Trade Without Borders Logo - Making a World of Difference, One Trade at a Time
Trade Without Borders Logo - Making a world of difference, one trade at a time

A Global Challenge

TWB is motivated by the persistent challenges in developing regions of the world, such as wide-spread poverty, which adversely affects billions in our world today.  Despite over $2 trillion spent on foreign aid, only a few economies have shifted from developing to developed in the past 6 decades.  That aid has included emergency relief supplies and donated goods.  However, humanitarian supplies tend to be one-way, one-time flow of goods, which provide short-term relief only.  Donated goods may not be designed for use by consumers in developing regions, and while they may have a near-term social impact, they do not create longer-term social and economic value.  As a result, the plight of billions in developing countries, the proverbial Base of the Pyramid (BoP), as documented in reports such as the Human Development Report 2010 and the Millennium Development Goals Report 2007 remains far from ideal.  Today, about 1.6 billion people lack access to electricity, 1.2 billion people lack access to safe water and 2.6 billion lack access to sanitation. 

Those countries or territories that have successfully bridged the development gap (South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong), or are rapidly doing so (Brazil, China, India), have developed local industries and expanded their share of the US$14 trillion in global trade. On the other hand, the 49 Least Developed Countries in the world make up 12% of the world’s population, but account for less than 1% of global trade.