RESOURCES
INVESTMENT AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: A GUIDE TO THE USE AND POTENTIAL OF INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT AGREEMENTS. By the International Institute for Sustainable Development (June 2004). This new book offers an overview of the features, as well as some of the shortcomings, of international investment agreements. It argues that the agreements should be designed so as to promote sustainable development through foreign investment. Copies are available in PDF-form for free download at http://www.iisd.org/publications/publication.asp?pno=627
THE WTO AND THE MULTILATERAL TRADING SYSTEM: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. By Bhagirath Lal Das (Zed Books, May 2004). This book charts the evolution of the multilateral trading system and explores the future outlook for the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Bhagirath Lal argues that GATT/WTO has traditionally been used by the major industrial nations to pursue their own economic and political interests, at the expense of Third World development. This book also traces the links between these deficiencies and the WTO’s decision-making processes, which is seen to be dominated by developed country members. For further information see: http://zedweb.cybergecko.net/cgi-raw/a.cgi?1%2084277%20480%208
TOWARDS A FAIR DEAL FOR MIGRANT WORKERS IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY. By the International Labour Office (ILO, June 2004). In practically every region, the rising mobility of people in their search for decent work and human security has been commanding the attention of policy-makers. The issue has prompted dialogues on how to improve multilateral cooperation to better manage the flows, in the interest of protecting human rights, maximising migration’s contribution to growth and development, and preventing clandestine flows and trafficking. This report has been prepared with these issues in mind. It links the ILO’s concerns with other recent initiatives in the field, incorporates new research and data, and synthesises the lessons that can be drawn from the experience of both origin and host countries in seeking to manage migration to improve the treatment and conditions of migrant workers and members of their families. For further information and to access the report, see http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/relm/ilc/ilc92/pdf/rep-vi.pdf
"Dirty Tariffication Revisited: The EU and Sugar". By Alan Swinbank in the ESTEY CENTRE JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE LAW AND POLICY, Vol. 5, Nr 1 (2004). Some commentators have claimed that a number of countries, including the EU, engaged in "dirty tariffication" during the Uruguay Round of trade talks. This article examines the EU’s record on sugar and finds little evidence to substantiate the claim. However, world prices increased between the base period (1986-88) and the date of implementation (1995), and so tariffication resulted in an increase in the tax that would have been charged on sugar imports into the EU. As well, the Special Safeguard provisions meant that a substantial additional levy could be charged. To access the report, see http://www.esteyjournal.com
HOW TO LOBBY AT INTERGOVERNMENTAL MEETINGS. By Felix Dodds and Michael Strauss (Earthscan, March 2004). Organisations spend considerable resources taking staff to international meetings, often without understanding how these meetings work. This book is a unique guide on how to participate and be heard at intergovernmental meetings, whether as a stakeholder or a government official. It contains a wealth of essential reference material including tips for navigating the intergovernmental hot spots of New York and Geneva, lists of UN commissions, conferences and permanent missions, contact details of key international organisations, NGOs and stakeholder groups and useful web addresses. For further information see http://www.earthscan.co.uk/asp/bookdetails.asp?key=4063
"The Doha Investment Negotiations: Whither or Wither". By Bill Dymond and Michael Hart in the JOURNAL OF WORLD INVESTMENT & TRADE 5 (2, 2004). At the 2001 WTO Ministerial Meeting, it was decided to delay launching negotiations on a multilateral agreement on investment negotiations until the 2003 meeting, subject to an explicit consensus on the modalities of negotiations. At that meeting, very little was accomplished, as the modalities had not yet been agreed. What can now be expected of the negotiations? At some point, WTO Ministers will need to dispose of the Doha mandate by deciding on the object and purpose of bringing investment within the WTO family of agreements. This article aims to contribute to that decision. It first reviews the efforts to negotiate multilateral investment agreements in the past and the discussions at the WTO that led to the Doha investment mandate. It then examines the intellectual and policy foundations for a WTO investment agreement. Finally, it discusses some of the major issues that require resolution and offers some recommendations on the way forward, even considering the option of taking investment off the WTO negotiating agenda entirely.
"The Regulatory Philosophy of International Trade Law". By Veijo Heiskanen in the JOURNAL OF WORLD TRADE 38 (1, 2004). The recent failure of the Doha round of trade talks in Cancun, Mexico, has been viewed as yet another signal of a slowdown, if not reversal, of the process of globalisation. While this is not the first time that trade talks have stalled during a negotiation round, the collapse in Cancun, coming as it did only four years after the previous failure in Seattle, has prompted a more serious reflection on the present state of the multilateral trading system. Has the globalisation process reached a turning point where the famous bicycle of market integration has finally started backpedaling? Or, less dramatically, has the decision-making mechanism of the multilateral trading system, which the WTO effectively inherited from the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), reached its limits?