From the European Union side, one response to this problem comes in the shape of new approaches to trade-related development projects, aimed at helping ACP nations take on the growing international competition. Here, one of the European Commission's trade strategists explains what is being done. Marginalisation in world trade may have wider developmental repercussions since it is now recognised that trade is at the centre of the development process. Trade development is indeed the most efficient way of generating the resources needed for self-financed development. It is thus a major contributor to the achievement of the ultimate objective - which is to make development aid redundant.
Trade alleviates balance of payments burdens and facilitates structural changes.
It can make a major contribution to social development and poverty alleviation, by creating jobs and enhancing incomes, by broadening the economic and social horizons of rural communities, or by giving access to new technologies and skills. Glowing statistics from Southeast Asia and from countries as far apart as Chile and Mauritius, illustrate that trade is the most powerful engine for growth. The central role of trade in development was reiterated in the revised Lomb IV Convention. Although efforts have been made by all donors to provide support for trade development, evaluations of some of the major past projects have shown that, without a coherent strategy, trade development projects often lacked relevance, effectiveness, and efficiency at the executing stage. They were poorly designed, lacked mutually supportive inputs, operated in hostile environments and did not evolve over time.