International trade-related organisations

WTO
www.wto.org
The World Trade Organisation frames rules for global trading policies and settles disputes. The site provides news updates, documents, details of negotiations, etc.

UNCTAD
www.unctad.org
UN body responsible for trade and development issues.

World Bank Trade Group
www.worldbank.org/trade
The World Bank's trade-related policies, research, statistics and country projects.

SAARC
www.saarc-sec.org
The website of the South Asian Association of Regional Co-operation gives details about the agreements on economic cooperation signed by member countries.

European Commission
http://europa.eu.int/comm/trade
Official website documenting European Union trade policies and news.

NAFTA
www.nafta-sec-alena.org
Website of the secretariat of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which is responsible for the administration of the dispute settlement provisions and support for various non-dispute issues.

International Trade Centre
http://www.intracen.org/menus/itc.htm
ITC, the technical cooperation agency of UNCTAD and WTO, supports transition economies to develop trade in various ways.

International trade-related civil society initiatives

Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
www.iatp.org
IATP's mission is to create environmentally and economically sustainable rural communities and regions through sound agriculture and trade policy. Site provides policy papers, news and background material.

Oxfam
www.oxfam.org
Oxfam is a development, advocacy and relief agency working to put an end to
poverty worldwide. It has launched an international campaign to make trade fair (see listing below).

Make trade fair
www.maketradefair.com
An Oxfam International campaign calling on governments, institutions, and multinational companies to change the rules to make trade part of the solution to poverty, not part of the problem. The site lists programmes and campaigns, press releases and trade related reports.

CIDSE
www.cidse.org
The International Cooperation for Development and Solidarity, an alliance of 15 Catholic aid agencies, works on several trade issues including trade and food security and trade relations between EU and third world countries.

Trade Knowledge Network
www.tradeknowledgenetwork.net
A network of research and policy institutions in Africa , Asia , Europe , North and South America exploring the connection between trade and sustainable development. Sites features trade related news, research papers and journals.

South Asia trade-related civil society initiatives

South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics and Environment
http://www.sawtee.org
A consortium of South Asia NGOs, SAWTEE's mission is to enable South Asian communities to benefit from changing economic paradigms and minimise the harm they could cause.

Consumer Unity and Trust Society
http://www.cuts-international.org
India-based advocacy and research centre on multilateral trade and sustainable development issues, consumer safety and economic regulation. Has several centres working on specific areas such as regulation and South-South economic cooperation.

UNCTAD INDIA
www.unctadindia.org
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) aims at the development-friendly integration of developing countries into the world economy with special attention being paid to the needs of the least developed countries, and countries with economy in transition. The website features studies and publications on issues such as trade, globalisation, gender and a gricultural trade liberalisation.

The Research & Information System (RIS) for Developing Countries
www.ris.org.in
RIS deals with work relating to global issues in the field of economic international relations and development cooperation among developing countries. They also have numerous publications on related issues.

Centre for Policy Development (CPD)
www.cpd-bangladesh.org
The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) with support from leading civil society institutions in Bangladesh is mandated to service the growing demand for a more participatory and accountable development process. CPD organises multistakeholder consultations and conducts research on issues of critical national and regional interests.

INCIDIN
http://www.incidinb.org
Research organisation conducting participatory action research in central Bangladesh . They provide a space for interaction between development activists and exploration of ideas and action towards transformation for a pluralistic, democratic Bangladesh.

Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI)
http://www.sdpi.org
The Sustainable Development Policy Institute provides the global sustainable development community with representation from Pakistan as well as South Asia as a whole. The institute brings out various publications and initiates research.

Economic Justice and Development Organization (EJAD)
www.ejad.org.pk
EJAD is an Islamabad based non-profit, non-governmental organisation formed to undertake peoples’ perspective research and advocacy on issues related to trade, human development and economic justice.

International trade databases

Agriculture Market Access Database (AMAD)
http://www.amad.org/
A cooperative effort of UNCTAD, FAO, the World Bank and other organizations, AMAD provides statistical data on tariffs, market prices and exchange rates for 50 countries.

Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation
http://www.apecsec.org.sg
Website provides economic statistics on member countries.

Comtrade
http://www.intracen.org/itc/tradstat/mainprod.htm
Commodity trade statistics system, compiled by UNSTAT.

International trade statisitics of WTO
www.wto.org/english/res_e/statis_e/statis_e.htm
Annual report of WTO with region wise and industry sector wise data and analyses.

UNCTAD Handbook of Statistics
http://www.unctad.org/Templates/Page.asp?intItemID=1890&lang=1
A comprehensive collection of statistical data relevant to the analysis of international trade, investment and development, for individual countries and for economic and trade groupings.

World Bank - South Asia
www.worldbank.org/sar/
The South Asia section of the World Bank's website provides country briefs and regional and country databases.

Trade research centres

Global Trade Analysis Project
http://www.gtap.agecon.purdue.edu/
Coordinated by the Center for Global Trade Analysis at Purdue Universty, GTAP (Global Trade Analysis Project) is a global network of researchers and policy makers conducting quantitative analysis of international policy issues .

Finance and Trade Policy Research Centre , UK
www.qeh.ox.ac. uk /groups/ftprc.html
Finance and trade policy research centre of University of Oxford , UK . The Centre focusses on the effect of changes in the global economy on sustainable development in poor countries, and the way in which the institutional arrangements established by the central economies affect world poverty.

International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development
http://www.ictsd.org/
Upcoming and recent events, resource papers, news, updates background and other resources from a coalition that seeks to bridge the gap between proponents of trade and sustainable development .

Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER)
www.icrier.org
Autonomous nonprofit research organisation engaged in policy oriented research on issues which are central to India 's international position and its economic exposure to the rest of the world.

London School of Economics and Politics
http://www.lse.ac.uk
A world class centre for its concentration of teaching and research across the full range of the social, political and economic sciences. Site provides gateway to different research centres and studies.

Overseas Development Institute—IEDG
http://www.odi.org.uk/iedg/index.html
The International Economic Development Group (IEDG) of the Overseas Development Institute, Britain 's leading independent think-tank on international development and humanitarian issues, undertakes comparative trade and trade policy analyses.

The Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT)
www.iift.edu/iift/index.asp
The Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) is an autonomous organisation for foreign trade studies. Their new Centre for WTO Studies aims at providing research and analytical support on a continuous basis to the Government of India's Department of Commerce on identified issues pertaining to the World Trade Organisation.

Institute of Policy Studies (IPS)
http://www.ips.lk
An autonomous research institute in Sri Lanka acting as an independent source of long-term policy advice to policy makers and development planners in Sri Lanka and the wider region. The IPS is the publisher of the annual " Sri Lanka State of the Economy Report". As the coordinator of the SAARC network of researchers, the Institute was instrumental in launching the “South Asia Economic Journal in 2000” under the aegis of the SAARC secretariat.

Bangladesh Unnayan Gabeshona Protishthan (BIDS)
www.bids-bd.org
A multidisciplinary organisation which conducts policy oriented research on development issues mainly in the context of Bangladesh . Their researchers also directly contribute to formulation of development policies through participation in government committees and task forces.