Peter Draper
Areas of expertise
- SACU
- SADC
- South Africa's bilateral ties with key trading partners.
- Southern African regional economic integration
- Trade policy and trade negotiations
- World Trade Organisation
Peter Draper is a Senior Fellow of ECIPE and Research Fellow and Head of the “Development Through Trade” programme at the South African Institute of International Affairs. His areas of expertise are trade policy and trade negotiations, with particular reference to the World Trade Organisation, the Southern African region and South Africa's bilateral ties with key trading partners.
Peter Draper has published numerous reports and book chapters on trade issues; many articles in domestic and international newspapers, and is frequently interviewed on trade policy matters. He has edited a number of books and monographs. He has coordinated a range of projects for various donor agencies including: USAID; DFID; JETRO; The German Development Institute; the Friederich Ebert Stiftung; and the Finnish Institute of International Affairs.
He is a member of Business Unity South Africa’s trade committee; lectures International Business at Wits Business School; and is a Research Associate of the Department of Political Science at the University of Pretoria. He is also a member of ECIPE’s Advisory Board.
Previously Peter Draper headed, respectively: The Department of Economics at the University of Durban-Westville; the Asia and Mercosur desks at the Department of Trade and Industry; and Economic Analysis and Research in the DTI’s International Trade and Economic Development Division.
ECIPE Publications
- EU-Africa Trade Relations: The Political Economy of Economic Partnership Agreements (Jan Tumlir Policy Essay No 02, 2007)
Other Books and Papers
- The Political Economy of Trade Reforms in Emerging Markets – Crisis or Opportunity? (Book released in 2009 edited by Razeen Sally, Peter Draper and Phil Alves )
- South Africa’s Current Account Deficit: Are Proposed Cures Worse than the Disease? (Trade Policy Report by Peter Draper and Andreas Freytag published by SAIIA )
Articles, Opinion and Commentary
- What Future for Monetary Policy in Zimbabwe? (Peter Draper and Andreas Freytag on Zimbabwe currency reforms in Vox EU )
- South Africa’s Current Account Deficit: Are Proposed Cures Worse than the Disease? (Article by Peter Draper and Andreas Freytag in the AllAfrica.com)
Media Coverage
- Trade Update (Peter Draper and Razeen Sally comment on international trade issues for South Africa's Classic FM.)
- Europe, Africa and partnership agreements: in search of a developmental agenda (Peter Draper on EU-Africa trade negotiations in the Vox)
- Trade agenda for Africa relies on governance ability (Peter Draper in FDI Magazine on EPAs)
- China-bashing no basis for policy (ECIPE Fellow Peter Draper writes in Business Day about China and taking advantage of the opportunities the Chinese manufacturing industry presents.)
- EU-Africa partnership (ECIPE Fellow Peter Draper is interviewed in the European Voice about the EPA negoatiations)

