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Over the years, the WTO Public Forum has become one of the
most important platforms for dialogue among stakeholders of
the multilateral trading system and is now a significant
feature of the international calendar. As we approach the 2008
Forum, the outcome of the Doha negotiations is still
uncertain, and expressions of political support for its
successful conclusion are at their height.
This year's forum, themed “Trading Into the Future”, offers an
opportunity for debate and discussion on the future of the
trading system. By addressing the challenges and opportunities
facing the system and its main actors and stakeholders, the
forum will offer a framework within which to identify
practical and effective ways forward for world trade
governance and leadership.
The following three sub-themes will be addressed within the
context of the Public Forum:
Sub-theme I: Challenges and
Opportunities Facing the WTO
Sub-theme II: Challenges and Opportunities Facing Main
Actors and Stakeholders
Sub-theme III: Ways Forward for the Multilateral Trading
System
A brief description of the main questions that will be
dealt with by each panel in the context of each sub-theme is
presented below.
1. Sub-theme I: Challenges and
Opportunities Facing the WTO
The sessions described below will address the main
challenges and opportunities facing the WTO in each of its
main functions, including:
a. negotiating the reduction of obstacles to trade
(import tariffs and other barriers to trade) and agreeing on
rules against discrimination in international trade;
b. administering and monitoring the application of the
agreed rules for trade in goods, services, intellectual
property rights;
c. surveying the trade policies of members as well as
ensuring transparency of regional and bilateral trade
agreements;
d. settling disputes among members about the correct
interpretation and application of the agreements; and
e. building capacity of developing country government
officials in international trade matters.
Session 1: Mutual Supportiveness
of Trade, Climate Change and Development Objectives and
Policies
Organizer: WTO
Secretariat – Trade and Environment Division
Date: Wednesday 24 September, 16:15 – 18:15
Recent discussions have highlighted that governments'
policies and measures to address climate change may present
certain challenges for the trading system. The panellists will
share their views on what key parameters are necessary for a
mutually supportive trade and climate change regime, and will
give their perspectives on how the WTO system could best be
put to service for climate change mitigation efforts at the
international level.
Session 6: Settling Disputes Among Members
Organizer: DLA Piper UK LLP
Date: Wednesday 24 September, 16:15 – 18:15
This session will analyse the settlement of disputes among
Members, asses the effectiveness of the WTO's Dispute
Settlement Mechanism (DSM), and address the following
questions:
- What should be the criteria to asses whether the dispute
settlement mechanism is effective and what have been the
results of the DSM when assessed against these criteria?
- How does the effectiveness of the DSM compare with other
forms of settlement of trade disputes?
- What can be learnt from solutions incorporated in
bilateral and regional trade agreements?
- What can be observed from the participation of
developing countries? How can they maximize benefits from an
effective DSM?
Session 8: Can Farm Animal Welfare Standards be
WTO-Compatible?
Organizer: Royal Society for
the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, World Society for the
Protection of Animals, Compassion in World Farming and
Eurogroup for Animals
Date: Wednesday 24 September, 16:15 – 18:15
This session aims to show the benefits derived from
references to animal welfare in trade agreements to developed
and developing countries alike, using examples from private
schemes and in situ methods to raise farm standards. The
session aims to identify ways to promote animal welfare
through international trade while remaining compatible with
trade rules and will offer different points of view on the
issue, in an attempt to identify ways to advance farm animal
welfare through the rules of international trade.
Session 14: Variable Geometrics and Critical Mass: Is there a
Case for New Approaches to Reinforce Cooperation within the WTO?
Organizer: European Commission,
Directorate General Trade
Date: Thursday 25 September, 11:15-13:15
Recent reports have called for an increase in the use of
variable geometries and critical mass approaches after Doha to
move forward within the WTO. The aim of this session is to
consider the economic soundness and feasibility of these
approaches. The session will discuss the balance between
ambition and inclusiveness and how variable geometries can
help accommodate the needs and interests of all members,
including developing countries. It will also review
experiences and draw lessons from uses of variable geometries
outside the WTO in other multilateral and regional
organisations.
Session 15: Climate Change, Competitiveness and Trade Policy: Opportunities and Challenges for the Future of the Multilateral Trading System
Organizer: ICTSD
Date: Thursday 25 September, 9:00 – 11:00
This session will address the following questions:
- How can the multilateral trading system contribute to responses to climate change in an effective manner while maintaining the integrity of the system and the core principles underlying it?
