The Global Economy, the Sustainable Development Goals and the Law symposium was held on July 15, 2022 and co-hosted online by the World Trade Institute, and the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL), in cooperation with the McGill University, the University of Montreal, the University of Cambridge, the University of Costa Rica, the University of Nairobi, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, the University of Waterloo, the International Law Association of Canada, the McGill Journal of Sustainable Development Law (MJSDL), Canada’s Sustainable Development Solutions Network, the IUCN’s World Commission on Environmental Law and other partners.

This global online symposium convenes national and international experts and leaders together with emerging scholars, students and practitioners, to explore new legal research trends, challenges and insights in implementing the SDGs, and to share innovative solutions and lessons in designing post-pandemic legal and policy measures to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Keynote speakers and presenters provided interactive online dialogue that focused on three key themes, as identified by the World Trade Organisation, the UN Conference on Trade and Development, the World Bank and other international financial institutions, which are essential for post-pandemic international economic law and policy measures to advance the Sustainable Development Goals:

• The role of law and governance in promoting trade, investment and finance flows which can support global efforts to eradicate poverty, including by optimizing more sustainable management of resources.
• The contributions of legal and governance systems in incentivizing investment more sustainable goods and services, technologies and markets.
• The importance of transparent, rules-based frameworks in aligning trillions in post-pandemic recovery investments and finance with the economic, social and environmental priorities represented in the SDGs.

Adv. Wayne Garnons-Williams, Chair and founding President of International Inter-tribal Trade and Investment Organization (IITIO), spoke to the role Indigenous Peoples Economics Trade and Cooperation Arrangement (IPETCA) plays in advancing Indigenous economic development and empowerment. Inspired by UNDRIP, IPECTA brings inclusiveness and collaboration for Indigenous involvement to benefit from international trade. It defines Indigenous trade, includes environmental protections, incorporates the Indigenous worldview, traditional knowledge and cultural heritage, and identifies business and trade issues that can bolster Indigenous trade. Garnons-Williams outlined the goals of the incoming Indigenous trade agreement IPETCA, how there goals facilitate trade among Indigenous tribes globally, and the results from IPETCA that promote Indigenous trade and sustainability.