ABSTRACT
The welfare of the nationals of a country depends largely upon sustainable growth with some level of equity In this context, globalisation offers unprecedented opportunities for developing countries to achieve faster economic growth through liberalised trade policies and foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows. During the 1970s, international trade grew more rapidly than the FDI and there was considerable progress in trade reforms in most developing countries, generally moving from an import substitution strategy to an export promotion strategy, thus making international trade the most important international economic activity. This situation changed dramatically during the 1980s, when world FDI flows started to increase sharply. During this period, the world FDI increased in importance by transferring technologies, establishing markets and procuring networks for efficient production and sales internationally (Urata, 1998). Generally speaking, exports, imports and inward FDIs constitute sources of new ideas, new goods, new domestic competition, and technology transfer from advanced countries.
