A step in the right direction for trade in sustainable development goals

AUN open working group charged with developing a proposed set of global sustainable development goals (SDGs) wrapped up 18 months of discussion in mid- July, endorsing 17 suggested goals and 169 targets to replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which expire next year. In the MDGs, trade policy was included in Goal 8 – develop a global partnership for development – chiefly as an enabler of economic growth through improved market access for developing-country exports. Commentators involved in the SDG-debate over the past months have argued that the new framework should provide an opportunity for trade policy to be a more integral part of development plans. Roberto Azevêdo, Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), recently stressed that trade’s role in the post-2015 agenda should ‘not be reduced simply to trade liberalization. Rather, trade should be recognised more broadly as a development policy instrument.’