Public-Private Partnerships for Integrating Small, Poor Countries into the Global Trading System

摘要

Many barriers prevent small, poor countries from participating fully in the global economy. To integrate themselves fully into the global economy, small, poor countries must invest in public goods and services such as information and communications technology, transportation infrastructure, trade facilitation, skills and services linked to economies of agglomeration, research and extension, systems for certifying grades and standards, and market development. In industrial and more advanced developing countries, governments traditionally have provided these goods and services. But the governments of small, poor countries lack the capacity to carry out these tasks. One way to overcome a lack of governmental capacity is for public-private partnerships to provide public goods and services. Private companies and associations often can meet the need for public goods more efficiently than the public sector because they are more motivated and have money for research, quality certification, and market development and are more likely to attract managers with a commercial orientation. Yet the public sector still has a necessary role to establish policies and the regulatory environment and ensure that public goals are met in the long term.