- How can the system deal with the emerging trend of integrating a “carbon footprint” in virtually all aspects of economic activity, from production to consumption?
- What new forms of systemic interaction with other policy processes, both public and private, that impact on international trade are becoming necessary, and how should they take place?
- How can the multilateral trading system strengthen its arbitration function in a context of potential disputes arising from the use of trade-related tools to achieve climate change objectives?
Session 17: Consequences of a Failed Doha Round
Organizer: EUROCHAMBERS and the
Foreign Trade Association
Date: Thursday 25 September, 9:00 – 11:00
This panel will look at general trends in the creation of
multilateral trade rules and consider the prospects for future
multilateral approaches to trade should the Doha Development
Agenda (DDA) Round fail to result in an agreement.
The session will address the following questions:
- What implications would a failed Doha Round have on the
global trade agenda and on the existing acquis of the
GATT/WTO?
- What impact would a potential failure have on the
pursuit of multilateral solutions to global problems in
general?
- What would become the ways forward to support and
enforce the multilateral trading system?
Session 19: Future Challenges of Agri-Produce Trade
Organizer: European Liaison
Committee for the Agricultural and Agri-Food Trade (CELCAA)
and European Livestock and Meat Trading Union (UECBV)
Date: Thursday 25 September, 9:00 – 11:00
The session intends to address the issue of global food
security from the viewpoint of one particular sensitive
product market: meat. It will address the following questions:
- In the coming years, where will meat be produced and
under which conditions will it be traded?
- What degree of interdependency of meat products is
acceptable in a globalised world?
- Should food security issues be addressed at the national
or at the global level?
- Is the establishment of a list of environmental goods
the best way forward?
Session 23: Changing Power Relations in International Trade
Negotiations: Implications for the Future
Organizer: International
Institute of Stavanger (IRIS)
Date: Thursday 25 September, 9:00 – 11:00
This session focuses on recent changes in power relations
in international trade negotiations, and attributes these
changes to a number of factors. This session will address the
following questions:
- What are the consequences of the rise of the bargaining
power of developing countries in international trade?
- Which roles do non-governmental organizations play
domestically and internationally?
- What are the implications of the strengthened positions
of national parliamentarians in trade negotiations?
Session 24: Transparency as a
Policy Tool
Organizer: International
Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD)-Europe
Date: Thursday 25 September, 11:15 - 13:15
This panel will address the following questions:
- Why is transparency an important policy tool?
- Who needs information, and in what forum do they need to
use it?
- What is the role of the WTO, if any, in promoting “good
governance” and transparency with its members?
- Does the WTO have the right framework to encourage
developing country transparency?
- Should the WTO's own standards and potential monitoring
for transparency lean more towards performance than design
standards?
Session 29: Addressing Global Environmental Challenges: What
to Expect from Future Dispute Settlement Panels
Organizer: Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL)
and Friends of the Earth Europe (FOEE)
Date: Thursday 25 September, 14:15 – 16:15
The environmental problems we face today, such as climate
change, are increasingly cross-border in both cause and
implication, and often the poorest countries are affected the
most severely. This panel will discuss the following
questions:
- How has the trading system dealt with the
interrelationship between trade and environment in the past?
- How have trade rules been interpreted in the context of
disputes involving measures to protect the environment and
human health and what can we expect from future panels
dealing with global environmental problems?
- Is there sufficient policy space for governments to
tackle environmental challenges, such as climate change, and
where are the limits?
Session 31: Regionalism: The Greatest Challenge?
Organizer: The National Centre
of Competence in Research (NCCR) Trade Regulation, Individual
Project 3: Regionalism
Date: Thursday 25 September, 14:15 – 16:15
In bilateral fora, WTO members are often far more willing
to make agreements on matters that they insist are off the
agenda in Geneva. This session will ask why this is, and what
its implications are for the multilateral trading system. The
session will examine the extent to which regionalism
represents an alternative to the multilateral system, and
consider the importance of regionalism as a challenge to the
WTO relative to other challenges it faces.
Session 37: Linking Multilateral and Regional Trade
Agreements: Development Implications of the Economic Partnership Agreements
Organizer: Oxfam International
Date: Thursday 25 September, 14:15 – 16:15
There are some worrying trends with the extent, scope and
pace of liberalization in some of the commitments of new RTAs
particularly EPAs. In this context, this session will address
the following questions:
- What are the rules regarding RTAs in between developed
and developing countries?
