Moderated by Maika Oshikawa, Director of the WTO Accessions Division, the meeting exchanged views on the ongoing research projects which are being prepared in collaboration with partners. The meeting was attended by several partner organizations, which were updated by Ms Oshikawa on recent activities under the Trade for Peace Programme.

She noted the growth of the Programme “through different activities in which we have partnered with various institutions, becoming a community of learning attempting to shed light on the seemingly positive but complex relationship between trade and peace.”

These activities have been implemented through the Programme's four pillars: political engagement and partnerships; public dialogue and outreach; research; and training and capacity building.

Recent activities include the launch of the Future Leaders youth initiative in September 2022; the third edition of the Trade for Peace Week in November 2022; and the launch of an interdisciplinary course on Trade for Peace at Masters' level in partnership with the Geneva Graduate Institute, running from September to December 2022.

The second Research and Knowledge Hub meeting, held under Pillar 3 of the Trade for Peace Programme, covered several presentations, followed by comments from partners.

The first presentation was on the development of a Trade for Peace (T4P) Index by the WTO and the Institute of Economics and Peace (IEP). The goal of the T4P Index is to measure the contribution of trade to peace, in particular shedding light on the trade conditions that are conducive to peace. The project leverages IEP's expertise in quantifying peace and measuring the economic costs of violence through the Global Peace Index and the Positive Peace Index, paired with the WTO's expertise on trade-related matters.

The WTO Secretariat provided an overview of the ongoing production of a publication on Trade for Peace, which is expected to lay a knowledge base upon which future research on the trade-peace nexus can be developed.

Following the call for papers issued in August 2021, 54 submissions were received. Eleven of these have been selected for possible inclusion in the first publication in this field by a panel of trade and peace experts. The publication is also expected to include contributions from partner institutions. One such contribution is from the International Food Policy Research Institute on the role of trade in supporting food security and the growth of global value chains in the agricultural sector.

Presentations were also made on two ongoing projects: on trade policy instruments used during and after conflict, and on trade provisions in peace agreements and peace provisions in trade agreements.

The first research project seeks to create better understanding of how trade is used throughout a conflict and in the post-conflict reconstruction phase. The second project, which is jointly undertaken by the WTO Secretariat and the Public International Law and Policy Group, seeks to explore the role of trade in peacebuilding negotiations and in supporting stable and durable peace. This project benefits from the Group's global network of lawyers with expertise in peacebuilding negotiations, combined with the WTO's expertise regarding trade agreements and negotiations.

Members of the Research and Knowledge Hub provided feedback and comments, sharing the expertise of their respective organizations and highlighting the need for collaboration to fully reveal the trade-peace nexus. The delivery of research outputs is expected in mid-2023.