The Trade Forum—co-organized by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank Group, with support from IMD Business School, and the Institute for Macroeconomic and International Policies (i-MIP) at the Paris School of Economics—brings together trade ministers and senior officials from across Asia-Pacific, leading academic economists, and international trade experts to discuss the new geopolitics of multilateral trade and their implications for value chain integration and economic resilience. 

The Forum focuses on the strategic link between trade policies and industrial policies and their role in supporting sustainable development and integration into global value chains. Trade policy alone is often insufficient to capture emerging opportunities in global and regional markets. At the same time, industrial policies that are not well aligned with trade frameworks risk inefficiencies, protectionist bias, or limited scalability.

Specific sessions will focus on (i) enhancing market access through WTO and regional agreement accessions, by improving trade regulatory infrastructures and trade facilitation supportive of green trade; and (ii) leveraging market access by designing effective industrial policies, including by developing special economic zones, and maximizing the benefit of critical minerals for economic development. 

The Forum provides a platform for knowledge exchange, policy dialogue, and the presentation of new analytical tools, including the ADB Trade and Climate Portal and the SNOW model.