Plastics have shot up the global political agenda over the past few years. The globalized nature of plastics production and distribution — together with the transboundary nature of plastics pollution — means that there are limits to what national governments can accomplish on their own.

If only to help reinforce national policies, to avoid production and trade diversion, to promote the development of international standards, and to help industries and exporters more easily adjust to new policies and regulations, countries need to work together — including in the World Trade Organization (WTO) — to effectively address the problem and to develop coordinated solutions.

The panel will discuss what a fit-for purpose, coherent, and stable global policy framework for encouraging sustainable plastics production and consumption would look like and explore what contribution the WTO could make to the development of such a framework.

Chairperson/Moderator:

Dr Carolyn Deere Birkbeck, Senior Researcher, Global Governance Centre, the Graduate Institute

Keynote Speaker:

Dr Wang Huiyao, Founder and President of the Centre for China and Globalization 

Round Table Participants:

H.E. Dr. Xiangchen Zhang, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of China to the WTO
H.E. Mr. Dagfinn Sørli, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Norway to the WTO 
H. E. Mrs Gothami Silva, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the WTO
H.E. Didier Chambovey, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the WTO
H.E. Ms Mere Falemaka, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the Delegation of the Pacific Islands Forum to the WTO
H.E. Mr. Ramses Joseph Cleland, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Ghana to the WTO
Mr. Paolo Garzotti, Deputy Head of Mission, Permanent Mission of the European Union to the WTO
Mr. Thomas Haidon, Deputy Permanent Representative of New Zealand to the WTO

This event is part of the research project supported by the Swiss Network of International Studies "Governing Plastic: the Global Political Economy and Regulation of Plastic Production and Pollution".