Ngaire Woods, Carolyn Deere-Birkbeck and Emily Jones were in Geneva for the WTO’s 8^th Ministerial Conference (Dec 15 – 17). This meeting was a critical juncture for the WTO. There is now broad recognition that after ten years, negotiations on the Doha Development Agenda have stalled. Delegates debated not only what should happen to the items on the negotiating agenda, but also whether wider reform of the WTO is needed. As Ministers gather for their regular two-year meeting, the GEG team is using its research to contribute proposals for the way forward, particularly on how to ensure the interests of small developing countries are prioritised.

Following are links to policy briefs, research summaries and analysis from GEG for the 8^th Ministerial WTO Conference:

Carolyn Deere Birkbeck and Emily Jones, ‘The Eighth Ministerial Conference of the WTO: A Forward-looking Agenda for Development‘, in Commonwealth Trade Hot Topics, Issue 92, published by the Commonwealth Secretariat.

Carolyn Deere Birkbeck, ‘The Future of the WTO: Governing Trade for a Fairer, More Sustainable Future‘,  in Perspectives on the Multilateral Trading System: A Collection of Short Essays, published by ICTSD for its Trade and Development Symposium

Carolyn Deere Birkbeck, Making Global Trade Governance Work for Development, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2011. Click here for an introduction to the book

Emily Jones, ‘Delivering on Development: A New Ten-Year Programme of Action for LDCs‘ Trade Hot Topics, Issue 85,  Commonwealth, May 2011.

Emily Jones and Carolyn Deere Birkbeck, ‘Manoeuvring at the Margins:Constraints Faced By Small States in Trade Negotiations.‘ GEG Briefing Paper (May 2011)