Conclusions

An over-arching conclusion of this report is that regional and multilateral approaches to trade cooperation need not be incompatible, but neither can they be seen simply as substitutes (i.e. arrangements that serve the same purposes or satisfy the same needs). Support for an increasingly outward-looking and inclusive global trading order has been strong in the period since the end of the Second World War, and this growing trend towards openness has manifested itself through unilateral, bilateral, regional and multilateral approaches.