For a more comprehensive list of events in trade and sustainable development, please refer to ICTSD’s web calendar. If you would like to submit an event, please email us.
Coming Up: 7-13 July
6-10 July, Ravello, Italy: AGRICULTURAL BIOTECHNOLOGY: TEN YEARS AFTER. This meeting is being organised by the International Consortium on Agricultural Biotechnology Research and will focus on topics including the impact of agricultural biotechnology on international trade, public acceptance of biotechnology, the impact of science, intellectual property rights, biotechnology and developing countries, and the regulation of biotechnology. For further information contact Vittorio Santaniello, tel: (+39 06) 72-595-843; fax: 72-595-721; email: icabr@economia.uniroma2.it; Internet: http://www.economia.uniroma2.it/conferenze/icabr2005/Default.asp.
12-13 July, Dalian, China: WTO INFORMAL MINISTERIAL MEETING. China’s Ministry of Commerce will be hosting a WTO "mini-ministerial" meeting which will aim to lay the groundwork for the December Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong. For further information see http://www.mofcom.gov.cn/wto/index_e.shtml.
9 July, Piccadilly, London: GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE 2005. This conference, titled "Africa’s Development - Who Decides?" will try to understand development challenges from a Southern perspective, with contributions from people who have worked at the grassroots level — both from the South and the North. For further information contact Benny Dembitzer, email: director@ethical-events.org; Internet: http://www.ethical-events.org/afcon.
WTO Events
An updated list of forthcoming WTO meetings is posted at: http://www.wto.org/english/news_e/meets.pdf. Please bear in mind that dates and times of WTO meetings are often changed, and that the WTO does not always announce the important informal meetings of the different bodies. Unless otherwise indicated, all WTO meetings are held at the WTO, Centre William Rappard, rue de Lausanne 154, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland, and are open to WTO Members and accredited observers only.
7 June: TRADE POLICY REVIEW BODY - PHILIPPINES
7 - 8 June: COMMITTEE ON TRADE AND ENVIRONMENT - SPECIAL SESSION
8 June: SUB-COMMITTEE ON LEAST-DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
11 June: COMMITTEE ON BUDGET, FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION
11 - 12 June: NEGOTIATING GROUP ON RULES
Other Upcoming Events
18-20 July, Dakar, Senegal: FOURTH AFRICAN GROWTH AND OPPORTUNITY ACT (AGOA) FORUM. This event will bring together governments of the US and the thirty-seven AGOA-eligible countries, as well as representatives from the private sector and civil society to discuss how AGOA can continue to be a vehicle to increase trade and investment between the United States and sub-Saharan Africa. Further information available at http://www.agoaforum.org.
18-22 July, Hammamet, Tunisia: FIRST MEETING OF THE CONTACT GROUP FOR THE DRAFTING OF THE STANDARD MATERIAL TRANSFER AGREEMENT. This meeting will build upon the work of an earlier expert group to outline the contract that will set the minimum standards for access to plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA) for the 64 crops covered by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation’s International Treaty on PGRFA. For further information contact José Esquinas-Alcázar, tel: (+39 06) 570 54986; fax: 570 53057; email: Jose.Esquinas@fao.org; Internet: http://www.fao.org/ag/cgrfa/cgmta1.htm.
5-7 September, Geneva, Switzerland: EXPERT MEETING ON METHODOLOGIES, CLASSIFICATIONS, QUANTIFICATION AND DEVELOPMENT IMPACTS OF NON-TARIFF BARRIERS. The aim of this meeting is aim to clarify methodologies for defining and classifying Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) according to their nature and source, and discuss options on how to deal with NTBs in terms of analysing their relative restrictive impacts on trade. For further information contact UNCTAD Secretariat, tel: (+41 0) 22 917 5809; fax: (+41 0) 22 917 0056; email: correspondence@unctad.org; Internet: http://www.unctad.org/Templates/Meeting.asp?intItemID=3411&lang=1.
23-24 September, Geneva, Switzerland: STUDY SESSION ON INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND HUMAN RIGHTS. This event, organized by 3D, is designed for a small number of mid- to high-level professionals working on intellectual property (IP) policy or human rights and will provide an opportunity for informal and in-depth dialogue. More specifically, it will explore how human rights rules and mechanisms can be applied in support of fairer, development-oriented IP regimes. The application deadline is 15 July. For further information contact 3D, email: studysession@3dthree.org; Internet: http://www.3dthree.org/en/complement.php?IDcomplement=39.