This Trade Hot Topic provides information on a recent Kickstarter assignment on the Transition from Least Developed Country Status, funded by the UK Government.

The XXI Commonwealth Games take place at Gold Coast, Australia, in April 2018. Like the previous renditions of the Games, this sport mega-event – together with business networking initiatives like the ‘Trade 2018’ platform at Gold Coast – could...

This issue of the Commonwealth Trade Hot Topics examines the outcome of the 11th World Trade Organization Conference at the end of 2017 and assesses the technical and strategic way forward for least developed countries, small, vulnerable economies...

This issue of Commonwealth Trade Hot Topics offers some preliminary food for thought for those involved in on-going discussions regarding what the UK could do for LDCs on trade in services post-Brexit.

This issue of Trade Hot Topics covers some key issues small states, LDCs and countries in sub-Saharan Africa could focus on in the run-up to the Eleventh WTO Ministerial Conference (MC11) and beyond.

This issue of Commonwealth Trade Hot Topics explores the linkages and the opportunities the BRI presents for Sub-Saharan African countries. This takes on added importance since China not only is Africa’s largest trading partner on a country basis but...

This issue of Commonwealth Trade Hot Topics reflects on one aspect of the trade-related implementation agenda of SDG14. Around 90 per cent fished to full capacity or over fished. In order to overcome this tragedy of the commons, securing a...

This issue of Commonwealth Trade Hot Topics assesses the potential for an integrated regional sugar market in CARICOM and outlines some of the trade policy reforms that would be needed to capitalise on this potential, as well as issues arising.

This issue of Commonwealth Trade Hot Topics highlights the impact of the global slowdown on the trade performance of Commonwealth countries. It then outlines several issues and priorities where Commonwealth members, working individually, collectively...

This issue of Trade Hot Topics presents recent evidence that shows that least developed countries (LDCs) are not making encouraging progress on specific targets set out in the Istanbul Programme of Action (IPoA), adopted at the Fourth United Nations...

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. Given that there is uncertainty about almost every possible type of...

The prospect of the UK formulating its own trade policy following Brexit is likely to have implications for the existing Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between the European Union (EU) and some African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries,...

This issue of Commonwealth Trade Hot Topics presents new findings from an up-to-date empirical analysis of trade costs across Commonwealth member countries and their subsequent interaction with Global Value Chain (GVC) participation, as currently...

There is growing recognition of the vital role played by services in economic growth and development, both as separate sources of value and in conjunction with production, trade and consumption linked to manufacturing and commodities. Trade and...

Since 1971, the United Nations has recognised the least developed countries (LDCs) as a group of economies with inherent characteristics that create particular economic vulnerabilities and disadvantages. In the case of the Pacific region, although...

This issue of Commonwealth Trade Hot Topics analyses ‘Brexit’ – the UK’s departure from the European Union (EU) – and shows that the effects for some Commonwealth countries may be severe unless specific actions are taken to avoid this.

This issue of Commonwealth Trade Hot Topics provides some perspectives on how the current global economic environment, including the possible impact of Brexit, bears upon the effectiveness of trade in achieving the SDGs, and what can be done to...

This issue of Commonwealth Trade Hot Topics explores questions around the changing global trading architecture over the past 15 years. It examines how these changes have impacted on Africa’s economic development and the nature of trading relations...

This issue of Commonwealth Trade Hot Topics reviews the outcome of COP21, analyses some of its possible impacts on trade, and then considers the implications specifically for small island developing states (SIDS), a group vulnerable to changes to...

This issue of Commonwealth Trade Hot Topics examines the potential implications of the Paris Agreement from the 21st Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) for trade and investment policy for...