The Hindu Business Line : `Tech, HRM key for driving exports in developing nations'

THE current global trading environment, technological development and human resource management are potentially the most dynamic factors for export growth, particularly for developing countries, said Dr Eduardo Aninat, former Deputy Managing Director of IMF and former Minister of Finance, Chile.

Delivering the 19th annual commencement day lecture of Exim Bank here, Dr Aninat noted that issues of protectionist attitude, externalities, and fear on factor mobility connected to freer external trade adopted by policy-makers across most developing countries enervated the path to trade openness.

Dr Vijay Kelkar, Advisor to the Finance Minister, presided over the function, Mr T.C. Venkat Subramanian, Chairman and Managing Director of Exim Bank, welcomed the guests.

Dr Aninat stressed that it is the sustained interaction between research and development, the identification and pursuit of the advanced imported technologies and its re-adaptation, which will sustain or enhance the position of most products and services traded in international markets.

He opined that the possibility of integrating different economies has the potential to modify the rooted underdevelopment existing in large economic blocks, especially in the more closed economies.

Comparing Dr Aninat's efforts to Mr Manmohan Singh's reform initiatives in India, Dr Kelkar said, "Much of Dr Aninat's advocacy on open and freer trade regime holds true even for Indian economy, and exchanging goods and services with larger markets would bring about a more open economic structure for local economic systems."

Based on the substantive evidence documented by both IMF and the World Bank on the positive relationship between trade openness and exports to GDP growth, Dr Aninat highlighted that most countries that have pursued reasonable macro-economic policies and worked to modernise and promote their trade sectors have experienced faster and more enduring growth rates.