Watch: The WTO’s Yonov Frederick Agha on the future of international development

The deputy director-general of the World Trade Organisation addresses the New Statesman‘s Global Policy Forum.

A sign of the World Trade Organization (WTO) is seen on their headquarters on September 21, 2018 in Geneva. – A World Trade Organization arbitrator will review on September 21, 2018 a Chinese request to impose more than $7 billion (nearly 6 billion euros) in annual sanctions on the United States over anti-dumping practices, a Geneva trade official said. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP) (Photo credit should read FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images)

The global economic impact of Covid-19 will be hard-felt across the globe, but even more so in developing countries. How can government leaders and multinational institutions best soften the blow and incentivise a recovery? Will trade and investment barriers – already on the rise – come into even greater force now, and what will the impacts be? Will the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals be derailed by the crashing of foreign direct investment flows, with myriad implications for international development? Or will the crisis speed up the world’s move to a truly sustainable development?

On 12 June, the New Statesman’s Spotlight policy supplement convened an online global policy forum, which brought together former and current leaders from politics, business and international organisations to discuss how we can meet the challenges of a post-pandemic world. In this session, Yonov Frederick Agah, deputy director- general of the World Trade Organisation joins New Statesman FDI editor Courtney Fingar to discuss trade, investment and international development after coronavirus.

Watch the session back here:

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