Over the past decades, global value chains (GVCs) have driven growth, job creation, and poverty reduction in developing Asia and the Pacific by accelerating industrialization and connecting economies to global markets. Yet the environment in which GVCs operate is changing rapidly. Rising geopolitical tensions, the resurgence of industrial policy, climate imperatives, digitalization, servicification, and advances in automation are reshaping how production is organized and where opportunities emerge. 

In this new landscape, simply participating in GVCs no longer guarantees sustained development gains. Success increasingly depends on the ability of firms, workers, and economies to adapt, upgrade, and move into higher-value, more resilient activities. This Asian Development Policy Report argues that policies must go beyond promoting trade integration to strengthening domestic capabilities, institutions, skills, and innovation systems, enabling economies to navigate a more uncertain global economy while achieving more inclusive and sustainable development.