EVENTS
For a more comprehensive list of events in trade and sustainable development, please refer to ICTSD’s web calendar at: http://www.ictsd.org/cal/index.htm.. If you would like to submit an event, please email events@ictsd.ch .
Coming Up This Week: 28 November - December 5
25-29 November, Rome, Italy: SIXTH CONFERENCE OF THE PARTIES TO THE VIENNA CONVENTION AND THE 14TH MEETING OF THE PARTIES TO THE MONTREAL PROTOCOL. For further information, contact: Ozone Secretariat; tel: +254 (02) 623-850 or 621-234; fax: 623-601 or 623-913; Internet: http://www.unep.org/ozone/mop/14mop/14mop.shtml
25-29 November, Geneva, Switzerland: WIPO STANDING COMMITTEE ON THE LAW OF PATENTS (EIGHT SESSION). For further information, contact: WIPO, tel: +41 (022) 338 9111; fax: 733 54 28; Email: WIPO.mail@wipo.int ; Internet: http://www.wipo.org/news/en/index.html?wipo_content_frame=/news/en/conferences.html
27 - 29 November, Cusco, Peru: MEETING OF MEGADIVERSE COUNTRIES. Organised by The Group of Like Minded Megadiverse Countries. An expert meeting on access to genetic resources and benefit sharing (ABS) and traditional knowledge will take place over the first two days of this. The final segment of the meeting will bring together Ministers and high-level representatives of the Group to analyse and approve a political statement. To view the Cancun Declaration of Like-Minded Megadiverse Countries, see: http://www.embamexcan.com/english/Enviornment/CancunDeclaration.html For further information on this event, visit http://www.gefoodalert.org/Calendar/detail.cfm?whichevent=503 .
2-4 December, Geneva, Switzerland: TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT BOARD, THIRTIETH EXECUTIVE SESSION, ON LDCS. Objectives of this meeting are: to make a substantive contribution to the policy debate on poverty reduction strategies, identifying policy measures, at both the national and the international level, which can enable LDCs to escape the poverty trap; to promote consensus on national and international policies for effective polices of poverty reduction in the LDCs; and to encourage the wider dissemination and discussion of key messages of the LDC Report 2002 among policy makers from both LDCs and their development partners. For further information on this event, fax: +41(0) 22 917 0056; or email: unctad.meetings.services@unctad.org ; Internet: http://www.unctad.org/en/docs//tb30d1_en.pdf
4-5 December, Sao Paulo, Brazil: LATIN AMERICA REGIONAL SEMINAR ON INVESMENT FOR DEVELOPMENT, organised by CUTS-CITEE. The seminar will be held under the “Investment for Development’, which is being conducted by CUTS-CITEE in collaboration with UNCTAD with support from Department for International Development (DFID), UK. The objectives of the seminar are to share research findings of the project with the civil society and disseminate information on the various issues relating to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). The project researcher from Brazil will present his research findings. For further information, contact Mr. Bipul Chatterjee/Ms. Purnima Purohit, CUTS, tel: +91 (0)141 220 74 82; fax: 220 74 86 http://cuts.org/forthcoming-events.htm#LATIN%20AMERICA .
5 December, 9:00, Geneva, Switzerland: ENHANCING THE WTO DISPUTE SETTLEMENT UNDERSTANDING. Organised by the Federal Trust for Education and Research. Discussion panellists for the discussion include: Roderick Abbott, Deputy Director General, World Trade Organisation; Mateo Diego-Fernandéz, Counsellor, Permanent Mission of Mexico to the WTO; Brendan McGivern, Counsellor, Permanent Mission of Canada; and Rachel Thompson, Associate Director, Global Trade Practice, APCO Worldwide. For further information, contact Alexis Krachai, tel: +44 (0)20 7735 4000; email: alexis.k@fedtrust.co.uk ; Internet: http://www.fedtrust.co.uk/dsu_london.htm
WTO
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.
28 November, 10:00, Geneva, Switzerland: COMMITTEE ON BUDGET, FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION. Items to be discussed include administrative updates and progress reports, as well as financial matters.
28 November, 10:00, Geneva, Switzerland: DISPUTE SETTLEMENT BODY. WTO/AIR/1972.
28 November, 09:00, Geneva, Switzerland: SPECIAL SESSION OF THE COUNCIL FOR TRADE-RELATED ASPECTS OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS. Items to be discussed include negotiation of the establishment of a multilateral system of notification and registration of geographical indications for wines and spirits.
28 November, 14:00, Geneva, Switzerland: WORKING GROUP ON TRADE AND TRANSFER OF TECHNOLOGY. Items on the agenda include a presentation by the World Bank, other WTO bodies with a concern in this area, and various submissions by member states.
