The transition of eastern European countries to market economies since 1989 was jeopardized by a range of infrastructure, investment and employment problems. For these to be defused before they derailed the restructuring process and/or led to a social explosion, it was recommended that the coherence of both national programmes and of international assistance needed to be greatly increased. Without coherent national programmes, international assistance is unlikely to be very effective because it would not necessarily be aimed at breaking the key constraints and bottlenecks; and without adequate international assistance, coherent transition programmes could well founder.