Chapter 1. Foreign Trade and Human Development: Analysis of International Experiences
but whether such reforms would lead to institutional changes that in future would ensure high economic returns and human development. Countries where market institutions are not sufficiently developed, should implement reforms to create domestic capacity, allowing the national economy to utilize the opportunities that open up with foreign trade liberalization, prior to conducting any reforms related to foreign trade. The increased openness of foreign trade is then, in most cases an outcome of but not the initial factor for achieving economic development. Therefore, the focus while forming strategies and tactics for trade policies should be moved from that on issues related to ensuring liberalization and increasing foreign trade volumes, to that of the need for improving the quality of institutions, implementing a holistic development strategy, providing for long-term growth and achieving high human development rates.
12