By Cheryl Dine

On Wednesday 29th October 2025, The City Law School hosted a symposium titled ‘Cheers to 30 Years: Entering a New Era of Multilateral Trade Rules’, organised by the Digital Trade Research Group, chaired by Professor David Collins.

This event brought together leading academics, policymakers, diplomats, and international civil servants to explore the ever evolving role of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in the global digital economy.

The Opening Remarks were delivered by Professor David Townend, Associate Dean for Research and Enterprises, on behalf of Professor Richard Aschcroft, the Dean of The City Law School. Professor Townend remarked on the importance of the WTO in the creation and delivery of some of the Law School’s modules.

“As we mark this important milestone, we also hope that today’s symposium serves as the beginning of a lasting and meaningful partnership between City St Georges, University of London and the WTO. In a time of profound global change, collaboration between academic institutions and international organisations is more important than ever. Together, we have the potential to drive impactful, evidence-based change in international economic law, and to support the development of a more responsive, inclusive, and resilient multilateral trading system.” – Professor David Townend.

The City Law School was honoured to welcome senior representatives from the WTO in Geneva, to City, University of London. Mr Samer Seif El Yazal, Chief of Section in the WTO’s  Institute for Training and Technical Cooperation (ITTC), delivered a lecture on the historical significance of the WTO and its continuing role in supporting global trade cooperation. His lecture was followed by another lecture by Ms Tanuja Garde, Director of the WTO Intellectual Property Division, where Ms Garde highlighted the contribution of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) to innovation and development within the multilateral trading system.

The symposium also featured a distinguished line-up of speakers offering critical insights on trade facilitation, investment, and the future of digital trade.

Professor Gregory Messenger, Co-Director of the Trade & Public Policy (TaPP) Network and Joint Lead of Navigating Trade Challenges at the WTO to Prevent Non-Communicable Diseases and Promote Better Health for All (NIHR), from University of Bristol, presented his take on the “Cinderella story” we tell in economic diplomacy, challenging participants to reframe common narratives about the WTO by recognising the organisation’s progress since its establishment among its many challenges.

Dr Alexandros Bakos examined the Joint Statement Initiative (JSI) on Investment Facilitation for Development (IFD) explaining how it complements existing international mechanisms such as ICSID whilst remaining consistent with the WTO’s framework. Dr Bakos emphasised on the importance of distinguishing between investment protection, investment promotion and investment facilitation, in order to truly understand how investment facilitation can fit within the multilateral trading system more effectively, given the institutional framework offered by the WTO for dialogues and negotiations between governments who remain responsible for the development of investment regulations. Notably, during the Q&A session of Dr Bakos’ presentation, Mr. Seif El Yazal brought to the fore some of the WTO member states’ concerns in regards to the WTO not being the right fora for investment and queried whether Dr Bakos had developed any solutions in his research to address the practical challenges faced at committee level at the WTO. Dr Bakos clarified that there is a misconception that the WTO is solely responsible for discussing the liberalisation of tariffs. Dr Bakos explained that, similarly to the presentation made by Professor Gregory Messenger, the future of the WTO rests on how member states themselves decide to approach its scope.

Professor Messenger and Dr. Bakos’ presentations emphasised on the need to recognise that the evolution of the WTO has been driven by member states’ interests and concerns, highlighting that whilst the WTO is a successor of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), it continues to serve as a forum for negotiating all trade and trade-related issues, such as digital trade, IP, investment, and sustainable development. Dr Bakos expanded on the possibilities offered by the plurilateral route at WTO level in the event that the Agreement on IFD does not reach a consensus as a multilateral text.

