text: of science and technology. The balance of comparative advantage has shifted irreversibly from the suppliers of commodities based on lo,-skilled labour to the pr011iders of services based oo an ever-widening spectrum of technical St ills. Countries that have invested heavily in science and technology have prospered, and therein, perhaps, lies one of the fundamental differences between developed and developing countries. Indeed, it is also increasingly mar king the difference between those developing comtries that have advanced and those that rerrain at a oompuative disadvantage in pursuing national developnent goals and enjoying a share of the fruits of world economic activity c11d growth. One of the consequences of the structural-adjustment programmes that many developing countries have had to implement has been a decline in both the absolute and relative prop:>rtions ·of national budgets allocated to all phases of education and training. This is a trend that has to be reversed in the decade ahead. The final issue to which I wish to draw attention is the necessity for co-operation among the developing countries to increase the flow of trade, investment, technological assistance and financial services anong themselves. While the necessity for this has long been recognized, very little has actually been acoompl. ished. The result is that while the developed oountr ies are strengtheni~g therru;elves and appropriating an ever-increasing share of the global product through the formation of trading blocs, the transnational production of A/S-18/PV. 2 32 (Mr. Coore, Jamaica) goods and services and the co-ordination of economic policies, the developing countries are becoming increasingly marginalized in the process of global wealth er ea tion and dis tr ibu tioo. It is the recognition of the need .. for some countervailing strategy of co-opera tioo among developing countries that led tn the for nation of the South 
analysis: The text discusses the shift in the global economy towards services-based economies, the importance of investing in science and technology, and the need for cooperation among developing countries to increase trade, investment, and financial services. It also touches on the issue of structural-adjustment programs and their impact on education and national development goals. The text's focus on the global economy, trade, and development suggests that it is primarily concerned with economic issues.