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    Live Event
      WORLDBANK.ORG

      Trade is an engine of growth that creates jobs, reduces poverty and increases economic opportunity. Listen to leaders from the public and private sectors, economists, policymakers, and activists as they look for solutions to help countries achieve their development goals. 

      Select an event replay to watch now and learn more about our work by visiting the World Bank's dedicated website: worldbank.org/trade. 

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      Past Events

      Unlocking Growth in Latin America and the Caribbean

      Join us in a conversation with William Maloney, Chief Economist for Latin America and the Caribbean, and high-level experts, as we explore new growth opportunities emerging in the global economy and how the region can actively engage to drive inclusive and sustainable development. 

      Driving Global Trade for Development

      World Bank Group President David Malpass sat down with Adam Posen, President of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, to discuss the rapidly changing global trade landscape, reshoring, and the risks and opportunities for developing countries.

      Preserving Open Trade

      In this event, the heads of the four key global economic policy institutions—the World Bank Group, the IMF, the OECD and the WTO—discuss the importance of trade and global cooperation for overcoming current challenges and implications of subsidies for markets and poor countries. They call for more transparency and proactive measures to reduce their harm, especially for the largest and most distortive subsidies.

      Reshaping Global Value Chains

      The COVID-19 pandemic caused unprecedented disruptions to global trade and has sparked questions about the future of global value chains. New World Bank research, however, suggests that not only did value chains prove more resilient than earlier feared, but they also helped participating countries rebound more quickly from the crisis. Please join us on March 4 for an engaging discussion about the factors reshaping global value chains, and their implications for trade and development.

      Trade to the Rescue: Unleashing Global Trade to Support Economic Growth

      How has trade supported economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic? This event will explore what can be done to enable trade to contribute more to economic growth and prosperity around the world.

      The Case for Designing Inclusive Platforms in Emerging Markets

      The rapid digital transformation underway in many emerging markets has the potential to have an equally transformative impact for entrepreneurs. However, critical gaps in access to the internet and mobile phones can limit the ability to work in tech-enabled jobs or to compete as entrepreneurs. This event draws on recent IFC research on the rise of e-commerce in Africa and Southeast Asia and opportunities for further growth by exploring more inclusive practices. It will cover two key topics: E-commerce for development, highlighting how this rapidly growing sector opens a pathway for digital entrepreneurs in Africa and South East Asia; E-commerce and gender equality, highlighting new research from IFC that leverages company data to show for the first time how women are participating on e-commerce platforms - and how companies can add billions of dollars to regional market value by investing in women entrepreneurs. Don’t miss the opportunity to hear from IFC’s Managing Director, Makhtar Diop, Lazada’s Group ...

      Spreading the Gains From Trade More Widely

      Watch the launch of World Bank's report “The Distributional Impacts of Trade: Empirical Innovations, Analytical Tools and Policy Responses”, which provides knowledge, data, tools, and a policy framework with the aim to spread the gains from trade and make it more inclusive. 

      Charting a Course for Decarbonizing Maritime Transport

      Maritime transport has come under increased pressure to lower, and ultimately eliminate, its contributions to climate change. To inform shipping’s energy transition and support the sector’s climate action, the World Bank has developed two technical reports on “The Potential of Zero-Carbon Bunker Fuels in Developing Countries” and “The Role of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) in the Transition Toward Low-and Zero-Carbon Shipping.” Accompanied by a “Summary for Policymakers and Industry”, these reports will be launched in a virtual high-level event during Singapore Maritime Week 2021. This 90 minutes’ launch event will discuss the key findings of the reports from a development perspective. It will also highlight current country ambitions and industry initiatives aimed at building up a zero-carbon bunker fuel supply chain based on green ammonia and green hydrogen.  After opening remarks by Nigel Topping, High-Level Climate Action Champion COP26, the authors will present the key conclusions of the research. This presentation will be followed by two panels featuring speakers like ...

