Trade for Peace

Approximately half of the countries in the process of acceding to the WTO are considered ‘fragile and conflict affected’ (FCA). The ‘Trade for Peace’ Initiative, launched in December 2017 at the 11th WTO Ministerial Conference in Buenos Aires, aims at using the WTO accession process as a pathway to economic growth and development, fundamental elements for national, regional and international peace and security. The Initiative aims to redraw attention to the underlying reason and motivation for the creation of a Multilateral Trading System (MTS) - underpinned by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and later the WTO – that is the maintenance of international peace and security. The ultimate purpose of the project is to interrogate how the MTS can be strategized for peace and security today. At the Trade for Peace Stand, the peaceful coffee ritual in the Horn of Africa region will be showcased to reinvigorate the project concept, as a symbolic tradition to carry on the legacy of peace.