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The Australian Development Gateway (ADG) strives to support members of the development community in their efforts to reduce poverty and enhance sustainable development in the Asia Pacific region. The site has been created with participation from members of government, private, academia and non-government organisations. User feedback mechanisms have been incorporated to guide future directions of the site. The site is optimised for low bandwidth access to enable the widest participation throughout the Asia Pacific region.

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Globalisation & poverty: Turning the corner (pdf 663K)

Economic integration around the world - an important part of the process of globalisation - has allowed remarkable, but frequently unrecognised, progress against poverty and global inequality. One group of developing countries, with a combined population of 3 billion people, has achieved this progress by reforming their policies, institutions and infrastructure to become the 'new globalisers'.

But serious poverty and inequality remain for up to 2 billion people living in countries that have not yet integrated with the global economy. Poor policy choices, weak institutions and sometimes instability have cost these countries dearly.

The tremendous gains made by globalising developing countries and the tragic outcomes for some marginalised developing countries offer contrasting policy lessons that are sometimes confused. In that misunderstanding, poverty and inequality are falsely attributed to the very economic integration that is lifting the majority of the developing world's people out of poverty. So it is important to understand clearly what has been happening in the world and how further inroads can be made into poverty and global inequality.

 

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