Trade Policy Governance

Through its Trade Policy and Governance Programme (TPGP), CSEND offers a new perspective and a new approach to trade policy governance that enables the recipient countries to better coordinate trade policy between their Ministries and to ensure effective trade policy consultation between the government and their respective economic and social partners.

TPGP aims at improving governance mechanisms of key Ministries and Government Agencies that are responsible for the implementation of trade development mechanisms which have been agreed between industrialized and developing member countries of the WTO and of the International Financial Institutions such as the Enhanced Integrated Framework, Aid-for-Trade, TRTA and PRSP development instruments.

Lessons learnt from more than 20 years of trade capacity building will be made available upon request for DC and LDC governments. The advising and research activities of the CSEND-TPGP team will focus on strengthening LDC and DC governments capacities for inter-ministerial trade policy coordination and government-to-economic/social sector trade policy consultations of its trade, economic and social sector policies at the country level.

CSEND hopes to take TRTA to a next level and to be part of the international community's efforts towards building a new generation of trade development assistance and a new culture in the design, delivery and implementation of development activities directed to the DCs and to the LDCs. Such a reorientation will be ensure that the global trade agenda will indeed put development at the core of its deliberations and actions. Reference is often made of the WTO Doha Round being a development round. May it indeed become a negotiation round where development strategies will included in the global trade agreement which will be useful for the poor and for the least developed countries.