MANILA -- Trade ministers from around the world will meet in Cancun, Mexico, next month to assess progress in making the ongoing series of World Trade Organization negotiations a "development round." Their success in achieving that goal will have a profound effect on the future of hundreds of millions of poor farmers and workers around the world.
Disputes over whether and how developed economies should open their agricultural markets to freer trade have dominated the talks so far. Increased access to, and less competition from, developed markets would be a huge boon to most developing economies. But for trade liberalization to have the greatest positive impact on poverty reduction, it must be accompanied by reforms within developing countries to increase the access of the poor to the gains from trade.
International trade expands the range of goods and services available to the poor and reduces prices, increasing real income and reducing poverty.