ICTSD » ICTSD Dialogues

Seminario Taller - La efectividad e impacto (al desarrollo) de la ayuda para el comercio: estudio sobre Guatemala

interns — Tue, 22 May 2012 15:15:07 +0000

Trade and Sustinable Development Symposium

Adriana Verdier — Thu, 17 May 2012 09:05:28 +0000

With the aim of generating new and innovative proposals for fostering strong multilateral regimes supportive of trade and sustainable development, ICTSD and CEBRI - Centro Brasileiro de Relações Internacionais - are convening a Trade and Sustainable Development Symposium just prior to the United Nations Conference on Sustinable Development (Rio + 20) marking the 20th anniversary of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Through the Symposium, ICTSD and CEBRI are providing a forum to generate dynamic thinking, analysis and dialogue on issues of relevance to the Rio + 20 negotiations and beyond.

This initiative flows directly from ICTSD’s primary objective - to empower stakeholders in the trade policy and sustainable development domain through providing a forum to generate innovative thinking, analysis and dialogues on the pressing issues of the day.

The Trade and Sustainable Development Symposium will be taking place on the 19th of June 2012, at the Rio Othon Palace hotel in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Fore registration and more information on programme, partners and speakers please click here.

Strengthening Legal Capacity in Developing Countries Through South-South Dialogue

interns — Wed, 02 May 2012 05:33:40 +0000

Trade diplomats from 26 developing countries gathered in Geneva on the eve of 2May 2012, to kick-off a South-South Dialogue on Managing Trade Litigation. The event was part of a cutting-edge specialised training course set to explore real-life litigation challenges. Hosted by ICTSD in cooperation the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Advisory Centre on WTO Law (ACWL), the two-day meeting immediately followed a three-day advanced course for delegates on WTO dispute settlement.

The initiative directly builds upon earlier work conducted by ICTSD’s Legal Capacity Project, first and foremost the outcome of a series of regional and national dialogues as summarised in the CUP volume “Dispute Settlement at the WTO: The Developing Country Experience” edited by Gregory Shaffer and Ricardo Meléndez-Ortiz. It also marks the beginning of the second phase of ICTSD’s Legal Capacity Project, paving the way for another series of regional and national dialogues.

The tripartite partnership deploys a novel, interactive approach to legal capacity building that targets the ability of developing countries to manage international trade disputes.

Three innovative characteristics are particularly noteworthy:

1. Training through South-South exchange.
2. Focus on the practical challenges of dispute settlement.
3. Three organisation cooperation.

During the first three days of the training course, coordinated by the WTO and the ACWL, the participants attended interactive sessions on WTO dispute settlement. Experts on each of the stages of WTO dispute settlement provided instruction on their respective areas of expertise. The aim of the training was also to get the delegates ‘up to speed’ in order to enable them to participate in the following high-level experience exchange and to benefit from the identification of best practices.

At the South-South Dialogue on Managing Trade Litigation organised by ICTSD, which followed on 3-4 May, fifty senior experts from 26 developing countries focus their discussions on commonly faced, practical challenges. Discussions range from interagency coordination and the use of private counsel to pre-litigation conflict management, with the aim of jointly identifying challenges and solutions.

According to ICTSD research, 88 percent of developing countries cited legal capacity as the major advantage of developed trading nations in dispute settlement.

But there are some true dispute settlement masters among developing countries. To learn from their experiences can be vital for countries’ efforts to build the domestic systems needed for managing litigation. This starts with inter-agency coordination and ends with public-private partnerships to implementing authorised countermeasures.

The group of experts that attended the South-South Dialogue comprises senior dispute settlement delegates, independent experts and the delegates that attended the earlier training workshop. The experts plan to identify best practices for conflict resolution in the multilateral trade system as well as litigation techniques and pitfalls. These will be shared at a later stage in the form of a comprehensive meeting report and a detailed guide to managing trade litigation. The latter is meant to inform governmental and non-governmental stakeholders in their efforts to shape trade litigation.

Views & Opinions

A participant called the Dialogue a “South-South conversation where the trainers are also the trainees, which has a different feel from a North-South exchange or classroom setting”. “The countries represented here are diverse but share common challenges, and learning how your peers recently overcame the same problems you face today is a fruitful way to learn.”

Lauding the three institution partnership during Wednesdays kick-off reception, Miguel Rodriguez Mendoza, Senior Associate at ICTSD said: “The opportunity to partner with the WTO and ACWL and bring all these countries together is crucial for shifting our focus from information gathering to information dissemination and active trade litigation capacity building.”

“This is also a new way of capacity building in the WTO” said WTO Deputy Director General Alejandro Jara. “Bringing together three institutions with shared interests towards developing countries, but with distinct knowledge, expertise and experience in dispute settlement, can only enrich our TA beneficiaries. We are keen to take this partnership forward into other areas and other regions.”