- What would a good case for asymmetry in rules look like?
- What are the implications of this on development
prospects of African and Pacific countries in the EPAs?
- What are the implications for the multilateral trading
system?
Session 40: Improving the Climate for Trade?
Organizer: Organization for
Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
Date: Thursday 25 September, 16:30 – 18:30
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and
the International Energy Agency (IEA) have both identified a
significant potential for mitigating emissions of greenhouse
gasses through the diffusion of existing, commercially
available technologies. Trade and investment are clearly
important vehicles for facilitating such diffusion. Yet
various tariff and non-tariff measures continue to pose
significant obstacles to the importation of climate-change
mitigation technologies. Drawing on work undertaken by the
OECD and others, this session will explore the extent and
nature of these obstacles, and priorities and procedures for
their removal.
2. Sub-theme II: Challenges and
Opportunities Facing the Main Actors and Stakeholders
The main issues that will be discussed in this theme deal with
the most important challenges and opportunities facing the
major actors and stakeholders of the multilateral trading
system.
Session 3: The Missing Link
Between Trade Openness & Poverty Reduction: The Role of the Multilateral Trading System
Organizer: The Commonwealth
Secretariat, London, and the Consumer Unity & Trust Society
(CUTS) International, India
Date: Wednesday 24 September, 14:00-16:00
This session will discuss the following questions:
- What is the evidence that trade influences growth and
poverty reduction and how well can the experiences of
trade-development-poverty linkages in developing countries
be generalised?
- How important are complimentary policies and
institutions in ensuring the benefits of trade and to what
extent can multilateral trade negotiations assist developing
countries to strengthen these complementary policy
requirements?
- What could be the likely implications of Doha-induced
policy change in sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing
and services on the poor in developing countries?
- In light of Doha Round experiences, what can be expected
of the WTO’s future role in promoting trade-led development
in poor developing countries? What are the opportunities and
challenges facing the major actors and stakeholders in this
regard?
Session 5: Public Services and the GATS: Trading Into or
Trading Away the Future?
Organizer: Education
International and Public Services International
Date: Wednesday 24 September, 14:00 – 16:00
Following an up to date report on the current state of play
in the GATS negotiations, the session will be guided by the
following questions:
- Will the current round of GATS negotiations lead to
greater coverage of public services like health care and
education?
- What are the risks and opportunities for governments and
key stakeholders if public services are included in the
GATS?
- Will new disciplines on domestic regulation affect the
ability of governments to regulate public services to meet
domestic needs?
- To what extent would the inclusion of public services in
the GATS promote or hinder development objectives?
- How can governments balance trade liberalization in
services with the need to ensure the efficient, universal,
and affordable provision of quality public services?
Session 7:
Decent Work Challenges for the WTO
Organizer:
International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)
Date: Wednesday 24 September, 14:00 – 16:00
The session will discuss the following questions:
- What are the problems workers are faced with in export related production and industries?
- How are these problems currently addressed in the WTO, the ILO and other international fora, and what are some successful international responses to these problems?
- Is there a need for a coordinated international approach to address the challenges workers are facing in export production?
- What should the role of international organizations and governments in such an approach be?
Session 10: The New 'Geneva Consensus' Defining People-Centred
and Development-Oriented Trade Policy: Can a Human Rights Approach Help?
Organizer:
3D Trade, and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
Date: Wednesday 24 September, 16:15 – 18:15
The objective of this session is to explore what tools are
available to ensure that trade and other — social,
environmental, cultural — policies can work in a
mutually-supportive way to improve standards of living and
sustainable development for all. It will discuss how human
rights help us think about in what circumstances social safety
nets for those who bear the costs of adjustment to
globalization and liberalization are appropriate, and offer
reflection on how to create them in a sustainable way.
Session 11: Promoting
Environmental Entrepreneurship: The Role of Women
Organizer: Women's
International Coalition
Date: Wednesday 24 September, 14:00 – 16:00
The objective of this session is to introduce the concept
of environmental entrepreneurship, touching on issues of
renewable energy hardware, organic gardens and ecological
building systems. The question of how the holistic approach of
environmental entrepreneurship can enrich agricultural
production and community management will be addressed. The
session will present analysis of data collected from projects
across the continent, information that forms the basis for
decisions in a range of fields, both in Africa and
internationally.
