International trade, given its instrumental role in economic growth and welfare enhancement, has an important role in a Right to Development based development approach. The Trade and Development linkage has been one of the major issues that has been widely debated and discussed in recent times. It has been recognized that openness to trade would bring about more efficient allocation of resources and facilitate technology diffusion, encouraging higher levels of economic growth. Besides, engaging in gainful trade by exchange of goods and services produced at home for acquiring goods and services produced abroad would lead to an expansion of the set of goods and services available for final consumption of the country and thus realizing an improvement in welfare. Trade is in an integral part of right to development because it facilitates generation of resources, which in turn is required in the process of its realization. Without adequate resources, the realization of human rights becomes stagnant after certain point.  

However, the important question concerns the distribution of the benefits of the process of trade liberalization among the various economic agents. The policies and programs of national governments and international organizations are critical factors in this regard. The policies of the World Trade Organization are the most crucial factor because these provisions are binding on all the members. The WTO agreements particularly the Agreement of Agriculture and the Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights have direct implications on the realization of the Right to Development in the developing countries. It is estimated that around 80 percent of the poor are in developing countries and 60 percent among them depend on agriculture for their livelihood.  The provisions of the Agreement of Agriculture therefore would be highly significant in mitigating or worsening the plight of the poor in the developing countries. An orderly management of trade with lower distortions would open avenues for their betterment. Similarly the TRIPS agreement has to do a lot with the access and availability of drugs. An increase in the prices of drugs would make health care inaccessible for the poor. The Trade and Development division of the Centre currently focuses on the impacts of WTO agreements on Agriculture and TRIPS on India.