IDEAS Centre is an independent, non-profit organisation dedicated to assist low-income countries integrating into the world trading system in a way that supports their national poverty reduction levels and economic development efforts.

IDEAS Centre was created in 2002 by the late Arthur Dunkel, former GATT Director-General, and by Nicolas Imboden, former Trade Delegate and Ambassador in charge of Swiss economic cooperation with developing countries.

The Centre offers practical, results-oriented advisory services. It executes projects aimed at strengthening the capacities of developing/transition country governments to shape both their domestic and international economic policies that affect them.

The overall goal of their projects is to empower developing economies by:

• using their WTO membership (or accession process) in a way that promotes their country’s sustainable human development objectives;
• deepening their understanding of development challenges and linkages with trade and WTO rules as well as improving policy coherence;
• supporting them through more effective participation in international trade forums and negotiations by harnessing the free market forces and rules of a liberal world trade system to achieve poverty alleviation and economic growth.

Through its projects supporting the participation of developing countries within the WTO and facilitating the integration of their development-related concerns, the Centre wants to contribute to international discussions on WTO institutional reforms and to encourage global cooperation for “win-win” solutions on the trade and development interface.

The partners, associate partners and staff of IDEAS Centre come from various countries and have diverse professional backgrounds. They are independent and highly experienced in matters of international trade and development, international trade negotiations, in particular in the context of the Doha Development Agenda, as well as international trade policy and law in general.

IDEAS Centre pursues an approach that is hands-on, practical and concrete. Its activities are demand driven and flexible and its partners and staff are fully committed to an inclusive, development oriented multilateral trade framework that allows all countries to fully participate and benefit from the global economy in order to foster the development of their people.

The management structure of IDEAS Centre is the following:

• President of the association: Nicolas Imboden
• Executive Committee: Nicolas Imboden, Clemens Boonekamp, Christian Pitschas, and Oswald Bregy, lawyer of the association
• Management team : Clemens Boonekamp, Christian Pitschas