At the center of the GTDForum are eleven themes related to trade and development. These themes were selected because they seem crucial for the progression of poorer developing countries. They form the basis for the debates and discussions and will provide the core substance for the Conference in Crans Montana.

Several multi-stakeholder groups have already come together and are working intensively to prepare the conference. The theme groups are analyzing case studies concerning countries targeted by the Forum. Each group is expected to define concrete and operational solutions and to identify the responsibilities of each actor in the form of an action plan / recommendations.

1) Trade and Livelihoods

Shepherd: Sandra Polaski, Carnegie Endowment for Peace

Co-Shepherd: Eduardo Zepeda, UNDP & Carnegie Endowment for Peace

Case study: Kenya (lesser focus on Brazil, Mexico and Tunisia)

Members: Alicia Puyana, Nancy Nafula, Bruno Losch, Jorge Arbache, Alexander Sarris, Stephen Karingi, Mohamed A Chemingui, Eddy Lee, Tonia Kandiero

Opening an economy to international trade inevitably leads to the restructuring of the marketplace, with some sectors expanding and others contracting according to comparative advantage and competitive reality of the moment. Thus, increasing trade will provide new employment opportunities for some and lead to job losses for others. The working group will try to find answers to questions such as:

• How does trade affect the ability of individuals to earn a living?

• Can trade policy be shaped to produce optimal employment and income results from trade opening? How is it done in reality?

• Should the losers from trade – both countries and individuals – be compensated and assisted in finding new livelihoods? If the answer is yes, how should it be done?

2) Entrepreneurship and Trade Facilitation

Shepherd: Jean-Pierre Lehmann, Evian group

Co-Shepherd: Kamal Quadir CellBazaar Bangladesh

Case study: Bangladesh

Members: Selima Ahmad, Carlo Cifiello, Fazlul Hoque, Luna Shamsuddoha, Farooq Sobhan, Iqbal Quadir, Debapriya Bhattacharya, Jakir Hossain, Atiq A. Rahman, Bimal Kumar Saha, Bipul Chatterjee, Mahbubur Rahman, Kunio Mikuriya, Richard Newfarmer

Most domestic systems are well equipped, if not progressive, in their formulation of policy, but are hampered in their implementation. The working group aims to respond, among others, to the following issues:

• Which private sector and entrepreneurial mechanisms work as catalysts for positive change?

• Which patterns of economic growth are linked to what types of economic and social development?

• How does the ownership of a development process influence its outcome?

• How do commitments to a pro-poor, pro-growth approach have a beneficial impact on the populations concerned?

• When and under what conditions are private-public partnerships beneficial?

3) International Governance for Trade 

Shepherd: Thomas Cottier, World Trade Institute (WTI)

Co-Shepherd:

Case study: Cotton (Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali)

Members: Manfred Elsig, N. Bernasconi-Osterwalder, C. P. Bown, B. Brun, C. Dupont, A. Diouf, V. Keubou, E Laourou, T. Messerli, M. Patel, J. Pauwelyn, F. Pierola, A. Sanoko, S. Schropp, V.Yu , A. Ziegler

 The Doha Development Agenda has so far not lived up to its promise to deliver on development. This project focuses on how developing countries (in particular least-developed countries) can shape and influence global trade rules. The group attempts to shed light on the opportunities and constraints the current trade governance architecture offers to its stakeholders by conducting a case-study on the Cotton-4. Based on these findings, the group strives to develop suggestions as to how the system should be changed to better accommodate the interests of developing countries in rule-making and litigation in trade disputes. Guiding questions include:

• How do decision-making rules have to be changed to better accommodate the interests of developing countries?
• How can developing countries increase their influence in day-to-day decision making in trade fora?
• How can the interface between domestic politics (stakeholders and trade policy formulation) and the global system be improved?

Shepherd: Ndioro Ndiaye, International Organization for Migrations (IOM)

Case study: Senegal

Members: John Tesha, Anwarul Chowdhury, Amina Mohamed, Aleya Hammad, Philippe Legrain,  Caroline Grandjean, El Hadji Boye, Tidiane Sidibé, Babacar Thiam, Isabel Garcia Fernandez-Llamazares, Daniel Sormani, Antonia Carzaniga, Normand Lauzon, Turkan Karak, Cheikh Seck, Massimiliano Cali, Marion Panizzon, Abdul Kamara  

The theme of migration is of growing concern to both developing and developed countries. Migration is no longer simply perceived as means towards escaping poverty or persecution at the individual level. Governments, NGOs and international organizations increasingly incorporate migration into their national and regional poverty reduction strategies. The working group’s focus is temporary migration, as defined by the General Agreement on Services. The following questions will be studied:

• What are developing countries’ options to manage temporary migration?

