The International Trading System and Trade Negotiations

The Sustainable Development Goals establish a global partnership to improve the lives of the world's
poor. This includes an open, rule-based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading and financial system as
an essential goal.

The international trading system comprises many thousands of unilateral, bilateral, regional, and multilateral
rules and agreements among more than two hundred nations.
Managing successfully this complex and rapidly evolving mass of political and economic arrangements implies
understanding the changes occurring globally, the impact of trade in national development interests and
priorities and fostering consensus on addressing trade barriers and commitment to more open and fairer
international trade.
In this context, UNCTAD seeks to strengthen the capacities of developing countries to participate effectively in
multilateral, regional and bilateral trade negotiations and maximize the use of trade agreements to achieve
development outcomes.

Evolution of the international trading system and its trends from a development perspective
The Nairobi Maafikiano, the outcome document of UNCTAD 14, states that UNCTAD should “continue to
monitor and assess the evolution of the international trading system and its trends from a development
perspective, with particular attention to its potential contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals”.
In response to this mandate, the Trade and Development Board has discuss trends in international trade in
goods and services and trade policy.
Discussions addressed trends in trade flows, both in goods and services, and various factors affecting patterns
in international trade, including multilateral and regional trading systems and their interlinkages with national
policies.

Dispute Settlement in International Trade, Investment and Intellectual Property

A series of course modules designed to serve as pedagogical material that can assist lawyers, officials,
academics and business persons in developing countries to understand the basic rules and jurisprudence of
dispute settlement in international trade, investment and intellectual property.
The modules in the course are intended to help build a permanent capacity in countries for dispute settlement
in World Trade Organization (WTO), and also in International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes
(ICSID), World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the United Nations Commission on International
Trade Law (UNCITRAL).