The multilateral trading system represents one of the main expressions of the principle of international cooperation that characterized the governance of international relations after World War II. Based on the WTO, it constitutes an essential driver for the promotion of sustainable development in the global economy, as indicated by the 2030 Agenda and reaffirmed by the Pact for the Future. In fact, already in its Preamble, the WTO clearly promotes a model of sustainable economic development, where the use of natural resources must be optimal, and attention to the needs of developing countries needs to be constant and timely.
The 30th anniversary of the WTO offers an opportunity to review past progress, reflect on and analyze current trends, and identify the way forward towards sustainable international trade. The Project on “The WTO as Major Driver of Sustainable Development and its Reform Process” (L’Organizzazione mondiale del commercio quale protagonista dello sviluppo sostenibile nel rilancio del sistema multilaterale), co-financed by the Law Department of the University of Bologna and the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI), aims to celebrate this important anniversary by producing a dossier of proposals on WTO reforms for the consideration of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, based on the work of an international research team. The Coordinator of the UNIBO-MAECI Project is Professor Elisa Baroncini, and the dedicate website is https://site.unibo.it/wtosust/it