Session 15: Climate Change, Competitiveness and Trade Policy:
Opportunities and Challenges for the Future of the Multilateral Trading System
Organizer: ICTSD, Global
Platform on Trade, Climate Change and Sustainable Energy
Date: Thursday 25 September, 9:00 – 11:00
This session will address the following questions:
- How can the multilateral trading system contribute to
responses to climate change in an effective manner while
maintaining the integrity of the system and the core
principles underlying it?
- How can the system deal with the emerging trend of
integrating a “carbon footprint” in virtually all aspects of
economic activity, from production to consumption?
- What new forms of systemic interaction with other policy
processes, both public and private, that impact on
international trade are becoming necessary, and how should
they take place?
- How can the multilateral trading system strengthen its
arbitration function in a context of potential disputes
arising from the use of trade-related tools to achieve
climate change objectives?
Session 20:
Should the Doha Agenda on Agriculture be Revised in Light of New Challenges Facing Farmers?
Organizer:
International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP)
Date: Thursday 25 September, 11:15 – 13:15
This session will explore whether the Doha agenda for agriculture should be revised in light of the new challenges facing agriculture.
In particular, this session will address the following questions:
- Would any new investments in small-holder agriculture to meet food security and climate targets be compromised by the draft deal that is currently on the table in the WTO?
- Should the Doha negotiating agenda for agriculture be revised in light of the new challenges facing farmers and governments?
Session 22: The “Fourth Freedom”: Reaping the Gains of
Economic Migration
Organizer: Centre for Trade and
Economic Integration, the Graduate Institute of International
and Development Studies, Geneva
Date: Thursday 25 September, 11:15 – 13:15
Economists tell us that the potential gains from freedom of
movement of labour are much higher than any benefits to be
derived from further liberalization of goods, services or
capital. In this context, this session will ask the following
questions:
- How can these economic benefits be balanced against the
political, social and cultural costs to which so many
analyses often refer? Can and should the WTO play a greater
role in this effort? How should WTO rules interact with the
activities at the International Labour Organization (ILO) or
the International Organization for Migration (IOM)?
- What would it take to establish a grand bargain whereby
rich countries are willing to open their labour markets?
- What are the optimal strategies to achieve international
progress on the issue, and what are the different fora and
normative tools available for analysis of the matter?
Session 26: The Future Role and Interactions of Main Actors
and Stakeholders in Achieving Free Trade Within the WTO Framework
Organizer: Institute of
Economic Affairs, Nairobi
Date: Thursday 25 September, 11:15 – 13:15
This session will present a paper and seek feedback on its
claims. The paper examines trade policymaking processes to
date in the multilateral trading system in order to identify
the main actors and stakeholders involved, their
complementarities and differences. The role of the main actors
and stakeholders in achieving free trade is examined to
identify gaps that have hindered achievement of free trade.
Given that there are no standardized trade policy-making
processes, trade policymaking process in developing economies
with specific reference to Kenya will be compared to those of
other selected emerging and leading world economies.
Session 27:
South-South Cooperation and Regional Integration: A gender Perspective
Organizer:
International Gender and Trade Network (IGTN)
Date: Thursday 25 September, 9:00 – 11:00
The objetives of this session are:
- Present a critique to the development model conceived under the context of the Washington Consensus, especially to its processes of trade and investment liberalization, including the WTO negotiations, the proliferation of bilateral or sub-regional and the financialization of the world economy;
- Provide a South-South perspective; and
- Identify the main future challenges in trade and economic policies as well as in political terms to the international women's movements.
Session 32: Why GATS Commitments and GATS Rules are Essential
for Increasing Trade in Services into the Future?
Organizer: European Services
Forum
Date: Thursday 25 September, 16:30 – 18:30
The objectives of the session are:
- to show the importance that service companies give to
GATS Commitments, and their preference to the WTO global
schedule of commitments;
- to show that services companies favour multilateral
rules that are applied globally and to all competitors
instead of domestic rules or bilateral regimes;
- to demonstrate support for a multilateral WTO dispute
settlement system that offers fair and transparent
interpretation and application of agreements;
- and to discuss why GATS-related technical assistance for
developing countries could be a tool for to help attract the
investments in infrastructure services that are necessary
for sustainable development.
