In a time of global crisis, what can be done to accelerate positive change? Impact investors have a key role to play, whether they are entrepreneurs, venture capital firms, financial inst...
This month started with welcome news from the World Trade Organization (WTO). Despite many service sectors being clobbered during the pandemic, year-on-year growth in trade in services wa...
Life is full of ironies. The internet was to herald an era of greater transparency and accountability of governments – putting more information in the hands of citizens. Yet, it turns out...
Ahead of the now postponed 12th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO), member countries are considering how to advance the still incomplete agenda on gender and tra...
Divides and discrimination within countries along the lines of race, ethnicity, gender and Indigenous identity have resulted in longstanding social, economic and political challenges. The...
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Sixth Assessment report once again focused international attention on the acute urgency of climate action. Combatting climate change...
There is a vital need for countries to intensify environmental and climate action. Existing climate policies set us on a path to global warming of about 3˚C above pre-industrial levels. H...
Action on plastic pollution has been slowed considerably during the COVID-19 pandemic – but there’s a new emerging angle that could help rebuild momentum for the transition to a greener a...
The Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Roberto Azevêdo, announced on 14 May that he would step down a year earlier than planned. Governments are already using this as...
For developing countries, especially the poorest among them, trade—both imports and exports—is a powerful, cost-effective tool to mitigate the potentially devastating effects of COVID-19....
To quote the US Judge, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.: “Taxes are what we pay for civilized society”. While one can argue about the optimal size of the state, it is clear that all governments ...
“Digitalisation is transforming the global economy, but it is still hard, and in some cases getting harder, to do business abroad. More is required to facilitate trade for all players. Pa...
The global policy outlook for trade and investment has darkened over the past year. Trade conflict is proliferating while structural challenges have deepened. Business sentiment is on the...
Competition to lead the Fourth Industrial Revolution is fierce. Governments and firms across the globe are engaging in legitimate - and illegitimate - acts to get a foothold in a particul...
The notion that trade surpluses are a measure of a country’s economic prowess dates back centuries. In 16th-century Europe, “mercantilists” from England to Venice sought to accumulate gol...
