ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the challenge posed to vulnerable economies by the growing importance of the WTO as the main regulatory system for world trade in goods and services. In line with the focus of this volume, an economy is considered vulnerable if it is either least developed according to UNCTAD criteria or low-income1 according to World Bank criteria. The accession of China (low-income but not least developed) to the WTO raises special problems and is therefore not discussed here (see Anderson 1997).
