We have learned what works and what does not in the struggle against global poverty. Those countries that have done the best are those that respect property rights, have independent courts, a professional public service, accountable, replaceable politicians, democracy and human rights. These are key factors in development and economic progress, as well as being good in themselves.
These realities have been forced home to me in recent years, during my days as director-general of the World Trade Organisation and now in my new life in business, working with ministries and during my travels as a do-gooder. That is why I was delighted recently to be invited to be a member of a UN-sponsored high-level commission on the legal empowerment of the poor.
It is a distinguished group of eminent people. Its members include: Fernando Cardoso, former president of Brazil; Benjamin Mkapa, president of Tanzania; Ernesto Zedillo, former president of Mexico; Lawrence Summers, president of Harvard University and former US treasury secretary.
Also on the panel are Anthony Kennedy, a US Supreme Court judge, Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi, and Lakhdar Brahimi, former head of the UN mission to Iraq and Afghanistan. The commission is co-chaired by former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright and Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto.
Mr Mkapa, at the launch, pointed out that because most Tanzanians hold their property outside the law they were considered poor, yet studies showed that the extra-legal economy in Tanzania now holds assets of US$29 billion - much more than all the aid and investment the country has received over many decades.
Ninety-eight per cent of all businesses operate outside the legal system, and 89 per cent of all properties are held outside the legal system. Formalising these investments and ownership would revolutionise the economy.