Mr. Manuel Quindimil offered a data-driven perspective on the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), illustrating how it has evolved over three decades to support paperless and digital trade across member states. Mr. Quindimil discussed the challenges of implementing the WTO TFA in developing countries in particular, and emphasised that the data suggests progress has occurred, although a continued need for technical assistance and capacity building for developing countries and LDCs exists with respect to the requirements within Article 5 through 10 of the TFA. Remaining on theme of the evolution of the WTO, Mr Quindimil presented on the inception of the TFA as having focussed on general facilitation measures at the border. However, since 2017, the TFA has permitted the identification of needs and serves as a building block for digital trade facilitation (national paperless trade and cross-border paperless trade), sustainable trade facilitation (for MSMEs, agriculture, women and other minority/vulnerable groups), and other trade facilitation areas under dialogue in 2025, such as e-commerce, green trade facilitation and trade finance. Expanding on the implementation of paperless trade across different TFA categories, Mr. Quindimil presented data from the UN Global Survey on Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation 2025, and explained that over 70% of the WTO TFA related measures. He added that the implementation of cross-border paperless trade and sustainable trade facilitation measures in particular remains general low, “but good progress is observed!”, suggesting the TFA as one of the successes in trade brought about by the WTO over its years of existence.

The symposium was also honoured by the presence of His Excellency Simon Manley, former UK Ambassador to the WTO in Geneva, for a fireside chat with Cheryl Dine (City Law School), who reflected on the UK’s independent trade policy post-Brexit and the importance of listening, empathy, and collaboration among WTO member states. His Excellency underscored the UK’s efforts to maintain balanced relationships with both developed and developing countries to ensure inclusivity and resilience in the multilateral system.

As a final activity during this event, the afternoon concluded with a panel discussion chaired by Professor David Collins, featuring Mr Samer Seif El Yazal (WTO), Dr Ohiocheoya Omiunu (University of Kent), Professor Gregory Messenger (University of Bristol), and Mr Talha Boyraz (City Law School).

The panel examined how the WTO can adapt to emerging challenges in digital trade and geopolitical shifts, including potential reforms to its dispute settlement system and the interplay between data protection, e-commerce, and global competitiveness.

The discussions also explored the UK’s evolving position on digital trade and how, according to Mr. Talha Boyraz, the UK’s independent domestic approach to data regulation could serve as a bridge between the perspectives of developed and developing economies among data protection contentions on the draft e-commerce agreement developed under the JSI on E-commerce. Dr. Ohiocheoya Omiunu, speaking on the WTO’s dispute settlement system, expressed that the WTO member states have the opportunity to build on certain leverage points offered by the WTO’s structural framework to legitimise and cover disputes that address digital trade more explicitly. According to Dr. Omiunu, WTO member states can approach WTO reform by regarding the WTO as a system that is not only complex but also adaptive to change.

As a concluding remark, the panellists discussed the role of the WTO as a baseline or bedrock for trade rules and negotiations, despite the rising regional and bilateral trade agreements covering issues beyond that which is covered in WTO texts, such as digital economy partnership agreements.

Reflections and Future Directions for the WTO and Academia

Reflecting on the event, the City Law School has identified the following needs for deepened research in regard to digital trade:

  • The impact of the rise of regional digital trade agreements on the WTO’s relevance
  • The jurisdiction and legitimacy of digital trade disputes at the WTO
  • Balancing the competing interests of free cross border data flows and national digital sovereignty
  • The role of economic diplomacy in the WTO’s evolution to address issues like digital trade, AI governance, and cross-border data flows

The symposium concluded with several key action points, including:

  • Developing curricula that align with the WTO’s initiatives on digital trade and capacity-building for developing countries;
  • Exploring balanced regulatory approaches that promote innovation and inclusive economic growth; and
  • Prioritising inclusive digital trade that benefits all WTO member states, regardless of their stage of development.

This event serves as a testament to the City Law School’s continued leadership in advancing research on international trade, commerce and digital regulation. We hope that this symposium serves as a catalyst for collaboration between academia, government, and international institutions, fostering constructive, solution-based discussions on the future of the WTO and digital trade.

A recording of the event is available at the following link:

CLS Symposium on WTO at 30 Years

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