IISD at Geneva Trade Week 2022
IISD will be participating in the 2022 edition of Geneva Trade Week, which will take place in person and online from September 26-30, 2022. The Geneva Trade Week is convened by the Geneva Trade Platform alongside the WTO Public Forum, complementing those conversations taking place at WTO headquarters throughout the week.
This year’s edition of Geneva Trade Week will take a deep dive into various issues at the nexus of trade and sustainability. It will also focus on the latest developments, key issues, and road ahead for the joint initiatives underway among groups of WTO members, including those on trade and environment, electronic commerce, and investment facilitation. The Geneva Trade Platform is based within the Geneva Graduate Institute’s Centre for Trade and Economic Integration.
Below are the sessions where IISD speakers will be participating. Please note that registration for all sessions can be completed through the Geneva Trade Week website.
Events
Advancing Sustainability in Agriculture – Multilateral Options
September 26, 2022, at 16:00 CET
Registration: https://genevatradeweek.ch/agenda/agriculture-subsidies/
This session will look specifically at the role of the multilateral trading system, including the WTO, in supporting efforts to make the agricultural sector more sustainable, in parallel to the ongoing negotiations among WTO members on issues such as agricultural domestic support, public stockholding for food security, and the Special Safeguard Mechanism. This session is being convened jointly by the Geneva Trade Platform and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
IISD’s Facundo Calvo will participate in this discussion.
What Business Should Know: Investment Facilitation for Development
September 27, 2022, at 16:00 CET
Registration: https://genevatradeweek.ch/agenda/the-wto-and-sustainability-an-update-2/
This session will look at the Joint Initiative on Investment Facilitation for Development, where negotiations are currently underway among a group of WTO Members for an agreement on investment facilitation. Speakers will include the current co-convenors of that initiative as well as representatives from the World Economic Forum, IISD, and the International Trade Centre. The session will feature an update on the negotiating state-of-play, the objectives that this proposed agreement aims to fulfill, and what such an agreement would mean for the private sector and other stakeholders.
IISD’s Nathalie Bernasconi-Osterwalder will participate in this session.
What Business Should Know: The E-Commerce Plurilateral
September 28, 2022, at 10:00 CET
Registration: https://genevatradeweek.ch/agenda/what-business-should-know-the-e-commerce-plurilateral/
The e-commerce negotiations among a group of WTO members are seeking to establish new rules on digital trade among a significant proportion of the world’s economies – but what would these rules entail and what would their implications be for the private sector?
This session will unpack what the negotiations’ objectives are, what the talks do and do not cover, the current negotiating state-of-play, and what the private sector and other stakeholders should know.
IISD’s Rashmi Jose will participate in this plenary session.
Upcoming events
Inside the World Trade Organization Public Forum 2026
The WTO Public Forum, taking place from September 15 to 17, 2026, explores services trade as a driver for development under the theme "Powering the Future", with IISD co-organizing for the first time to bring sustainability to the heart of the conversations.
From Evidence to Investment: The systemic challenges facing nature-based infrastructure
Evidence from 45 assessments in 29 countries shows that nature-based infrastructure delivers strong financial returns and social and environmental gains.
IGF 22nd Annual General Meeting
The 22nd IGF AGM will be held under the theme of Trust in an Interdependent World: Advancing inclusion and resilience in mineral value chains.
IISD at Building Bridges 2026
The International Institute for Sustainable Development will convene two sessions on making projects investable, from nature-based infrastructure in African cities to urban heat resilience solutions.