Leveraging finance for development beyond 2015

Following the Addis Ababa Conference and the adoption of the SDGs, the WTO Ministerial Conference in Nairobi closed a year rich in crucial events that could steer the course of global development towards sustainable development. Drawing upon the deliberations of the E15 Expert Group on Finance and Development, speakers in this session shared options for leveraging trade and finance for sustainable development in developing countries, highlighting the role of the WTO. They discussed the expectations related to the Aid for Trade initiative in light of recent trends and likely future developments; examined how aid, blended finance, and investment policy can be strategically used to mobilise additional domestic resources; and identified ways in which the WTO can ensure a more inclusive finance-for-development agenda without encroaching on other institutions’ territories.

Building on ICTSD’s twenty-year history of encouraging innovative thinking on trade and sustainable development issues at WTO Ministerial Conferences, 2015’s Trade and Development Symposium (TDS) acted as a crucial platform for intellectual enquiry and dialogue on the future of the multilateral trading system. The E15Initiative stream at the Trade and Development Symposium focused on dialogue around the key deliverables the Initiative’s world class experts released in January 2016 at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Discussions provided an exclusive preview of the policy options that have been developed over four years by some of the world’s most pre-eminent trade policy experts.