International Trade and Procurement
The International Trade and Procurement Unit undertakes research on bilateral, plurilateral and multilateral rules and initiatives to liberalize public procurement markets at the global and regional level. Special attention is paid to the role trade reforms play within the context of sustainable development and the SDG.
Topics covered include the WTO plurilateral Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA), the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement, the proposed multilateral Agreement on Transparency in Government Procurement, and the negotiation mandate regarding government procurement contained in the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), as well as the application to procurement of general rules (such as those on non-discrimination, transparency and state trading) contained in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and GATS.
Research in these areas is enhanced by unit members’ expertise on a wide range of subjects including procurement of state enterprises, tied aid, corruption in procurement, soft law approaches, and remedies.
The unit’s head, Professor Annamaria La Chimia is currently conducting research on the EU-UK TCA and has presented her latest work in Birmingham at the conference EUTIP Conference: The EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement organised by the Institute of European Law on 30 June 2022- 1 July 2022.
Current unit members include Honorary Professor Robert Anderson, Honorary Fellow Cesar Pereira
Former members of the Unit have included Dr Ping Wang who has been advising the Chinese government on its negotiation of accession to the GPA since 2007.
Recently completed PhD projects relating to this field
- Investment, aid and climate change in Mozambique
- Sustainable development, procurement and the EU-Turkey relationship
- Enforcement of procurement rules in China
- Use of soft law to open procurement markets
- Private enforcement of WTO rules
For further information contact annamaria.lachimia@nottingham.ac.uk