The
Temasek Foundation Centre for Trade & Negotiations
(TFCTN) is a policy research centre at the
S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
(RSIS), Nanyang Technological University.
The Centre is dedicated to improving the process
of international negotiations, with a particular
focus on increasing capabilities and access
for developing states. The Centre uses rigorous
empirical research to create new ideas and
to generate informed debate leading to practical
policy alternatives for improving global
negotiations
on trade and economic issues.
The Centre also conducts a wide range of
activities designed to increase capabilities
and build
sustainable capacity for effective participation
in negotiations for states in the Asia-Pacific
region. The audience for these events includes
not only a wide range of government officials
but also business leaders, policy advocates,
academics and researchers, members of the
media, and the wider public in Singapore
and beyond.
The Centre fulfills its mission by creating
high-quality, empirically grounded research
and objective analysis. Results of our
research are disseminated through a series
of capacity
building and training courses; seminars,
workshops and conferences; books and journal
articles;
working papers, policy briefs and commentaries;
op-ed columns; a resident fellows programme;
and the RSIS website. Centre staff work
collaboratively with researchers and practitioners
around
the world to increase the impact of the
research and capacity building activities.
The
Centre’s focus is trade and economic
negotiations and policy. Centre staff consider
not only economic factors, but also political
and legal interests. Research topics include
bargaining in the World Trade Organization
(WTO), other multilateral and regional
economic organizations, various regional
and bilateral
free trade agreements, international trade
rules, liberalization measures, regulatory
policy, development, intellectual property
rights, and investment and competition
policy.
The Centre was created in 2008 with a generous
initial donation from the Temasek Foundation.
The Temasek Foundation was founded
on the principle that the development of
human
capacity is key
to Asia’s development prospects.
Additional support for the Centre is provided
by foundation
grants, corporate donations and individual
donors.
The
S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
(RSIS) serves as the institutional
home for
the Centre. RSIS is an autonomous graduate
school of international affairs as well
as one of the leading independent think
tanks
in the Asia-Pacific region. It offers master’s
and Ph.D. courses in international political
economy, international relations, strategic
studies, and Asian studies. RSIS is located
in Nanyang Technological University (NTU)
in Singapore.
