Dr Dhar has been intimately involved in the policy making process for more than a decade and a half. His links with the policy making process increased after he joined the Centre for WTO Studies as Professor and Head in 2002. The Centre, which is supported by the Department of Commerce, provides inputs on a wide range of issues on WTO in particular and trade policy in general. Presently, he has been working in close coordination with the following Ministries/Departments: (i) Ministry of External Affairs, (ii) Department of Commerce, (iii) Department of Science and Technology, (iv) Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion; (v) Ministry of Health; (vi) Ministry of Environment and Forests; (vii) Department of Education, and (viii) Ministry of Agriculture.

Dr Dhar has been on the official Indian delegations to WTO Ministerial Conferences. The Ministry of Environment and Forests has also nominated him as an expert in negotiations conducted under the aegis of the Convention on Biological Diversity. He has also served on expert panels set up by the Ministry of Statistics, Department of Chemicals and Fertilizers and Ministry of Environment and Forests.

Dr Dhar has been working extensively with a number of intergovernmental organisations including the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for the Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). He has also been interacting with the senior officials of the World Trade Organization on specific issues relating to his areas of specialisation. His involvement with the UNESCAP has increased manifold over the past few years particularly since the organisation had established the Asia-Pacific Research and Training Network (ARTNeT). Dr Dhar has been functioning as an Advisor on Trade and Development for the ARTNeT.

Dr Dhar has also been working with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO); has been quite intimate over the past several years. He has also had an occasion to work closely with the Commonwealth Secretariat when the organisation had sought his services for providing technical assistance to the Government of Tonga during its process of accession to the WTO. More recently, he has started working closely with the World Health Organization and has been analysing a number of issues relating to intellectual property rights and public health concerns. The WHO has appointed him on their panel of international experts which is looking into a specific issue concerning intellectual property rights and access to vaccines, particularly in the developing countries. His involvement in the area of biodiversity and intellectual property has brought with it his association with the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). In 2007, the CBD appointed Dr Dhar on their panel of international experts.

Dr Dhar's engagement with the international organizations and the international civil society organisations goes back to the mid-1990s. The organisations with which he has been engaged on a regular basis include, International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada, International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD), Geneva, International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), Geneva, Oxfam, UK, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Gland, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Minneapolis and the Third World Network, Penang and Geneva.

Over the years Dr Dhar has maintained close relationship with senior researchers belonging to several academic institutions and think tanks in India and abroad. These include, the Institute of Economic Growth, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Centre for Development Studies, Delhi School of Economics, Madras School of Economics, Centre for Development Studies, Administrative Staff College of India, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Institute of Development Studies, Sussex, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark, Aalborg University, Denmark, Yokohama National University, Japan.