• Should developing countries be compensated for the loss of highly skilled workers to migration and if yes, how?

• What lessons can be learned from past and current temporary migration programs?

• How to ensure that the benefits of temporary migration accrue to both sending and receiving countries?

5) Trade and Intellectual Property

Shepherd: Ahmed Abdel Latif, International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD)

Co-Shepherd: Elizabeth Tamale (Ministry Trade, Uganda)

Case study: Uganda

Members: Tom Pengelly, Pedro Roffe, Daphne Yong –d~Hervé, Beatrice Dove-Edwin, Ron Marchant,  Dominique Foray, Susanne Biber Klemm, Keith Maskus, Sisule Musungu, Uma Suthersanen, Tenu Avafia, Carsten Fink, Constantin Karachalios, Victor Konde, Tim Martyn, Getachew Mengistie, Jayashree Watal, Carolyn Deere, Adachi Kiyoshi, Christoph Spennemann, Sandy Harnisch, Ruth Okediji

Intellectual property rights (IPRs) are both fiercely defended by some and vilified by others. Views on the impact of IPRs on development prospects of poor countries are diverging, while empirical evidence on the role of intellectual property rights in promoting innovation and economic growth are at best inconclusive. At the same time, IPRs affect a wide range of issues of concern to developing economies such as public health, food security, traditional knowledge, international trade, biodiversity or industrial policy. The working group will reflect upon and try to find answers to issues such as:

·  How can developing countries use IPRs to advance their development strategy and fight poverty?

·   Which policies and best practices are effective in maximizing the positive impact of IPRs on innovation and dissemination of knowledge?

·    What are the key concerns surrounding IPRs for developing countries? What specific difficulties do they face in negotiations?

·    What incentives are effective in promoting and encouraging technology transfer among actors from the private sector? 

6) New Comers and International Trade Rules

Shepherd: Simon Evenett (University of St-Gallen)

Co-Shepherd

Case study: Vietnam

Members: Craig van Graastek, Arthur Appelton, Fawaz Alawi, Van Tan Dhung, Roman Mogilevsky, Alejandro Jara, Philip Schuler.

Over twenty countries have joined the WTO since its foundation in 1995 and another twenty or so are seeking to do so. Acceding countries, almost all of which are developing economies, are expected to undertake liberalization in excess of that typically experienced in multilateral trade rounds. The working group undertakes to assess selected aspects of the WTO accession process and its consequences for affected nations such as:

• What processes do acceding countries use to implement their commitments and what lessons can be learnt?

• What kind of assistance have acceding countries received from others and what were their consequences?

• How do countries use the accession process to inform or revise national development strategies?

• What is the relative merit of a distinct aid-for-trade process to support implementing WTO accession commitments?

7) Commodities, Governance and Poverty Reduction 

Shepherd: Pierre Defraigne, Honorary Director General, EC & "Executive Director of the Madariaga – College of Europe Foundation"

Co-Shepherd: Mr. Claude Kabemba, Southern Africa Resource Watch (www.sarwatch.org)

Case study:

Members: Fausto Valle, Ibrahima Soumah, Mr Stephen Stork, Jakob Thamage, John Lungu, Françoise Moreau, Habib Ouane, Antonio Pedro, Jerome Pons, Pascal Saint-Amans

Since 2002, there has been a price increase of almost 100% for a range of minerals linked to the economic emergence of countries such as China, India, Russia and Brazil. While this sector’s share in employment is low, its share in overall exports and its contribution to government budgets is important. The working group will focus on the question of how to ensure that future revenues are translated into real and sustainable development benefits and will study, inter alia:

• What are the key policy measures required to translate future commodity revenues into real development benefits for producing countries?

• What lessons can be drawn from existing experiences and initiatives?

• Is there a role for voluntary private sector approaches? For regional integration? For trade-related technical assistance?

Shepherd: Marco Ferroni, Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture

Co-Shepherd: Oumar Niangado, Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture, Mali

Case study: Mali

Members: D. Beyerlee, K. Cleaver,Will Martin, H. Johr, B. Dhar, D. King, B. Chatterjee, A. Tutwiler, A. Coulibaly, L. Mizzi, J. Howard, A. Diop, A Adongo, H. Mekonnen

Global agriculture is undergoing far-reaching change. Some of the drivers include rising commodity prices; new prospects related to biofuels; rapid economic growth in key emerging markets coupled with limited economic performance and development progress in many of the poorer countries; continued global and regional trade distortions; financial imbalances; inefficient domestic resource allocation and subsidy policies related to agriculture; political, governance and institutional problems affecting both the emergence or deepening of market activity and the implementation of a development-oriented agricultural agenda. 

