Like many other regional groups, the member countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)—Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka—have taken steps toward forming a regional free trade area. Will the SAARC Preferential Trading Arrangement (SAPTA) offer the substantial economic benefits, including food security, that South Asian leaders expect? This quantitative analysis compares the economic results of SAPTAwith two other trade liberalization schemes, (1) more liberal trade between SAARCand the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) countries, and (2) more liberal trade between SAARC and the world.

The worst chemical disaster ever could be happening right now. In India and Bangladesh between forty and eighty million people are at risk of consuming too much arsenic from well water that might have already caused one hundred thousand cancer cases and thousands of deaths. Many millions elsewhere in South-East Asia and South America may soon suffer a similar fate. Venomous Earth is the story of this tragedy: the geology, the biology, the politics and the history. It starts in Ancient Greece, touches down in today's North America and takes in William Morris, alchemy, farming, medicine, mining and a cosmetic that killed two popes.

The notion that South Asian economies have tended to be less successful than those of East Asia is critically examined and the reasons why discussed. Countries covered include Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Key issues examined: * agriculture and rural development * labour market and human resource development * trade and industry policies * foreign investment and technological capabilities * foreign aid and economic development * financial development and economic performance * poverty, inequality and economic development * regional economic co-operation * 'green' development.

The shift in orientation toward relatively open trading systems was reflected in the attitudes and participation of developing countries in the Uruguay Round. They involved themselves fully in formulating the rules of the new trading system, and also made significant offers both in the conventional area of reducing tariff protection on manufactures trade, and in the "new" areas, such as trade in services, trade in agriculture, and trade-related intellectual property.

This volume provides a comprehensive assessment of the likely effects of the Uruguay Round agreements on the dynamic economies of East Asia. The rapid development of these countries owes much to the strong export performance and unilateral deregulation of their economies in recent years. Their major stake in maintaining the integrity of the global trading system was demonstrated by their active participation in the negotiations. The impact of the Uruguay Round liberalisation on East Asian economic development and policies is evaluated using sophisticated CGE models to estimate the effects on trade and income. The strengthening of trade rules and dispute settlement procedures are examined by a group of world trade experts. They establish that some gaps in the system remain to be tackled (anti-dumping, regional discrimination) and that some new problems are pending (competition policy, investment).