The planned Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) has triggered controversial debates both domestically and abroad. Very few of these discussions move beyond the immediate EU-USA context, although what is expected to be the world’s biggest free trade agreement will have significant impact on global trade as a whole. Many countries that do not form part of the partnership may have to deal with TTIP’s effects on their very own economic and trade activities.  In particular, this applies to developing countries and rising powers.

Is there a risk that TTIP will result in EU and USA stepping up trade with each other while importing less from previous trade partners in other world regions? How can TTIP be designed in a way that allows developing countries and rising powers to benefit from the agreement instead of suffering market losses? And should global trade policy receive more attention from development actors in general?

GU Jing, Research Fellow at the Institute for Developing Studies (IDS), and Peter Draper, Senior Research Fellow at the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA), discussed these and other issues together with the audience. Both have extensive expertise in trade and development policies at the global as well as regional level. Peter Wolff, Head of “World Economy and Development Financing” at the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE), moderated the session.

The event was part of a lecture series that features eminent scholars as well as high-ranking officials from the Managing Global Governance (MGG) network. The MGG programme, which goes on to the 12th round in 2014, engages highly qualified young professionals from emerging economies in a dialogue on global governance issues. Programme components include a two-month Global Governance School (GGS) at DIE, training sessions for leadership and personal skills development, a two-week seminar at the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin as well as an Expert Lab with German and European host organisations. MGG is jointly implemented by DIE and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) on behalf of the German Ministry for Economic Co-operation and Development (BMZ).