• What are the prospects for sustainable agricultural growth and food security in the poorer developing countries in this global and domestic context?

• What specific policies can be proposed for specific groups of countries?

Shepherd: Johannes Bernabe, International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD)

Co-Shepherd

Case study: Mozambique

Members: Sheila Sabune, George Walusimbi-Mpanga, Christopher Roberts, Mario Marconini, Thomas Chan, Bede Lyimo, Rupa Chanda, Pierre Sauve, Alejandro Jara, Harsha Singh, Hamid Abdel-Mamdouh, Aaditya Mattoo, Luis Abugattas, Mina Mashayekhi, Joy Kategekwa, Sheila Sabune, Ahmed Ben Ghazi 

Developing countries’ policy makers often think that the service sector and exports of services is a major concern only for emerging markets and OECD countries. They thus underestimate the potential of services exports as development motor. Yet, a strong growth in modern services is crucial for economic diversification and industrialization. Service exports have been enabled by technology, which has made it possible for many services to be marketed and traded online. The working group will look at:

• What are the key ingredients of successful service export strategies?

• What are the appropriate mechanisms of support and coordination of export services development?

• How best to defend legitimate interests in service exports in global for a?

• How to better exploit existing global and regional opportunities?

10) Trade Building on Decent Work

Shepherd: Arntraud Hartmann

Co-Shepherd: Diego Pizano (Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the University of the Andes(Bogotá) and former economic advisor to the President of Colombia)

Case study:

Group members: Eduardo Galvez, Ulrike Grote, Elizabeth Guttenstein, George Jaksch, Eddy Lee, Ismail Hussein Mfinanga, Anna Peters, Brigitte Young, Anke Hassel, Gunther Alexander Kellermann, Cletus Kosiba, Christian Schmidt, Ely Twineyo-Kamugisha

This theme group will develop the notion of decent trade and help make it operational by exploring innovative approaches to fostering fair market access, decent work as well as environmental sustainability and suggesting concrete ways and means of facilitating their implementation. It is the ambition of the theme group to move beyond mere discussions about desirable objectives to the identification—and possibly implementation—of feasible policy initiatives in support of the realization of decent trade. This will include an analysis of the role of voluntary, market-based initiatives promoting decent trade, as well as an assessment of the relationship between mandatory and voluntary approaches to realizing the decent trade agenda.

Among others, the theme group will address the following questions:

• What exactly does the “decent trade” agenda entail, and what is its value-add compared to other prominent approaches in debates about international trade?
• How does the “decent trade” agenda relate to existing intergovernmental agreements?
• What are suitable approaches to realizing decent trade, both at the national as well as the international level?
• What are the respective potentials and limits of voluntary as well as mandatory approaches to realizing decent trade? To what extent are voluntary and mandatory approaches relates, to what extent do they build upon each other?

11) Pro poor export development

Shepherd: Patricia Francis, International Trade Center (ITC)

Case study: Senegal

Membres: Babacar Mbaye, Ndioro Ndiaye, Patrick Low, Beer Budoo, Aminata Kassé, Daniel Charbonnier

The private sector can alleviate poverty by contributing to economic growth, job creation and poor people’s incomes. Therefore the development of the private sector in developing countries, nowadays, is regarded as essential. Poverty reduction is the main objective of development cooperation and a target of development policies. The development community is, therefore, seized with the issue of creating conditions for enabling the private sector to become more vibrant and contribute to increase savings, investment and innovation to foster economic growth and contribute to poverty alleviation.

What needs to be done specifically, and an indication of the appropriate sequencing, will emerge from an analysis of the country and sector specific constraints to private sector development and from an assessment of the country’s competitive advantage. The International Trade Centre (ITC) embarked upon formulating an integrated trade development programme in Senegal focusing on the following issues:

• How to enhance the capacity of the private sector to effectively collaborate with their government for influencing integration of the business development dimension in their policies and trade negotiating positions.
• How to improve the institutional effectiveness of trade support institutions to in order to respond to the needs of the private sector.  
• How to strengthen the international competitiveness of enterprises of selected priority sectors; in particular small- and medium sized enterprise (SMEs) and the local producers?