In recent decades, trade flows have become increasingly global, with developing countries and emerging economies playing an ever-expanding role.
However, these countries face a number of constraints in connecting to global markets. To obtain a better understanding of these constraints, the WTO invited the members of its academic network in developing countries - the WTO Chairs Programme - to identify major challenges in their respective countries and suggest ways to overcome them. In response, the WTO chair-holders contributed a set of papers to the WTO’s Annual Conference of the Chairs Programme and to the Global Review of Aid for Trade in July 2013.
This volume brings together these contributions from the 14 WTO chair-holders. It is divided into four sections, focusing on export diversification, the role of non-tariff measures, the rule of law in connecting to global markets, and the role of the Aid for Trade initiative in building trade capacity and overcoming supply side constraints. The contributions provide some powerful arguments in support of using trade policy instruments as an engine for growth and provide valuable insights into how developing countries can increasingly integrate into the multilateral trading system.