Latest content: Trade and economy

The discussion on improving disciplines on fisheries subsidies and making a contribution towards sustainable fishing and managing global fisheries has been ongoing at the World Trade Organization (WTO) since the WTO Doha Ministerial Conference held in 2001.

Africa’s tourism GVCs are notable for many features, including the durability of package booking channels, low domestic demand for tourism, the presence of global — rather than regional — lead firms and the corresponding implications for leakages from the local economy as well as the importance of business travel.

In the context of the African Union’s 50-year vision, Agenda 2063, this paper provides an analyti­cal account and critical assessment of Africa’s strategic trade relations with two of its most impor­tant traditional partners, the European Union and the United States; and with two of its most important emerging partners, China and India.

The world economy has undergone tremendous change during the past decade, with a range of emerging issues influencing global trade and coming to the fore in discussions among policy-makers and trade negotiators.

Leveraging the power of trade to expand formal employment opportunities, generate greater value addition, assist diversification processes and develop productive capabilities is an aspiration of all Commonwealth governments. These objectives were conveyed clearly at the Commonwealth Trade Ministers Meeting convened in March 2017.

This policy guide reviews the current regulatory frameworks, legal issues, empirical data, WTO member states proposals, and existing literature on e-commerce and digital trade. It is designed to help policy-makers in capacity-constrained Commonwealth small states, least developed countries, and sub-Saharan African countries to participate effectively in global work on the subject area, including in the context of the WTO work programme on e-commerce.

India has always had much less trade and investment with the United Kingdom (UK) than with the European Union (EU).

Very slow progress has been made in multilateral trade negotiations since the initiation of the Doha Development Round in November 2001.

The scale of the challenge posed by the recent universal adoption of the 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in relation to the achievement of economic, social and environmental objectives is formidable.

In a dynamic, rapidly liberalising and fiercely competitive international environment, Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries see the pooling of their national efforts through the Caribbean Single Market and Economy as a central plank for overcoming their numerous constraints and advancing their economic growth and sustainable development. However, to succeed in the often challenging and fiercely competitive international setting, strategic and supportive external partnerships are vital. The region has therefore been exploring new relationships while it seeks to strengthen and deepen those that have existed for some time, to ensure that they make the intended contribution to helping the region achieve its goals.

This issue of Commonwealth Trade Hot Topics highlights some broad WTO-related factors that need to be considered as a post-Brexit UK reinstates the sovereignty of its trade policy.

Outsourcing – transferring a portion of an organisation’s processes to external entities – has grown significantly over the last 20 years.

This paper examines the interaction of the international fisheries trade regime, global value chains in tuna and socio-economic development in low-income Commonwealth countries.