Open AccessAdvancing Sustainable Development in Global Trade and Multilateral Negotiations
Author(s) -
Christophe Bellmann,
Ahmed Abdel Latif,
Jonathan Hepburn
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
international development policy/revue internationale de politique de développement
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1663-9383
pISSN - 1663-9375
DOI - 10.4000/poldev.803
Subject(s) - international trade , negotiation , china , scrutiny , liberalization , vanguard , political science , free trade , international economics , economics , market economy , geography , law , archaeology
Published by Palgrave MacmillanWorld exports and imports are quickly recovering after the 2008-09 sharp decline in merchandise trade, as illustrated by global trade performances in the first and second quarters of 2010. In spite of this impressive recovery, domestic concerns in OECD countries about employment, competitiveness and China’s exchange rate policy have created a difficult political environment for further liberalisation under the Doha Round. Interestingly, developing countries, which were reluctant to engage in a new round of trade negotiations back in 2001, are now in the vanguard of those that wish for a swift conclusion of the talks, even if consensus on the ambitious ‘development package’ envisaged in Doha remains elusive. At the same time trade has been the subject of unprecedented attention and scrutiny in the climate change talks. In a world where multilateral cooperation is in crisis there is a dire need for the international community to generate new types of arrangements and innovative responses to the imperatives of development and the global transition to a low-carbon economy