International investment law is undergoing a time of reflection, review and revision. Increasing dissatisfaction with the functioning of the current system that governs the protection of international investment and the wish to ensure that investment is channelled towards sustainable development...

Despite the looming expiration of the extended transition period under Article 66.1 of the Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) on 1 July 2013, most least-developed countries (LDCs) have not made significant progress in implementing the TRIPS Agreement. WTO...

The deliberations at the Bali Ministerial Round seem to have broken the stalemate surrounding the food security provisions under the World Trade Organization (WTO) which in turn resulted in a tremendous impact on the ambitious Agreement on Trade Facilitation under the auspices of the...

The multilateral trading system that emerged in the post-World War II period was mainly a creation by and for developed countries to address protectionist measures adopted in the 1930s. The events that marked the interwar period were characterised by both economic and political challenges that...

Promotion of foreign direct investment (FDI) and trade liberalization on both global and regional levels has been considered to be beneficial for the economic development of developing countries. Current WTO rules support regional trade liberalization and prohibit certain trade-related...

While the objectives of the World Trade Organization include promotion of economic development for developing countries, Current trade rules impede development interests significantly by depriving developing countries of the ability to adopt effective development policies. This problem is...

Facilitating economic development of developing countries has become an important agenda in the world trading system today. The growing gaps and disagreements between developed and developing countries on the issues of trade and development has been an important cause of the suspension of the...

Becoming a rich country requires the ability to produce and export commodities that embody certain characteristics. We classify 779 exported commodities according to two dimensions: (1) sophistication (measured by the income content of the products exported); and (2) connectivity to other...

Becoming a rich country requires the ability to produce and export commodities that embody certain characteristics. We classify 779 exported commodities according to two dimensions: (1) sophistication (measured by the income content of the products exported); and (2) connectivity to other...

In this study, the prevalent methodology for design of the industrial policy in developing countries was critically assessed, and it was shown that the mechanism and content of classical method is fundamentally contradictory to the goals and components of the endogenous growth theories. This...