The aftershocks of the 2008-2009 financial and economic crisis continue to shake the world economy. While GDP, trade and investment have grown in each period since the second quarter of 2009, growth rates have not returned to their pre-crisis levels. Perhaps the most enduring impact of the crisis is the erosion of confidence in financial markets and economic governance. Concerns persist regarding the long-term effects of the extraordinary measures taken in response to the crisis, public debt sustainability, and financial and property markets volatility. Unemployment across the OECD area remains above 8% and youth unemployment is expected to reach 18% at the end of the 2011.

Integration of industrialised and emerging market economies through international trade and investment has been one of the major factors shaping the global economy in recent decades. Technological advances leading to reductions in trade and communication costs and pro-market reforms reducing policy-induced costs in both industrialised and emerging economies have narrowed the divide created by natural and man-made barriers. They have also enabled more efficient specialisation and greater unbundling of the production process across national borders (OECD, 2006; OECD, 2009).