UN General Assembly
1999

increased the economic gap between rich and poor countries. This is the conclusion reached in the tenth United Nations Development Programme Human Development Report. Domestic liberalization measures undertaken by many of the developing countries have also contributed towards a widening of the gap between the rich and the poor. A number of countries have recorded some acceleration of economic growth in the wake of liberalization and deregulation. But they have also witnessed a shift in income distribution in favour of those in the upper income groups. Domestic policy reforms undertaken by a large number of developing counties in the direction of liberalization and deregulation have not secured for them a place on the “Globalization Express”. The globalization and liberalization process is unfolding in a manner which gives developing countries little voice in shaping the policy framework that underpins this procedure. The ad hoc panel of economists under the aegis of the Non-Aligned Movement, which was set up on a proposal made by Sri Lanka, has concluded that there is very little opportunity for