Live Q&A: how can trade be made fairer in the global south?

It’s been slow, but since 1980, developing countries’ share of world trade in manufactured goods has doubled to 20%. South-south trade is also increasing: in 2013, for example, India imported 8.67m metric tonnes of crude palm oil, mostly from Indonesia and Malaysia.

Over the last few decades, global trade has been a contentious issue. Some NGOs still oppose globalisation while others recognise that trade can play a powerful role in development, and are becoming increasingly involved in such issues.

But challenges – such as high transit costs, poor infrastructure and red tape – remain. “If you’re in Kigali and you buy a bar of soap imported from abroad, about 45% of the value of that will be transport costs,” said one speaker at a Guardian discussion on trade. “It can take up to seven days to get through the Malaba border; there’s sometimes a 25km queue.”