GEG WP 2012/69 A Forward Looking Agenda for Trade Development
Full Title: Beyond the Eighth Ministerial Conference on the WTO: A Forward Looking Agenda for Development
Authors: Carolyn Deere Birkbeck and Emily Jones
Type: GEG Working Paper 2012/69
Abstract
The Eighth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva, Switzerland, from 15 to 17 December 2011 offers a critical opportunity to generate fresh perspectives to strengthen the multilateral trading system and bring momentum back to trade talks in ways that secure development-friendly outcomes. Rather than being merely a routine exercise, the Ministerial Conference could be harnessed to take stock of where progress has been made and where it falls short on the developmentfront, and to clarify what remains to be done for the poorest, smallest and most vulnerable WTO Members. Failure to address adequately the interests of the WTO’s poorest and most vulnerable member states not only damages the development prospects of these countries, but also presents clear risks for the credibility of the multilateral trading system.
Author Bios
Emily Jones is Deputy Director at GEG. For more information please see her people page
Carolyn Deere Birkbeck is a Senior Researcher at Oxford University’s Global Economic Governance Programme. She is an Associate Fellow at the Royal Institute for International Affairs (Chatham House) and Senior Associate at the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD).
