All countries acknowledge the role played by international trade in economic growth and development.
For the developing countries, experience has shown that those which aim at expanding their exports and adopting adequate and consistent national policies succeed in their economic objectives. They have been fully integrated into the changing world economy and are in a position to face the technological challenges. Not all countries have pursued such a strategy, however. These countries depend almost entirely on exports of a few commodities, minerals or tropical products, and they trade chiefly under regional preferential arrangements or generalized systems of preferences granted by developed countries. Special urgent measures are therefore needed to help them develop and diversify their trade, to draw benefit from the WTO trade system and to join the world economy on the eve of the twenty-first century.