About us

About tralac
Vision
Mission
Background
What does tralac do?
tralac's areas of expertise
tralac's clients
tralac's partners

About tralac

tralac is a not-for-profit organisation, building trade law capacity in the southern Africa region; in governments, the private sector and civil society.

tralac was established in February 2002, with the financial support of seco, the Swiss Department of Economic Development, and consists of a core of trade lawyers and economists with high-level expertise in a range of trade and trade-related areas. In-house expertise is complemented by specialist expertise of the network of tralac Associates. tralac is distinguished by its focus on trade law, and its inter-disciplinary approach to trade and trade-related matters.

tralac prides itself on good corporate governance; the tralac Board provides governance oversight and strategic guidance to the organisation.

Vision

tralac's vision is to be a centre of excellence building trade law capacity in the Southern African region to develop a critical mass of trade law expertise which is essential if the countries in the region are to integrate effectively into the international economy, and to realise the benefits of international trade, in an increasingly competitive trading environment governed by complex trade rules.

Mission

tralac's mission is to build trade law capacity in southern Africa so that these countries can participate effectively in the global economy; to negotiate trade agreements that will support their development objectives, and so that they can implement the agreements to ensure that they realise the potential benefits of international trade. In brief, tralac's mission is to build the capacity to trade better, for countries in southern Africa.

Background

Trade law capacity has become essential for effective participation in the global economy, with the increasing technical sophistication of the rules-based trading system. With the establishment of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 1995, and the rise in the number of bilateral and regional trade agreements, technical, legal capacity and an inter-disciplinary approach to the analysis of trade matters are prerequisites for all trading nations. The capacity asymmetry's in this regard marks the new divide between developed and developing countries, such as those in southern Africa. A number of organisations exist to build trade policy capacity in the region, but not on trade law. The establishment of tralac is a response to the serious capacity lacuna that exists in this region in the field of trade law.

What does tralac do?

Develop trade law intellectual capital: monitors trade negotiations, interprets agreements, contributes to debates and stimulates discussion on international law matters, researches developments in international trade law tralac prepares and disseminates a weekly electronic newsletter, Trade Briefs, Working Papers, news articles; contributes to discussions in media, collects and makes available an extensive collection of Trade Agreements and related legislation.

Develops and delivers capacity building programmes: training programmes on trade law matters (Trade in Agriculture, Dispute Settlement, Negotiating Skills, Competition Law, etc); training of trainers (support provided to universities in training programmes, facilitate course attendance by academics and the use of tralac materials for training), collaborates with regional and international organisations in course development and delivery.

Facilitates Learning Forums: interactive forums between the private sector and government, interpretation of trade agreements and negotiations (for business associations and private sector firms) in structured workshops, seminars and conferences, debates and electronic discussion forums.

tralac's areas of expertise

tralac has expertise in the following areas:

tralac's clients

tralac's clients include:
tralac's partners

tralac's partners include:
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