E15Initiative: Advancing Sustainable Development Through Trade

ICTSD is a well-established and respected organisation in the international debate on trade and sustainable development in Geneva. ICTSD has been a long-standing partner of SECO, which has supported the organisation with the objective of fostering a strong, inclusive and equitable rules-based global trade system that inherently promotes sustainable development. The E15Initiative is a cornerstone initiative in this respect. SECO had already supported the E15Initiative from June 2013 to March 2014. Continued support of the E15Initiative and ICTSD remains highly desirable and relevant in the current context of the WTO Doha Development Round.

The goal of ICTSD in general is to advance sustainable development through trade-related policymaking. For this purpose, ICTSD works to incorporate issues of sustainable development in global trade policymaking. The E15Initiative has been a core instrument of ICTSD in this regard. The goal of the E15Initiative is for the global trade system to function more effectively in a fair and inclusive manner that inherently promotes sustainable development. For this purpose it has created expert groups that produce high-standing, relevant and comprehensive academic knowledge on issues that are important to sustainable development and the global trade system in the 21st century. The policy options that are developed during this process are disseminated broadly to the global trade community and will play a crucial role in informing the policymaking process, fostering constructive discussions and facilitating solution-finding in view of the objective of the E15Initiative.

Policymakers engage on the innovative solutions and policy options produced and presented by the E15Initiative and reflect them in their discussions, statements and possible proposals or submissions in the World Trade Organization (WTO) or other international fora.

By engaging on the solutions and policy options developed by the E15Initiative, policymakers improve the functionality of the global trade system and inherently support sustainable development in the global trade system.

Resultados previstos:  

Production of innovative and coherent think pieces and policy option papers in view of improving the functionality of the global trade system and its ability to address 21st-century challenges for sustainable development.

Fostering the development of the global community of policymakers by engaging them in discussions and debates around these think pieces and policy options.

Resultados de las fases anteriores:  

The E15Initiative had been launched by ICTSD in 2012 and had played a crucial role in the run-up to the eighth WTO Ministerial Conference in December 2013. In its first phase, the E15Initiative had produced over 40 policy papers and think pieces. The E15Initiative created a lot of momentum and played a critical role in informing the negotiation process and shaping multilateral trade policymaking. At the end of 2013 the first phase of the E15Initiative culminated in a Trade and Development Symposium taking place in parallel with the Ministerial Conference, attracting over 700 participants and gaining a lot of visibility.

Fase 1 01.12.2014 - 30.04.2016   (Active)