      Feeding South Asia in Times of Crisis: Building Resilient Agriculture Supply Chains

      Food prices have risen by more than 10 percent in South Asia this year, more than any other region. Trade policy responses such as eliminating tariffs and facilitating trade flows can help maintain access to essential food products. How resilient are South Asia’s food supply chains amid the COVID-19 pandemic? Are there new opportunities to strengthen or expand regional value chains? How do governments and private companies in the region prepare food supply chains and trade policies for an economic recovery? This #OneSouthAsia webinar will explore these issues and answer your questions.

      Leading the Way: How Africa is Establishing a 21st Century Trade Agenda

      The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement stands to connect 1.3 billion people across 55 countries, making it the largest free trade area in the world by membership. The pact has the potential to lift 30 million people out of extreme poverty, increase workers’ wages and generate gains for women. But achieving its full potential will depend on putting in place significant policy reforms and trade facilitation measures.  The creation of the AfCFTA regional market is a major opportunity to help African countries diversity their exports and accelerate growth. This is especially important in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has disrupted trade and triggered up to $79 billion in output losses during 2020 in Africa alone. This event will introduce the new World Bank Group report The African Continental Free Trade Area: Economic and Distributional Effects. The report is designed to help countries implement policies that can maximize the agreement’s potential gains while minimizing risks. Through a discussion moderated by Albert ...

      Coronavirus Live Series: A Shock Like No Other: The Impact of the Pandemic on Commodities

      Why and how are developing countries particularly vulnerable to volatility in commodity prices? Our Cornonavirus Live Series continues as we interview John Baffes, Senior Economist at the World Bank, about the effect of the coronavirus on commodities. We'll be covering a wide range of sectors, including agriculture, food and oil prices, and industrial commodities such as metals. Related Links: Covid-19 (Coronavirus): Live Interview and Panel Series COVID-19 landing page  

      End of an Era? Global Value Chains, Trade and Development

      Beyond Uncertainty: Leveraging Trade to Reduce Poverty

      Unlocking Opportunities in Fragile Markets

      Making progress in countries affected by fragility, conflict and violence is fundamental to ending extreme poverty and achieving global development goals. By 2030, the share of the poor living in countries affected by fragility and conflict is expected to triple, from 14 percent today to nearly half by 2030. The event aims to raise awareness of the need to scale up financing in areas affected by conflict and fragility and examine the role of partnerships in attracting transformational investments. Bringing together leaders from the public and private sectors, the discussion will cover the main constraints to scaling up, as well as focus on innovative solutions across sectors.

      Powering Up Growth: Ideas for Beating the Slowdown

      Despite low interest rates, global growth has remained low driven by a simultaneous slowdown in most emerging markets, falling commodity prices, and flagging trade and capital flows. Join ministers from resource rich as well as importing countries and others as they discuss the challenges and opportunities to promote inclusive growth under a low interest rate and commodity prices scenario. The panel will address questions related to low global growth and commodity prices including why has global growth remained so low? How are countries weathering the global slowdown? Is this a transitional situation, where commodity importers are slowly reacting to the lower prices, while commodity exporters are struggling to adjust to the downturn? Or is low growth/low commodity prices/low interest rates, the new normal? What reforms are needed to reignite inclusive growth? Is there a need for greater collective action? Related Links: World Bank and Macroeconomics and Fiscal Management IEG Report: World Bank Group Engagement in Resource-Rich Countries

      Chief Economists Roundtable: Growth & Inclusion in Turbulent Times

      Emerging markets and the developing world are at the center of the current slowdown in global growth. How are low commodity prices and slowing trade affecting countries and the effort to reduce poverty? Join us as the World Bank’s chief economists describe current conditions and the outlook for each developing region.

      Transforming World Trade: Global Value Chains and Development

      This panel discussion will explore the emerging importance of global value chains (GVCs) in global trade and the implications of that rise for low-income countries. No longer is trade as simple as manufacturing a product in one country and selling it to another. Today, goods often cross many borders, accruing components and requiring complex interactions. The place of GVCs in local economies is also not simple: the skills required and wages offered mean that they may not benefit the poor. Panelists will discuss these issues from the perspective of multilateral organizations, the private sector, and individual, developing-country governments.