BKP specialises in a limited field of services where we believe to have a distinct know-how:

• International trade and regional integration (incl. WTO accession and negotiations, trade remedies, trade in services, trade facilitation and quality infrastructure, etc.);
• Investment promotion (incl. investment climate assessments, competitiveness studies, etc.);
• Private sector development (incl. competition policy, public-private partnership, support to the informal sector, micro and SME finance, etc.).

One of BKP’s founding principles is to bridge the gap which all too often exists between research and politics. In response to this, in addition to consulting work, we also undertake independent research in the areas of trade, regional integration and competition policy. Research output is distributed through our own working paper series as well as through contributions in academic journals and edited books. BKP core staff also regularly lectures on these topics at various universities (e.g. Addis Ababa University; Free University of Amsterdam; FHR Lim A Po Institute of Social Sciences in Paramaribo, Suriname) as well as speaks at academic workshops and conferences, such as the Annual Conferences of the European Trade Studies Group (ETSG), the biennial conferences of the Society for International Economic Law (SIEL) or the European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI).

BKP has substantial experience in the management of international research and consulting assignments involving the use of various methodologies. This comprises the management of long-term technical assistance contracts, involving the mobilisation of long- and short-term consultants and the establishment of a permanent presence in the country of operation, and, in particular the management of complex short-term assignments and studies, covering wide geographical areas and involving the deployment of large, multinational teams of consultants. Our quality management system has been certified according to ISO 9001 since 2013 and was upgraded to the latest version of the norm, ISO 9001:2015, in 2017.

In 1999, FIDIC established a working group to develop a “Business Integrity Management System” for use by advisers. The result of these efforts are the “Guidelines for Business Integrity Management in the Consulting Industry,” published in autumn 2001.

FIDIC’s Guidelines are complemented, in relation to human rights, labour, and the environment, by wider principles of the UN Global Compact.

BKP has adopted FIDIC’s model Code of Conduct, as complemented by relevant provisions of the UN Global Compact in the area of social and environmental responsibility: