Sisule F. Musungu - IQsensato has been accredited to, and will be participating in the Seventh World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference which takes place the Geneva International Conference Centre (CICG) from 30th November 2009 to 2 December 2009. As part of our participation, IQsensato is organising/co-organising two key side events at the main NGO Centre during the Ministerial in addition to blogging on the Ideas in Development Blog. Both events are open to all accredited delegates (government, international organisations, NGOs) to the Ministerial conference.
Archive for the ‘International Trade Regulation’ Category
IQsensato at the Seventh WTO Ministerial Conference
Monday, November 30th, 2009Trade Disputes and Stakeholder Consultations in Developing Countries
Saturday, August 8th, 2009Marcia Pereira - Consultation with stakeholders is a key element not only in the formulation, but also in the enforcement of trade policies. The importance of formal procedures for consultations has gained emphasis in recent years, in particular, because some developing countries have requested or are considering requesting authorization from the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) to retaliate or cross-retaliate under the WTO Agreements against developed countries.
A Take on Clinton’s AGOA Speech
Thursday, August 6th, 2009Sisule F. Musungu - From potential to opportunity to governance through to the excellent Nairobi hairdos. The speech by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as the head of the U.S. delegation to the 8th AGOA Forum, on 5th of August 2009 in Nairobi was quite wide-ranging. Its value primarily lies in the detail it offered regarding the policy that Obama outlined in his Ghana Speech less than a month before. They say the devil is in the detail. For that reason having the detail can tell you if, and where, the devil might be in Obama’s Africa policy.
U.S. –Africa Trade: Assessing Nine Years of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA)
Monday, August 3rd, 2009Sisule F. Musungu - The eighth African Growth and Opportunity Act -8th AGOA Forum- takes place in Nairobi, Kenya from the 4th to the 6th August 2009. The theme for this year’s Forum is “Realizing the Full Potential of AGOA through Expansion of Trade and Investment”. The theme sounds depressingly similar to the themes of the last two forums. The theme of the 7th AGOA Forum, in 2008, was “Mobilizing Private Investment for Trade and Growth” and that for the 6th Forum, in 2007, “As Trade Grows, Africa Prospers: Optimizing the Benefits under AGOA.” The topics in the Forum Programme are also fairly familiar. The familiarity of topics and like sounding themes year in year out might not necessarily be a negative thing. But it is a reason to look beyond the surface.
WTO Public Forum 2009: Trade, financial crisis and the future
Friday, March 6th, 2009The World Trade Organization (WTO) has announced that its Annual Public Forum will take place from 28th to 30 September 2009 at its headquarters in Geneva. The title of this year’s Forum is “Global Problems, Global Solutions: Towards Better Global Governance”. (See WTO website at http://www.wto.org/english/forums_e/ngo_e/forum09_background_e.htm for details). Last year, the topic was “Trading into the Future”. Are we going forward or backwards? One important question to ask about this year’s forum topic is whether global governance is the central issue in thinking about the impact of the financial crisis on trade financing, especially in developing countries and least-developed countries (LDCs), and how to tackle protectionism. (more…)
