Conference Background & Context
Research Agenda
Objective and Design of the Conference
Venue
Contact
Conference Write Up
List of Participants
 Conference Background & Context
1990s saw a number of changes in the international trading system. The decade witnessed an unprecedented lowering of tariffs and phenomenal increase in foreign investment flows. This has stimulated growth but unevenly, both within and across nations. In both developed and developing countries there is an increasing gap between the rich and the poor in the same society. The second aspect of this change is the emergence of issue-specific groups, i.e. loose networks of countries on specific issues. Thirdly, at the national level countries have made attempts at economic reforms (through structural adjustment and macro economic stabilization programs), which are interwoven with reforms in trade policies for implementation of the Uruguay Round accords of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).
Finally, there is an interesting and new phenomenon, which is manifesting itself in the global system, i.e. the internationalization of the public interest civil society. With the rapid flow of information across the globe at extremely low costs the civil society is better placed than ever before to understand and talk to each other. With this as backdrop, in the year 2001, CUTS Centre for International Trade, Economics & Environment has undertaken a three-year project titled: South Asian Civil Society Network on International Trade Issues. This project seeks to address these changes and provide upward and downward linkages to the civil society groups in South Asia on issues concerning trade and sustainable development, which are evolving in an increasingly complex multilateral trading system by the following manner:
- Establishing a network of individuals and institutions hailing from academia, civil society, research institutes, and media, supported by a Project Advisory Committee,
- Conducting research and analyses on multilateral trade issues in the light of the WTO agreements and their effects on South Asian countries.
The network objectives:
- Endeavor to create a ‘network-institution' which would have the capacity to comprehend and analyze the effects of multilateral trade agreements on issues of concerns to South Asian countries;
- Expand the existing civil society network to include relevant academic organisations, research institutes, other civil society groups;
- Disseminate findings of the research in the form of research reports/discussion papers and briefing papers to wider audiences in identified countries of the region; and
- Improve the flow of information from academic research to civil society and vice versa.
Research Agenda
The research agenda of the project is categorized into three ‘groups’.
Group-1 will conduct research on certain general items as well as on issues undergoing review at the WTO. Research items falling under this category are political economy of trade and development, issues pertaining to special and differential treatments, agriculture, intellectual property rights, and textiles & clothing.
Group-2 items are those on which better comprehension and general analyses are required. These are tariff and non-tariff barriers, agriculture and food security, issues pertaining to investment and competition, and intellectual property rights and traditional knowledge system.
Group-3 items are those on which research and analyses will consider the effects of multilateral trade agreements on specific sectors in select countries of the region. Analyses of Group-3 items will feed into the research and analyses of Group-1 and Group-2 items.
The research will involve visits of experts within concerned South Asian countries, i.e. Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
The research results will be discussed in conferences, and be disseminated through publication of research reports/discussion papers and briefing papers. Network members will also be encouraged to translate briefing papers in their local languages. The targeted audience will be academia, research institutions, civil society organisations, and media persons. They will also be electronically disseminated via Internet to a larger audience.
Objective and Design of the Conference
The final conference under the project is to be held in Islamabad from 17-19 August 2004. The broad focus will be on:
a) taking stock of the post-Cancun scenario
b) RTAs and options before the South Asia Region,
c) textiles and clothing-post MFA era and
d) trade in services-issue of outsourcing,
e) agriculture etc.
f) Last but by no means least, it will also discuss the future agenda of the SACSNITI project and how to carry-forward its South-Asian trade network.
This activity will involve civil society representatives, researchers from research institutions, academics & experts, policy-makers, business representatives and media persons from the South Asian countries in a two and a half day conference.
Venue
Best Western Hotel
6
Islamabad Club Road
Islamabad, Pakistan
For Further Information, please contact
Mr. Sajid Kazmi
Advocacy Coordinator,
Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI)
#3 UN Boulevard, Diplomatic Enclave- 1,
G-5, Islamabad Pakistan
Ph: 92-51-2278 134
Fax: 92-51-2278 135
Email: sajid@sdpi.org
Or
Ms Purnima Purohit
CUTS Centre for International Trade, Economics & Environment
D-217, Bhaskar Marg
Bani Park Jaipur 302 016, India
Ph: 91.141.220 7482
Fax: 91.141.220 7486/220 3998
Em: citee@cuts-international.org
Web: www.cuts-international.org |
