International trade is important for development and poverty alleviation. Establishing the appropriate trade and complementary policies is therefore an important element of the design of national development and poverty-reduction strategies. National trade policies are increasingly subject to multilateral and regional disciplines as a result of membership of trade agreements. The magnitude of the benefits of trade is also affected by what other countries do.

The WTO is a forum to negotiate about such externalities. The WTO can also be a focal point for the adoption of “good” policies, i.e., measures that improve efficiency, or disciplines that increase transparency and the ‘contestability’ of domestic policy for affected stakeholders. The objective of this project is to identify options to strengthen the development relevance of the WTO.

The project comprises a steering committee and a small group of researchers who are responsible for preparing background papers. This project is sponsored by the Department for International Development, UK (DFID).

Project Terms of Reference
Participant List, Yale Workshop
Background Papers