THIRD WORLD POTENTIAL

The greatest waste of resources results from the fact that of the four fifths of humanity is locked up in the Third World. This is, paradoxically, where much of the dynamic for development into the later part of the 21st century is likely to emerge. With relatively little investment now needed, much of the Third World is set to erupt - in terms of economic development - as those wasted human assets are unlocked. Once they start moving (and they have already started!) their economic growth will be explosive. They obviously needs to catch up with the developed world, but South East Asia has shown how this may be done - against all the supposed odds - in little over a decade. Who would have forecast as little as two decades ago that backward China would be poised to become the world's largest economic superpower in the early part of the 21st century. But, as the catching up process comes to an end - in say a couple of decades (as it was in South Korea, for instance) - the momentum, the dynamism of their economies, will carry these nations on to possibly dominate the developments later in the century!