Session 33: The Duty-Free and Quota-Free Market Access
Decision: Challenges and Opportunities
Organizer: WTO Secretariat -
Development Division
Date: Thursday 25 September, 14:15 – 16:15
This session will discuss several challenges that must be
tackled before LDCs can fully realize the benefits of the
enhanced market access opportunities offered by a Duty Free
and Quota Free regime. These challenges raise larger questions
within the development debate about how LDCs can gain from the
greater market access opportunities if they increase their
domestic production capacities and have the capacity to fulfil
increasingly burdensome export requirements.
Session 35: A GSP for Services: An Essential Tool or a
Gimmick?
Organizer: Agency for
International Trade Information and Cooperation (AITIC)
Date: Thursday 25 September, 14:15 – 16:15
The objective of the session is to give an opportunity to
representatives from a preference-granting country, an LDC, a
non-LDC developing country and an international financial
institution to consider together the legal mechanisms for
development that can possibly be used and their respective
merits. The session will address the following questions:
- What kind of legal mechanisms can be used?
- Should Special and Differential Treatment benefit LDCs
only?
- Is an approach similar to the Enabling Clause and the
GSP for trade in goods conceivable for trade in services?
Session 39: Small and Medium Size Exporters in Developing
Countries: Expectations from WTO in the Emerging Global Trading Environment
Organizer: International Trade
Centre (ITC)
Date: Thursday 25 September, 14:15 – 16:15
During the session, the business community will reflect on
the WTO's role in dealing with emerging issues such as:
- non-tariff measures, including the proliferation of
private standards, which may assume even more significance
pursuant to the climate change debate;
- regionalism and bilateralism;
- facilitating trade in services.
Session 42: Russia, Central Asia and Caucasus (CIS) and the
WTO: Challenges and Opportunities
Organizer: Eco-Accord
Date: Thursday 25 September, 16:30 – 18:30
This session aims to:
- provide discussion on the way forward for the
multilateral system from the perspective of the Russia,
Central Asia and Caucasus region;
- offer perspective on the specific problems related to
WTO accession facing economies in transition from this
region;
- analyze the challenges that newly acceded countries from
this region face with implementation of WTO rules and at the
negotiations taking place.
3. Sub-theme III: Ways Forward for
the Multilateral Trading System
The sessions dealing with this theme will contribute
towards identifying practical and effective ways forward for
the multilateral trading system in order to deal with the main
challenges facing the trading system today.
Session 2: Six Decades of
Multilateral Trade Cooperation: The Way Forward
Organizer: WTO Secretariat -
Economic Research and Statistics Division
Date: Wednesday 24 September, 14:00 – 16:00
This panel looks into the future with regard to systematic
analysis of the challenges facing
the trading system today and in the years to come. It will
address the following questions:
- What are the main challenges facing the multilateral
trading system today and in the future?
- How has the participation of developing countries in the
GATT/WTO evolved and what are the prospects for the future?
- How might agenda formation at the WTO be addressed in
the future?
- How to strike the right balance between inclusiveness
and efficiency in the decision-making process as it has
evolved from the GATT tothe WTO?
- How should regionalism be addressed in the future?
Session 4: Making Future Trade Policy Relevant to Future Trade
Reality
Organizer: European Centre for
International Political Economy (ECIPE) and International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)
Date: Wednesday 24 September, 16:15 – 18:15
The questions tackled in this session are the following:
- How does the fragmentation of production chains affect
trade policy aims and requirements?
- How has Asia used this fragmentation to integrate into
the world economy? What lessons can be learned from this
experience?
- How is the trade of the future thus being shaped? What
will be the key trade policy issues of the future?
- What are the priorities for business within today’s
global trading structure, and how do they relate to trade
policy priorities?
- What needs to happen at the WTO in order to maintain the
relevance of trade policy to trade reality?
Session 9: Markets for Raw Material and Energy – What Role for
the WTO?
Organizer: BUSINESSEUROPE
Date: Wednesday 24 September, 14:00 – 16:00
Securing a level playing field for access to raw materials
is a high priority for diverse and interdependent industries
around the world. However, trade and investment restrictions
are on the rise, and this especially affects the flow of
critical resources from areas like the Ukraine, Russia, China,
the Gulf States and from some African countries. The
discussion will address the question of access to fossil,
mineral and renewable raw materials, and what role the WTO can
and should play in order to reduce trade distortion.
