PRESS RELEASE 
 
PRESS/615 
13 September 2010 
 
(10-4623) 
PUBLIC FORUM 2010 
New forces shaping world trade scru tinized at WTO’s Public Forum  
What is needed to make trade contribute to the Millennium Development Goals? How can women 
reshape the global economy? These are just tw o of the 43 topics to be discussed by some 200 
panellists and over 1,500 participants in this year’s annual WTO Public Forum, 15–17 September 2010. 
 
The three day conference on “The Forces Shaping World Trade” provides an opportunity for a range of participants to express their views on the many forces that are changing trade and to 
organize their own sessions. 
 “World trade has undergone major changes since the establishment of the WTO some 15 years 
ago,” WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy says in his introduction to the conference. 
 Among them, he lists fast-growing emerging economies taking their place beside traditional 
powers, new technologies changing the face of business and the way people interact, new issues 
that have changed the public perception of trade,  and the challenges posed by the financial crisis. 
  
The focus this year is on four core themes.  
 • The WTO and the players that influence the multilateral trading system 
• The economic, political and technological factors shaping world trade and the role of the rules-
based multilateral trading system in contributing to the global economic recovery 
• Coherence between the WTO and other areas of global governance 
• Looking to the future: What post-crisis agenda for the WTO in a shifting-power scenario? 
 Kicking off the conference will be a session involving some important actors and thinkers on the 
subject. WTO Director General Pascal Lamy , Former Deputy Prime Minister Dame Billie Miller  of 
Barbados, Oxfam Executive Director Jeremy Hobbs , Former President Festus Mogae  of 
Botswana, Tata Motors Vice-Chairman Ravi Kant , Chief Foreign Affairs Commentator Gideon 
Rachman  will look at how to use the forces shapin g trade in order to achieve the Millennium 
Development Goals.  
Setting the scene on the second day an equally  distinguished panel will examine a different 
perspective on how to reshape world trade: the role of women. It features, Former Deputy Prime Minister Dame Billie Miller  of Barbados, UN High Comm issioner for Human Rights Navanethem 
Pillay , ArcelorMittal of South Africa’s CEO Nonkululeko Nyembezi-Heit , WTO Deputy-Director-
General Valentine Rugwabiza  and O Globo journalist Deborah Berlinck . PRESS/615 
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 Background  
The annual WTO Public Forum, launched in 2001, provides a platform for public discussion across a wide range of WTO issues and activities, including the current Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations. Since then the Forum has become one of the most important opportunities for 
dialogue between a range of participants and governments. 
 It is now a significant feature of the international calendar. Over the years, 8,500 representatives 
of civil society, academia, business, the media, governments and inter-governmental organizations 
including regional economic and development organizations, attended the Public Forum. 
More on the Public Forum 2010: 
www.wto.org/publicforum   
  
 
END