‘”If 1989 saw the end of the ‘Second World’ with Communism’s demise, then 2009 saw the end of what was known as the ‘Third World.’ We are now in a new, fast-evolving multi-polar world economy in which some developing countries are emerging as economic powers, others are moving towards becoming additional poles of growth, and some are struggling to attain their potential within this new system — where North and South, East and West, are now points on a compass, not economic destinies,” said Robert B Zoellick, the President of World Bank (WB).

‘In a speech ahead of the spring meeting of the WB, Zoellick said that the global economic crisis of 2009 and the rise of developing countries in the global economy were the death-knell of the old concept of the Third World as a separate entity just as 1989 was for the Second World of communism. This has profound implications for a multi-polar world.

‘Zoellick, in his speech entitled “The end of the Third World? Modernising multi-lateralism for a Multipolar World,” also said: “Poverty remains and must be addressed. Failed states remain and must be addressed. Global challenges are intensifying and must be addressed. But the manner in which we must address these issues is shifting. The out- dated categorisations of First and Third Worlds, donor and supplicant, leader and led, no longer fit . . . .”

‘The validity of the term Third World has been placed in question over the past decade with the increasingly acknowledged “West-to-East” economic power shift. The old concept of the Third World no longer applies in the new multi-polar world, and new approaches are needed to take account for the interests of developing countries.

‘The developing countries are growing to represent an ever-increasing share of the global economy and providing an important source of demand for the recovery from the recent global economic crisis.’

Read more . . . (The Daily Star, Bangladesh)