1795 



discovery and exploitation, development of forest products and af- 

 forestation, public health and medical service delivery, education, 

 electric power distribution and use b}^ agriculture and industry, 

 improved water and land transportation, commercial fishing, and 

 development of marketing systems to accommodate a growing list of 

 products. Banking and credit facilities are an early requirement. Map- 

 ping, surveying, soil sampling, forest inventories, and prospecting, 

 as well as demograpliic, health, and educational surveys, are needed. 

 Training is required in both technical and entrepreneurial skills. 

 Technology transfer, in all its ramifications, is a major feature of such 

 projects and entails extensive public-private coordination. 



The regional development concept as epitomized by the Tennessee 

 Valley Authority sought to encourage the balanced social, economic, 

 and technological development of a geographical area, Basic to the 

 plan was the construction of large civil engineering projects: dams, 

 roads, port facilities, locks, and powerlines. Production and use of 

 electric power was a key element. Another was flood control coupled 

 with water transportation, afforestation, and soil erosion control. But 

 creation of an infrastructure for development also entailed the im- 

 provement of schools and health services, libraries, and technological 

 training of valley people in appropriate skills. New farm equipment 

 was designed and constructed under contract, and then manufactured 

 locally for use in the valley. Rvual industries were started up by local 

 entrepreneurs, using technical processes developed under TVA 

 sponsorship, with technical consultative assistance supplied by the 

 Corporation. 



As the productivity of the inhabitants and local industry rose, the 

 Tennessee Valley became a better market for the products from out- 

 side tho. region, while also contributing its own share to national 

 development. 



This admittedly rosy picture of an American social invention of the 

 1930s indeed neglects mention of defects, waning enthusiasm and 

 motivation, and evidences of unbalanced growth. No technological or 

 social concept can remain long unchanged and still retain its initial 

 validity. Adaptation to change is an imperative. 



Nevertheless, tlie regional development concept offers commanding 

 logical validity. Whether applied to a subnational or a multinational 

 river basin or other coherent geographical feature, it can be the basis 

 for wide-ranging cooperation of industry and the institution that 

 undertakes the regional development plan. In this sense, the Lower 

 Mekong Basin appears — still — to be a region in which diplomacy can 

 lead the way to the participation by the private sector in a construc- 

 tive interdependence, with a minimum of nationalistic dissonance. 



CASE five: exploiting the resources of the seabed 



The ocean floor is a special region in which diplomacy and national 

 interest, technology, and private enterprise ar6 all closely involved, 

 both now and prospectively. 



For the most part, the role of diplomacy in this field has been more 

 of the traditional character : an effort to assert and protect the interests 

 of the private business community under the general rules of equity 

 based on international law. Similarly, the industrial interest in the 

 seabed remains narrowly addressed to the possibility of profitable new 



