international economic integration, and the global sales of 250,000 foreign affiliates of 40,000 TNCs today exceed $5 trillion, according to UNCTAD. The top 100 of them are all based in developed countries.