Yet, even if backward linkages are initially absent, concerted efforts can help in developing such linkages over time, as the East Asian newly industrializing economies demonstrate (see Wade, 1990). In fact, emphasis on backward linkages is often necessary even for the very survival of the current lines of production. For example, the experience since the elimination of the international quota regime on textiles and clothing suggests that poverty reduction through labour-intensive exports is not sustainable without the development of backward linkages.