United Nations Conference on Trade and Development Geneva

• Symbols of United Nations documents are composed of capital letters combined with figures. Mention of such a symbol indicates a reference to a United Nations document. • The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. • Material in this publication may be freely quoted or reprinted, but acknowledgement is requested, together with a reference to the document number. A copy of the publication containing the quotation or reprint should be sent to the UNCTAD secretariat. FOREWORD Kofi A. Annan Secretary-General of the United Nations This year's Trade and Development Report demonstrates that the conditions for achieving the Millennium Development Goal of halving extreme poverty by 2015 have improved considerably over the past three years, as economic growth in the developing world has become more broad-based and embraced many of the poorest countries. At a time when the forces of economic expansion in some major developed countries have been slackening, China and India have become major engines of growth for the world economy as a whole. Rapid economic development in both countries has helped reduce levels of extreme poverty at home, by generating employment and boosting incomes. It has also had positive effects beyond the two countries' borders, in particular in many other developing countries. However, the Report stresses that progress remains far too slow in certain regions. In sub-Saharan Africa, which has the highest proportion of people living in extreme poverty, per capita income growth is still too low to make decisive progress. This only underscores the need for further action by the international community to achieve and maintain strong global growth dynamics with broad-based participation. The recent rise in the prices of many primary commodities has provided some economic breathing space in commodity-dependent economies, but this must not lead to complacency. On the contrary, this breathing space should be viewed as an opportunity for many developing countries to accelerate the process of structural change and capital accumulation, and indeed to reduce their dependence on exports of such commodities. This would boost progress towards all development goals, and have positive effects in countries with more advanced manufacturing sectors that provide the machinery …