Requiring local content in extractive industries: Key E15 policy options for the WTO

The effective, efficient, and sustainable management of mineral resources is essential for global economic growth and development. The extraction and trade in such resources pose challenges and opportunities for resource-rich countries, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa.

In this session, speakers from the E15 expert group on Extractive Industries discussed how host countries can derive optimal economic benefits from their natural resource endowments and secure employment both for present and future generations. The speakers assessed whether existing international trade and investment frameworks are adequately addressing the benefit sharing and how the WTO can foster local participation in extractive industries.

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.