Expanding trade and investment has driven growth in many developing countries. High growth has contributed to major reductions in poverty and improvements in overall welfare in the Asia-Pacific as in other regions. However, substantial variations in performance among countries persist and, as a consequence, not all countries - and much less all groups and individuals within countries - have been able to benefit equally from trade. In particular, least developed countries, landlocked developing countries, and other countries with special needs, have not benefited from trade as much as some other developing countries. In order for these countries to foster further economic and social development, they need better access to markets alongside further development of productive and supply capacity. As the Doha Round of multilateral negotiations have dragged on for 12 years with even the progress made at the Ninth WTO Ministerial Conference in Bali, Indonesia, now uncertain, countries have increasingly turned to preferential trade agreements (PTAs) as a vehicle for securing expanded market access. However, developing countries and in particular countries with special needs face a host of problems in pursuing this path. First, weak analytical capacity makes it difficult for them to identify and assess the potential benefits and costs of PTAs. It is therefore harder to make informed decisions about joining PTAs and also difficult to formulate negotiating mandates that meet development goals. Second, given their often small economic potential and lack of linkages with other economies, these countries may not even be targeted as partners in many PTAs (unless they are endowed with natural resources). This can either lead to them being excluded from regional integration initiatives, or to their joining PTAs with unbalanced commitments and severe adverse impacts on, for example, productive employment and dependence on exploitation of natural resources. Third, many countries with special needs have insufficient supply capacity to utilize already negotiated concessions and thus the potential developmental impacts of promising PTAs often remains unrealized. This country and regional-level project will be executed by ESCAP, in partnership with ECA and ECLAC and building on lessons and experiences accumulated by UNCTAD (and other relevant agencies) in this area. The project will increase the capacity of governments in selected member States to enhance the contribution of preferential trade agreements to inclusive development. Additionally, it will increase capacity of governments to expand South-South trade through preferential trade policies and agreements in order to generate productive employment and contribute to an improved sharing in prosperity. National training and workshops will be implemented in the pilot countries which all have urgent capacity development needs in this area. These will be supplemented by regional workshops for these, and other, countries. The most significant output of the project will be enhanced capacity among government officials and trade negotiators to formulate inclusive development-friendly preferential trade agreements so that trade arising from such policies has inclusive and equitable results: enhanced employment opportunities; positive impacts on gender equity; and enhanced contribution to general welfare, in particular for excluded groups. This will include a strengthened understanding of PTA provisions, and their impacts on socio-economic outcomes. In order to provide sustainable impacts, all materials created for evidence-based policymaking and other capacity building programmes will be made publicly available through knowledge-sharing platforms.