ICTSD has been working on Special and Differential Treatment (SDT) issues since 1997, when our program began by assisting in the identification of hard links between sustainable development objectives and trade policy and rules. From this exploratory work, which included policy dialogues in Latin America, Asia and Africa and the production and publication of the article Sustainable Development and Environmental Policy Objectives: A Case for Updating Special and Differential Treatment in the WTO (Ricardo Meléndez-Ortiz and Ali Dehlavi, 1998), the topic was identified as key to furthering the goals of sustainable development at the WTO. In the early stages of the Doha Development Round, work also included identifying priorities of developing countries in negotiations on the topic at the WTO Committee on Trade and Development Special Session and analysing the 88 agreement-specific proposals that were on the table including through an Ambassador's Analytical Retreat in 2001. In the last two years, following consultations and informal dialogues, ICTSD has focused on a situational approach recognising the need for policy space, flexibility and modulation of rules and financial assistance for adjustment as a means towards a resolution of the deadlock on issues of eligibility, differentiation and development in SDT negotiations at the WTO.