Frieder Roessler, Executive Director at the ACWL finally explained the format of the event as follows: “The handling of WTO dispute settlement procedures is becoming increasingly complex, and this increasing complexity poses a challenge in the training of government officials from developing countries and LDCs,” Roessler said. “Nowadays training requires a combination of hands-on experience and the ability to transmit and share that know-how. This is the underlying philosophy of this workshop, and the ACWL is firmly committed to this approach.”

Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue on Trade in Sustainable Energy Goods and Services

Natalia Cubilla — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 13:12:49 +0000

ICTSD is organising a multi-stakeholder dialogue with Chinese government officials, industry and academia as well as international experts, addressing trade in sustainable energy goods and services.

Sustainable Energy Non-tariff Measures: the Role for Trade Policy

Natalia Cubilla — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 13:07:09 +0000

Addressing Carbon Leakage and Competitiveness Concerns for Enhanced Mitigation Action

Natalia Cubilla — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 10:01:23 +0000

Concerns for carbon leakage and competitiveness distortions are well spread and might prevent effective mitigation action. Related is the use of unilateral measures, in turn a source of tension. This session will assess the risks and explore solutions so as to enhance ambition on mitigation.

Agricultural Trade Policy in the United States

interns — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 17:47:34 +0000

Discussions around the 2012 farm bill are well underway in an environment where agricultural producers are making record incomes, direct payments tough to justify and reforms to commodity, crop insurance and conservation programs likely. The debate on Capitol Hill is mainly being driven by the imperative to reduce US budgetary outlays, and a clamoring by different US stakeholders to keep certain elements intact. Possible implications of US policy choices on producers and consumers in other parts of the world are getting much less attention.
ICTSD and its partners convened a group of US farm and biofuel policy experts and ambassadors to the WTO from select developing countries for an overview of the issues being debated in the run up to the next farm bill for an examination of their impacts in the US and abroad.

Geneva Ambassadors. L-R: Amb. Ronald Saborio Soto, Amb. Erwidodo (Indonesia), Amb. Manzoor Ahmad (Pakistan, 2002-08), Amb. S.B.C. Servansing (Mauritius), Amb. Yonov Frederick Agah (Nigeria)

L-R: Ammad Bahalim (ICTSD Geneva), Amb. Yonov Frederick Agah (Nigeria), Amb. Erwidodo (Indonesia), Amb. Manzoor Ahmad (Pakistan, 2002-08), Amb. S.B.C. Servansing (Mauritius), Amb. Ronald Saborio Soto

Aviation, Climate Change and Trade: Is Policy Still Up in the Air?

Natalia Cubilla — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 13:44:32 +0000

Aviation is vital for international trade. At the same time, the aviation sector is one of the fastest growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions. While it is necessary to address emissions from the sector in order to mitigate climate change, it has over the years proven incredibly challenging to reach an agreement on how to do this on a global scale. In addition, measures implemented are likely to affect the cost of air transport for goods and people and are thus susceptible of having significant trade effects, something that adds to the challenge.

Recently, the topic has generated considerable tension. This relates particularly to the decision by the European Union to include aviation into its Emissions Trading System (ETS), applicable to all flights that take off from and land in the EU. Indeed, more than 26 countries have joined forces against the EU’s policy and have proposed, amongst others, exploring the compatibility of the measure with WTO law. Against this backdrop, it is crucial to recall the wider challenge of how to effectively address climate change in a manner that is consistent with the legal obligations of countries, without unnecessarily restricting prospects for growth and development through trade.

The objective of the Dialogue is to offer a platform for exchange of views between experts and stakeholders on the regulation of aviation and in particular its effects on trade and the trading system. The meeting will highlight the economic, legal and political aspects of the issue, with the ultimate purpose of contributing to identifying constructive and non-confrontational solutions to the challenges discussed.

Policy Dialogue on how Russia’s WTO accession could affect agricultural trade and production.

interns — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 15:35:33 +0000

Professor Sergey Kiselev, head of the department of agricultural economics at Lomonosov Moscow State University, will present his analysis of the likely implications of Russia’s accession to the WTO for agricultural trade and production, looking in particular at how developing countries could be affected. He will discuss how disciplines on market access, domestic support and export competition in Russia’s accession agreement could be expected to affect particular products, and will examine what these would mean for specific exporting and importing countries. He will also look at the possible implications of other relevant measures in the accession agreement, such as those on SPS and TBT requirements, and draw some preliminary conclusions about the implications of Russia’s accession for agricultural trade and development.

Dialogue on Securing Food in Uncertain Markets: Challenges for Poor, Net Food-Importing Countries

interns — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 11:20:02 +0000

In recent years, high and volatile food prices have compounded pre-existing difficulties faced by some of the world’s poorest net food-importing countries, and exacerbated the challenge of safeguarding the food security of their citizens. Trade-related policies, rules and facilities in areas ranging from export restrictions, financing and food aid through to domestic support programmes and food stocks all influence the extent to which governments are able to overcome these problems. This dialogue will be an opportunity for negotiators, policy-makers and experts to discuss some of these issues, with a view to identifying remedial actions.