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of the provision of adequate infrastructure, healthservices and education, market forces alone canaccomplish little. Existence of markets is a prerequisitefor survival and sustainability of businessesand entrepreneurs. While the freedom toenter a market 22 is a vital constituent of development,the level of access and representation inthose markets determines the formal or informalcharacter of an enterprise and what it can accomplish.Again, the markets cannot functionin the absence of effective and equitable publicpolicy, rule of law, regulation, social support andpolitical freedoms. In principle, the markets, inaddition to creating economic efficiency, can alsoencourage greater economic equity. This would,however, depend on the structure of markets,their governance and associated legal rights, andthe nature and extent of their inclusiveness asreflected through active business enterprises.Private institutions are willing to develop innovativepartnership models to provide greater accessto goods and services by the poor. But they requireassistance through appropriate policies andstrengthened capacities to remove barriers to themarket creation and provide greater market accessto the entrepreneurs in the informal economies.At the same time, governments shouldnot hesitate to step in, possibly in the form ofpublic-private partnerships, that would encourageprivate institutions to meet the demands ofthe poor and enhance market access in rural andunderserved areas 23 .Economic success requires getting the balanceright between the government and the market,in terms of who should provide the goods andservices and how they should be provided. Anysuccessful development strategy demands theexistence of equitable access to markets by alland requires involvement of government, marketsand the private sector, and the civil society.Voice, Representation and EffectiveEconomic GovernanceIt is essential to build upon and refine the aboveissues in the context of the work of the Commissionon Legal Empowerment of the Poor (CLEP)and reform the development agenda by broadeningthe discussion of business rights and the informaleconomy in a comprehensive manner thatgoes beyond formalisation per se. It will emphasisethat the Legal Empowerment of the Poor tocreate and operate their enterprises and generatesustainable livelihoods sustainably requires themto have a voice in all aspects of policymaking,implementation and enforcement, and to havethe ability to work with governments and otherstakeholders to create new rights, capacities, andopportunities.The adverse effects of unequal opportunitiesof representation and political voice andpower for the poorer people on human developmentare particularly harmful because economic,political, and social inequalities tend to reproducethemselves over time and across generations,setting into motion a poverty trap that doesnot allow for improvements in the quality of theirlives.Business rights should result in the creation ofan efficient and inclusive private sector with asound domestic macro environment, having tradepolicies, institutional foundations and adequatecapacity for maximising benefits from the macroglobal environment and promoting distributionalequity.There is evidence, we believe, to argue the casefor an effective and enabling environment, for aregulatory regime and for commercial law, as wellas good economic governance that would allowbusiness to operate with equitable economicrights and guarantee greater accountability in206