Trade in the post-2015 development agenda

The year 2015 may witness a significant directional shift in the development paradigm.

In July, the member states of the United Nations (UN) will present a new development agenda for the 2015-30 timeframe, the primary focus of which is to achieve development that is sustainable in the social, economic and environmental dimensions.

Also in July, at the third international conference on Financing for Development (FfD) in Addis Ababa, the international community is expected to present its collective position towards mobilising public and private financial resources and other means of implementation needed when implementing the new development agenda.

Following the official adoption of the post-2015 development agenda at the UN Summit in September 2015, the 21st annual session of the Conference of the Parties (COP21/CMP11) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will take place from 30 November to 11 December 2015 in Paris.

It is hoped that the adoption of the post-2015 development agenda generates strong momentum to achieving a new universal climate change agreement, which will put the world on track to a low-carbon, sustainable future (UN Climate Change Newsroom).

International trade has been the engine of rapid economic growth achieved by many developing countries in the past 15 years, which coincided with the implementation years of the Millennium Development Goals or the MDGs.

For least developed countries (LDCs), much of the growth stemmed from rising revenues from commodities such as fuels and minerals, which did not necessarily benefit the majority of the populations in exporting countries (UNCTAD, 2014). But the ongoing negotiations on the post-2015 development agenda, with the sustainable development goals (SDGs) at its core, suggest that the world should transform its natural resource-dependent growth pattern to a more inclusive, sustained and sustainable one.

How will this influence the way international trade contributes to a country’s socioeconomic development in developing countries, particularly in LDCs?

Against the above background, this chapter discusses:

• The expected framework and contents of the post-2015 development agenda.

• The role of international trade as a financial and non-financial means to achieve development.

• Possible new challenges to the global partnership, including aid for trade, to ensure the development-enabling power of trade in the post-2015 development paradigm.