29 November, 10:00, Geneva, Switzerland: COMMITTEE ON CUSTOMS VALUATION. WTO/AIR/1975.
29 November, 14:00, Geneva, Switzerland: TRADE POLICY REVIEW BODY - VENEZUELA. Reports to be discussed include a report by the government of Venezuela and a report by the Secretariat concerning Venezuela.
29 November, 10:00, Geneva, Switzerland: WORKING GROUP ON TRANSPARENCY IN GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT. WTO/AIR/1953
1 & 2 December, 09:45, Geneva, Switzerland: WORKSHOP ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TRADE AND INVESTMENT.
2 & 3 December, 10:00, Geneva, Switzerland: NEGOTIATING GROUP ON MARKET ACCESS.WTO/AIR/1976
2 & 3 December, 13:00, Geneva, Switzerland: SPECIAL SESSION OF THE COMMITTEE ON TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT.
3 December, Geneva, Switzerland: WORKING GROUP ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TRADE AND INVESTMENT.
3 December, 10:00, Geneva, Switzerland: WORKING PARTY ON GATS RULES.
Other Forthcoming
9-17 December, Geneva, Switzerland: FOURTH SESSION OF THE WIPO INTERGOVERNMENTAL COMMITTEE ON INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND GENETIC RESOURCES, TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND FOLKLORE. For further information on this conference, contact WIPO; tel: +41 (0)22 338-9111; email: WIPO.mail@wipo.int .
9-13 December, Geneva, Switzerland: SIXTH MEETING OF THE CONFERENCE TO THE PARTIES TO THE BASEL CONVENTION. For further information, contact the Basel Convention Secretariat, tel: +41 (0)22 917 8218; fax: 797 3454; email: sbc@unep.ch ; Internet: http://www.basel.int .
12 December, Brussels, Belgium: EU PUBLIC MEETING. The European Commission is hosting a public meeting to discuss the Mid-Term reports for the current sustainability impact assessment (SIA) studies of proposed WTO Negotiations (Sector Studies for Market Access, Environmental Services and Competition; and Preliminary Overview of Potential Impacts of the Doha Agenda). To register for this meeting, contact Ms Kacimi; email: fatiha.kacimi@cec.eu.int .
2-7 January, Hyderabad, India: ASIAN SOCIAL FORUM. The main themes of the forum are the following: Peace and Security; Debt, Development and Trade; Nation State, Democracy and Exclusions; Ecology, Culture and Knowledge; Social Infrastructure, Planning and Cooperation; and Alternatives and Peoples Movements. For further information on this conference, visit http://www.wsfindia.org .
10 January, Paris, France: EUROPEAN SEMINAR ON FINANCE, ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. This event is intended to highlight the issues addressed during the World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg. Financial leaders will debate around issues of fundamental importance to capital markets and the financial services community. The seminar will introduce innovative tools and techniques for enhanced risk management and assessment of emerging commercial opportunities linked to sustainability. For further information on this seminar, contact Kiki Lawal at UNEP, email: kiki.lawal@unep.ch .
23-28 January, Davos, Switzerland: WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM ANNUAL MEETING 2003. For further information, visit http://www.weforum.org/site/homepublic.nsf/Content/Annual+Meeting+2003 .
3-7 February, Nairobi, Kenya: UNEP GOVERNING COUNCIL. For further information on this event, visit http://www.unep.org , or contact beverly.miller@unep.org .
6-9 February, New Delhi, India: DELHI SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT SUMMIT 2003. The deliberations at DSDS 2003 will essentially focus on translating the priorities set at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) into action. It will also add value to the WSSD process through many action-oriented suggestions for the global community to realize the goal of sustainable development. For further information, visit http://www.teriin.org/dsds/2003/index.htm .
19 February, Geneva, Switzerland: COMPETITION POLICY AND PRO-POOR DEVELOPMENT. A symposium based on a two-year research and advocacy project titled “The 7- Up Project” by CUTS Centre for International Trade, Economics & Environment (CUTS-CITEE). The meetings will focus on three main questions: How does Competition Policy and law help the poor?; What type of competition law should a country have?; How do developing countries deal with cross-border issues? For further information on this symposium, visit http://www.cuts.org . To view the completed study, visit http://www.cuts.org/7-up .
30 May - 12 June, Havana, Cuba: IV INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION ON ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. Leading professionals from various environmental fields and environmental justice groups will participate in the conference through the presentation of scientific and policy papers, poster displays, active participation in specific US-Cuba sessions during the conference, and through productive networking with their Cuban colleagues during the entire delegation tour. For further information on this convention, visit http://www.globalexchange.org .
30 June - 5 July, Rome, Italy: 25TH SESSION OF THE CODEX ALIMENTARIUS COMMISSION. For further information on this conference, visit http://www.codexalimentarius.net/timetab.htm .
10-14 September, Cancun, Mexico: WTO FIFTH MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE. For further information on this conference, visit http://www.wto.org , or email: enquries@wto.org .