At the request of the Group of Landlocked Developing Countries at the UN, the International Think Tank for LLDCs has finalised its latest publication “Multilateral Trade Negotiations and LLDCs: A handbook for negotiators and practitioners of LLDCs”.
The handbook is aimed at introducing policy makers in LLDCs to prepare for multilateral trade negotiations by providing a background on different negotiation topics in the World Trade Organisation, which are relevant to LLDCs.
The Handbook also proposes complementarity between the different LLDCs in certain negotiation areas. The users of the manual will be first and foremost the negotiators and their technical teams in LLDCs. Public officials in charge of trade, line ministries should also find elements of the handbook useful, in order to grasp key concepts and turn the challenge of negotiations in favour of their own interest.
The handbook provides an introduction and mapping of existing handbooks and guidelines on multilateral trade and negotiations produced by the relevant UN system organizations and other international organizations.
The handbook also provides an introduction into the conditions facing LLDCs from a macroeconomic, trade and investment perspective. The handbook reports on the findings from past studies, which find a systematic bias against growth in land-locked countries, owing to the uncertainties, costs and transport times incurred by being landlocked.
Furthermore, non-state actors, that must participate more actively in the institutional framework which prepares for negotiations, will also find this handbook a useful guide for their participation in multilateral trade negotiations.
The Handbook is available now.