Session 12: Building Sustainable Commodity Chains in Africa
Organizer: The Rainforest
Alliance
Date: Wednesday 24 September, 16:15 – 18: 15
Drawing on experiences in East and West Africa,
specifically in the tea and cocoa commodity markets, this
session will address the following questions:
- How can NGOs in their partnerships with producers and
buyers work to protect biodiversity, conserve natural
resources, improve the lives of farmers, their families and
workers, and promote sustainable agriculture?
- How can natural resource protection converge with the
interests of both businesses and farmers?
- What has the effect been of Rainforest Alliance
Certification for farmers in Africa to date,
environmentally, socially, and economically?
- How are standards for Sustainable Agriculture set in a
way that is transparent, credible, and relevant to
international trade?
Session 13: The Food Price Explosion: What Can the WTO Do?
Organizer: Institute for
Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP)
Date: Thursday 25 September, 9:00 – 11:00
In order to contribute to the debate around the
multilateral system's role both in mitigating the food price
crisis and in supporting future food security and sustainable
development, this session will explore the following
questions:
- What are the causes of the current price increases?
- What have been the impacts of multilateral trade rules
on developing countries' production capacities in the past
two decades?
- Which multilateral trade rules are needed to address the
causes of the crisis?
- How should WTO members work together towards crafting
this new set of trade rules?
Session 16: World Food Crisis: Are Trade Rules a Problem or a
Way Forward?
Organizer:
National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) on Trade Regulation, The World Trade Institute (WTI), ICTSD
Date: Thursday 25 September, 11:15 – 13:15
In the context of the world agricultural regime and food
markets in turmoil, this session addresses the following
questions:
- How do present trade rules increase or decrease food
security in both import-dependent and other developing
countries?
- What is the impact on food security and food aid of
present WTO rules and mechanisms, such as the relevant
provisions in the Agreement on Agriculture and other WTO
Agreements, of the ongoing DDA negotiations, and of rules
and principles in other international organisations?
- What are the compatibilities and incompatibilities of
various stakeholder interests in this issue?
Session 18: What Future for Global Economic Governance –
Potential Role of the WTO?
Organizer:
CUTS International, Friedrich-Ebert Stiftung — Geneva, The Evian Group at IMD — Lausanne
Date: Thursday 25 September, 11:15 - 13:15
This session proposes civil society dialogue to identify
the role of the WTO in the global
economic governance system and to evaluate how it could become
more development-
enhancing. The session will address the following questions:
- What is the impact of the Doha Round and its stalemates
on LDCs and their prospects for enhanced and beneficial
participation in world trade?
- What could the shape be of future global economic
governance and what is the WTO’s role therein?
- What should the scope be of cooperation between
developed and developing countries under the Aid for Trade
initiative in order to strengthen the link between trade,
growth and poverty reduction?
Session 21: Trade Facilitation – Impossible without
Facilitating Logistics
Organizer:
International Road Transport Union (IRU), FIATA, ICS, GEA and UN-ECE
Date: Thursday 25 September, 9:00 – 11:00
Considering that transport barriers limit the benefits of
the WTO’s efforts to open markets and may inhibit economic
development, this session will discuss how conditions of the
physical movement of traded goods can be improved in the
context of the WTO trade facilitation efforts, duly
considering other regulatory schemes governing international
transport and logistics. The session will highlight that trade
facilitation does not work alone if unaccompanied by the
facilitation of logistical activities. Possible remedies
within the scope of trade and transport facilitation will be
tackled.
Session 25: Trade and Development Policy for the 21st Century:
Towards a Southern Consensus
Organizer:
Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), New Delhi Global Development and Environment Institute (GDAE), Tufts University Medford Research Centre for Economic Change (CENIT) — Argentina
Date: Thursday 25 September, 9:00 – 11:00
One of the challenges facing the WTO is to make trade
governance more relevant for the process of development. Trade
rules should facilitate developing countries' ability to build
competitive productive capacities and to take full advantage
of the opportunities created by liberalization. The objective
of this session is to discuss the policy challenges for
building productive capacities in developing countries and to
address the question of how trade rules can be made consistent
with development policies.
