Let me now turn to more general issues affecting the whole world. On this occasion, therefore, it is better for all of us to get to grips with what we all mean by this word. However, in practice, this free trade has been acting mainly in favor of those who seek abundant resources, markets and profits. Protection of one's labor force against healthy competition is the basic driving force is the cause for creation of such barriers. For example, commodity prices stand artificially lowered through substantial subsidies in the developed countries.
Free competition is still a somewhat one way street.
Much needs to be done to encourage and enable developing countries to reach their full potential and to use their comparative advantages in lower-cost productivity factors. Attaching unreasonable and stringent conditionalities to use of such factors and to achieve standards which took centuries to be reached elsewhere, thwarts and negates the under-lying principle of growth and free trade. Relying too much on free market mechanism to reap short-term benefits has wrecked havoc to Southeast Asia and East Asia during the last two years. The experiences drawn from this crisis show that the poor are the most vulnerable and the most affected by the crisis. Therefore, there is a dire need for the establishment of a social safety nets to prevent future crisis and for the enactment of regulation and the adoption of some policy measures to ensure smooth operation of the market mechanism.