The University of Warwick has formed an International Commission of leading researchers and policy makers to examine the World’s continued failure to reach consensus on future trade relations. This failure threatens the continued viability of the World Trade Organization (WTO), raises fears of a drift towards protectionism and imperils the future of globalisation itself.  

The Warwick Commission uniquely brings together the theoretical skills of scholars and the practical insights of policymakers to analyse the future of the multilateral trade system after the Doha Round.

The Commission will be Chaired by The Honourable Pierre Pettigrew, PC, Executive Advisor, International, Deloitte.  He is an experienced trade specialist and diplomat and a former Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.  He was also Chair of the WTO Working Group for Singapore Issues at Doha (2001) and Cancun (2003) and for Implementation Issues at Seattle (1999). 

The Commission’s Director is Professor Richard Higgott of the University of Warwick’s Centre for the Study of Globalisation and Regionalisation at Warwick. The Commission’s first meeting is taking  place at the University of Warwick on 23-24 February 2007. The work of the commission will be available on a special web site at:

 http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/research/warwickcommission/about/

which will also include forums to allow the public to express their views to the commission.  

The Commission will hold evidence sessions throughout the first half of 2007 in London, Brussels and North America with the final report launched in Geneva in December 2007.

 A Full list of the other Commission Members now  follows: 

Professor Cecilia Albin: Professor in the Department of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University. 

Professor Ann Capling: Professor of Public Policy, Department of Political Science, Melbourne University. 

Professor Andrew Cooper: Co-Director, Centre for International Governance Innovation, Waterloo. 

Pierre Defraigne: Director of eur-IFRI, the Brussels branch of the Institut Français des Relations Internationales (IFRI) 

Dr Heribert Dieter, Senior Fellow in Global Economics, Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (Berlin), Associate Fellow, CSGR and expert on international economic institutions.   

Professor Barry Desker: Director, International Institute for Strategic Studies, Nanyang Technological University Singapore. 

Professor Jeffrey L. Dunoff: Charles Klein Professor of Law & Government. Director, Institute for International Law & Public Policy Temple University Beasley School of Law. 

Professor Simon Evenett: Professor of International Trade and Development, Department of Economics, SIAW-HSG, St Gallen University. 

Professor Jean-Pierre Lehmann: Director the Evian Group, Director Capacity Building for GARNET, and Professor of International Political Economy, IMD, Lausanne. 

Dr Patrick Low:  Director of Economic Research and Statistics, World Trade Organization. 

Pradeep Mehta: Secretary General, CUTS International (Trade and Development NGO), Jaipur India and member GARNET International Advisory Board.

Dr Amrita Narlikar, Lecturer, Centre for International Studies, University of Cambridge.   

Professor Pierre Sauvé: Faculty Member and Senior Research Fellow World Trade Institute, Bern, Switzerland and Visiting Fellow International Trade Policy Unit, London School of Economics. 

Dr Mills Soko: Senior Lecturer, University of Cape Town Business School and member of the Evian Group. 

Dr Diana Tussie: Director of Studies in Trade, FLACSO, Buenos Aires.  Member, GARNET Advisory Board and advisor to Argentinian Minister for Trade. Director, the Latin American Trade Network. 

Professor Dr Brigitte Young: Professor of of International Political Economy, Muenster University and Director, GARNET Virtual Network 

Note for editors: This first Commission is being co-sponsored by the EU Framework 6 Network of Excellence on Global Governance and Regionalisation (GARNET) and the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI-Canada).   

For further information please contact:        

Professor Richard Higgott,
Director, The Warwick Commission
Tel: 00 44 24 7657 5344
Email: Richard.Higgott@warwick.ac.uk 

Mrs Denise Hewlett
Executive Assistant, The Warwick Commission
Tel: 00 44 24 7657 5344
Email: Denise.Hewlett@warwick.ac.uk   

PR14  PJD  23rd February  2007