Session 28: Five Years from the Decision to Action – Is the
2003 August Decision “The Expeditious” Solution for Access to Medicines We Need?
Organizer:
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) — Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines
Date: Thursday 25 September, September, 11:15 – 13:15
Access to medicines for developing countries continues to
be a struggle, illustrated by the price increase of newer
medicines and antiretroviral drugs. This session will discuss
how compulsory licensing plays a role in today’s procurement
of essential medicines and in particular will examine whether
the 2003 August Decision is indeed the expeditious solution it
promised to be.
Session 30: Forging New Comparative Advantage: Industrial
Policies' Revival and the Potential Clash with WTO Disciplines?
Organizer: The World Bank Group
Date: Thursday 25 September, 16:30 – 18:30
The panel will focus on the challenges and opportunities
for developing and emerging economies regarding multilateral
industrial policy, and will discuss the following questions:
- Are market failures susceptible to government
intervention?
- Do WTO disciplines prevent governments from adopting
pro-active policies to remedy the most important market
failures, to stimulate export growth and support structural
change?
- What types of institutional arrangements can be adopted
to lower the probability of failure and ensure the highest
probability of success?
Session 34: The Warwick Commission Report on the Future of the
Multilateral Trade System: Strategies for Implementation
Organizer: University of
Warwick
Date: Thursday 25 September, 16:30 – 18:30
In December 2007, the Warwick Commission report, ‘The
Multilateral Trade Regime: Which Way Forward?’ was launched at
the WTO. A stocktaking exercise for problems facing the
governance of the global trade system, the report offered
recommendations for both systemic reform and specific WTO
reform. The aim of this session is to allow for further
scrutiny of the Report’s recommendations by a Geneva audience
and to explore if and how those recommendations might be taken
forward. Panelists will give presentations on three key areas
of the report:
- agenda setting and decision-making at the WTO;
- trade and development, especially on the issue of Aid
for Trade;
- the challenges for multilateralism posed by the growth
of regional “preferentialism”.
Session 36: Environmental Trade: Leveraging Trade-Related
Policy Toward Sound Environmental Governance
Organizer: ENTWINED Research
Consortium
Date: Thursday 25 September, 16:30 – 18:30
Increasing diversity of production landscapes and competing
policy jurisdictions have led policy makers to choose trade
related instruments to ensure that economic prosperity is
accomplished in accordance with the objectives of sustainable
development. Many policy makers, however, still steer away
from trade-related measures for implementing environmental
policy with the fear that either such policies may be
ineffective or they would be subject to legal challenge under
the WTO. This session will set forth the case as to when and
why such measures make sense economically, while uncovering
the many concrete opportunities and strategies available for
building effective and WTO compliant trade-related
environmental policy.
Session 38: International Trade and Poverty: Proposals to Make
the Benefits of International Trade Reach the Most Excluded Sectors in Latin
America
Organizer: Consorcio de
Investigación Económica y Social (CIES, Peru) and Centro de
Implementación de Políticas Publicas Para La Equidad y El
Crecimiento (CIPPEC, Argentina)
Date: Thursday 25 September, 16:30 – 18:30
The main objective of this session is to discuss policy
options that can help the benefits of international trade reach the most socially excluded and
poorest sectors in the region.
The guiding questions for this panel will be:
- How can international trade become a tool for poverty
reduction in the context of grave inequality?
- How can an effective pro-poor focus be included in the
implementation processes of free trade agreements?
- Which good international practices related to design and
implementation of complementary trade policies are relevant
for the region?
Session 41: Research and
Construction of Capacity In Trade Negotiations
Organizer: Latin American Trade
Network (LATN) and International Development Research Centre (IDRC)
Date: Thursday 25 September, 14:15 – 16:15
This session addresses selected experiences of developing
countries in building research capacity to modify the
status-quo and move the knowledge-based policy discussion to a
current level, according to the rapid changes operating in the
global economy. The issues and questions selected for
discussion are the following:
- How formal linkages between policymakers, stakeholders
and researchers do conveyed pro-poor concerns into the trade
policy making process?
- What is the influence of research in coalition politics?
- How do the G20 and the G33 trade coalitions use research
to deal with both extra and intra-coalition politics?
- How do coalitions make use of research to influence the
agenda-setting?
- How can research be used internally –explicitly or
covertly– to facilitate consensus-building within a
coalition?
- How does policy making influence research?
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