A third major trend, examined in Section D, is the rising price
of agricultural goods and natural resources since 2000.
With some of the fastest-growing developing economies in
the Middle East, Africa and Latin America recently having
become commodity-rich exporters, attention has now
shifted from how developing economies can diversify out
of resources to how they can strengthen their comparative
advantage in resources, benefit more (and more widely)
from them, and reduce the adverse impact of the boom and
bust cycles that typically characterize these markets. This
section identifies a number of key issues to be addressed if
developing economies with actual or potential comparative
advantages in agriculture or natural resources are to exploit
higher commodity prices. These include reducing new and
less transparent forms of trade protection, guaranteeing
adequate rates of return on natural resources and
addressing the social and environmental issues critical to
inclusive and sustainable growth