[1] Many countries have pursued and followed the path of economic liberalization in the 1980s, 1990s and in the 21st century, with the stated goal of maintaining or increasing their competitiveness as business environments.
In support of liberalization, former British prime minister Tony Blair wrote: "Success will go to those companies and countries which are swift to adapt, slow to complain, open and willing to change.
[3] Many countries nowadays, particularly those in the third world, arguably were given no choice but to "liberalize" their economies to remain competitive in attracting and retaining both their domestic and foreign investments.
However, North Korea is not completely separate from the global economy, since it actively trades with China, through Dandong, a large border port and receives aid from other countries in exchange for peace and restrictions in their nuclear programme.
Furthermore, if service providers in some developing economies are not competitive enough to succeed on world markets, overseas companies will be attracted to invest, bringing with them international "best practices" and better skills and technologies.
In fact, some research suggest a 50% cut in service trade barriers over a five- to ten-year period would create global gains in economic welfare of around $250 billion per annum.
[8] For instance, there is a risk that private providers will 'skim off' the most profitable clients and cease to serve certain unprofitable groups of consumers or geographical areas.