The Trade Knowledge Network (TKN) is a global collaboration of research institutions across Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas working on issues of trade, investment and sustainable development. Coordinated by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), the TKN links network members, strengthens capacity in areas of research, training and policy analysis, and also generates new research to assess and address the impact of trade and investment policies on sustainable development … (about TKN 1/2).
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About TKN 2/2: … The TKN brings together institutions and individuals working on common concerns, strengthening each others’ research and communication capacity and knowledge bases, and developing solutions to share with others outside the network.
It thereby provides a platform for partner-based research and specific policy engagement.
The overarching aim of the TKN is to help ensure that trade and investment contribute to sustainable development, where social development and environmental goals are equitably addressed in trade and investment policies. The TKN furthers this aim by generating strong research with clear policy recommendations and communicating those effectively to decision makers nationally, regionally and globally. As an on-going initiative, the TKN seeks to expand its reach and impact by building south-south and north-south linkages to other organizations nationally, regionally and globally, building connections of collaboration and knowledge sharing among TKN partners working cooperatively to ensure trade contributes to sustainable development, with social development and environment equitably addressed in trade policies.
The TKN supports:
- •Quick response briefing papers by TKN partners, driven by needs of national policy making or WTO delegates, to understand sustainable development around current trade negotiations and issues;
- •Longer term TKN individual or joint research, policy engagement and capacity-building driven by country or region specific needs;
- •Deepening, scaling-up, or replication of TKN existing research theme area by one or more TKN partners;
- •New research, based on TKN criteria, where there is an overlap of interest on multilateral, regional, or bilateral trade policy issues related to sustainable development;
- •Regional Open Calls for Research on topics and themes based on TKN research criteria;
- •Regular information dissemination on trade and sustainable development related issues in various regions and globally.
The TKN approach:
- •Builds upon and strengthens past TKN work on trade and sustainable development at the domestic level;
- •Increases capacity in research, communication and networking with activities and demand-driven capacity building that enables effective TKN partner policy engagement;
- •Sharpens the TKN focus to those national trade policy and practice issues and sectors which have implications on sustainable development both domestically and within the WTO trading system;
- •Deepens TKN partner knowledge in the multi-lateral trading system;
- •Strengthens linkages among TKN partners working on issues of joint interest;
- •Increases network ownership, responsibility, and management among its members.
The TKN recognizes each region has its own approaches to networking, policy dialogue and policy formulation, based on its historical, cultural and political factors, past and current. Similarly, within the same region, countries can perceive their needs and interests around trade, investment and sustainable development differently from others. Conversely, there are cross and intra-regional interests on key policies and practices, and within production sectors and thematic areas, such as agriculture, opportunities and barriers for trade to help achieve sustainable development.