RIEB, Kobe University

The Economic Environment surrounding Developing Countries

I was in charge of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) as a mission of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan in the second half of 1980's. At that time, the UNCTAD played a central role on economic problem of developing countries, particularly that of primary commodities. Through this experience, I took notice of the subjects concerning economic difficulties surrounding developing countries. After a great war, many developing countries have achieved their independence shaking off the political restriction. However, in reality, they were still suffering from economic difficulties and fumbling about how to take off for their economies with a view to realizing their actual economic independence. The economic disparities among developed and developing countries has been more and more widening in progress of globalization towards the 21st century.
Therefore, the purpose of this article is to identify the reasons why the economic disparities expanded by pursuing the historical events of the international economic regencies, such as the Newly International Economic Order (NIEO) in 1974, the Integrated Program for Commodities (IPC) in 1076, the Dollar-Shock in 1971, and the First and Second Oil crises in 1973 and 1979, which finally led to speculative transactions of trade and a stream of globalization.