..Press Release................................ UNESCAP News Services

Date: 26 July 2011
WTO Media Advisory

LAUNCH OF WORLD TRADE REPORT 2011

"The WTO and preferential trade agreements: from co-existence to coherence"

Bangkok – Asia is at the leading edge of new regional and bilateral trade agreements, a WTO report says. What this means, and how and why, are described in the latest World Trade Report 2011, a flagship publication of the World Trade Organization (WTO), which will have its Asian launch on 27 July 2011 in Bangkok.

This year's World Trade Report analyses one of the most prominent trends in international trade, the increasing number of regional and bilateral trade agreements. The report examines what motivates governments to conclude them, their economic effects, and what they portend for the global economy. The WTO is the only global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations. One of the WTO's most important rules is non-discrimination, which requires its members to treat all other WTO members in the same way. Despite this, the WTO allows regional and bilateral trade agreements so long as they increase freedom of trade and do not raise barriers to the trade of other countries.

NOTE TO EDITORS:

You or your representatives are cordially invited to the launch of the WTO World Trade Report 2011. The report launch will be followed by questions and answers.

What: Asian release of WTO World Trade Report 2011

Who: Dr. Robert R. Teh Jr., Counsellor, Economic Research and Statistics Division
World Trade Organization, T: (41)22 739-5608, F: (41)22 739-5762, E: robert.teh@wto.org

When: Wednesday, 27 July 2011, at 5 p.m.

Where: Conference Room 4, 1st floor of United Nations Conference Centre (UNCC), United Nations ESCAP, Rajadamnern Nok Ave, Bangkok 10200

For further information about the Press Conference or to set up separate interviews, please contact:

Ms Mia Mikic
Economic Affairs Officer, ESCAP
T: (66) 2 288 1410
M: (66) 817203706
E: mikic@un.org

Ms. Thawadi Pachariyangkun
Public Information Officer, ESCAP
T: (66) 2 288 1861
M: (66) 81 634 38 76
E: pachariyangkun.unescap@un.org