South Centre hosted the International Trade Policy Students, Cohort 4, Academic Year 2007-8 from the University of West Indies on 13 May 2008 at its office.
The South Centre organises a working lunch for its member countries in view of certain developments on issues concerning intellectual property (IP) enforcement at the World Customs Organisation (WCO). The WCO is increasingly focussing on the formation of enhanced border measures, primarily supported by G8 countries. In this connection, the third meeting of the Working Group on the provisional Standards Employed by Customs for Uniform Rights Enforcement (SECURE) in Brussels from April 24 to 25, 2008.
The meeting called for by the Innovation and Access to Knowledge Programme (IAKP) of the South Centre focused on the implications and possible strategies that developing countries must adopt in making their concerns properly addressed at the WCO. Dr. Xuan Li, Coordinator of the IAKP gave a presentation on the defects in both the process and contents in WCO SECURE draft provisions. According to Dr. Li, many provisions are TRIPS-Plus, which the developed countries were trying to push hard through the back door.
The member country delegates raised serious concerns over the choice of forum on IP enforcement related issues and strongly stated that such provisions in SECURE, and WCO as a forum to discuss IP enforcement, was totally unacceptable. The need for better coordination among and within developing countries was emphasised.
Chief Emeka Anyaoku, the distinguished Board Member of the South Centre has been conferred with South Africa's highest national honour for non-South Africans, the Order of Supreme Companions of O.R. Tambo: Gold.
The honour was conferred on Chief Anyaoku by South African President Thabo Mbeki in on 22nd April 2008 in a special ceremony in Pretoria, South Africa.
South Centre and its staff members extend their heartfelt congratulations to Chief Anyaoku on this honour.
Quoted from ISD News-Ghana and Government of Ghana Portal:
UNCTADXII/Accra. The Executive Director of the South Centre, an Intergovernmental Organization of the Developing Countries based in Geneva, Dr Yash Tandon, has urged the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) to direct its energies and future efforts towards addressing the obstacles to change in Africa.
He said “at the systemic level there are still many serious and formidable obstacles to change towards a more equitable and just world that needs urgent collective action by the global community” adding that “Africa looks more mired than the rest of the South in the quagmire of the past, but there are signs of growth in Africa too".
Dr Y. Tandon made this known in a statement dubbed "Towards National and Collective Self Reliance of the South" at the General Debate of ongoing UNCTAD-XII in Accra yesterday .
Complete quote can be read at:
http://www.ghana.gov.gh/ghana/unctad_address_challenges_change_africa.jsp
Quoted from Ghana News, Joy Online.
UNCTADXII/Accra. An International Economist has said “aid and charity are the wrong way towards addressing the systemic challenges and development issues in Africa.”
Dr. Yash Tandon, Executive Director of the Geneva based South Centre, an intergovernmental organisation of developing countries made the statement during the general debate at the conference.He, therefore, called on UNCTAD to lead the way in finding ways and means of exiting from aid dependence for countries in the South, especially Africa.
Dr Tandon noted that though there were areas of development in the South that gave reasons for celebration “we are still confronted with major challenges at the systemic level of the world economic order that hampered the development of the South despite so much aid from the North.”
Read the complete quote at:Ms. Luisa Rodriguez, Programme Officer, South Centre participated in the workshop to assess the process of identification, by the West African Region, of Sensitive Products in the EPA negotiations organized by the ECOWAS Commission in Bamako, Mali from 28 to 30 April 2008.
The South Centre was invited to participate in this event because of its research experience on EPAs and because of its contribution to the process of identification of Sensitive products in previous events organized by the region.
South Centre brought together delegates from the developed and the developing world on Aril 16, 2008 as part of its South - North Dialogue Series (SNDS) initiative. Participants from the North included those from Norway, Switzerland, Germany and France while from the South it included delegates from Maldives, Mexico, China, Indonesia and Philippines; and some NGO's like Third World Network, ICTSD, IGSD and E3G Third Generation Environmentalism.
This SNDS initiative was aimed at strengthening the participation of developing countries in climate change negotiations and to forge an alliance with developed partners in capacity building, financing and technology transfer. The event was organized in the light of the ongoing Bangkok talks under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
The perspective of the developed countries was summarized by H.E. Mrs. Marie-Louise Overvad, Ambassador of Denmark, who acknowledged the higher responsibility of the North in climate change "mitigation" and "adaptation" and its moral obligation to help developing countries counter the adverse effects of global warming.
From the South, H.E. Mr. I Gusti Agung Wesaka Puja, Ambassador of Indonesia, emphasized the importance of political partnerships and active involvement of all nations, if the hard-won victory in Bali is to survive and deliver.
Mrs. Bernarditas Muller, a senior negotiator from the Philippines (and now the G-77) on climate change and South Centre advisor, elaborated on the role of capacity strengthening as a cross-cutting issue which should be demand-driven and tailored to fit the needs of developing countries instead of simply being imported from the North experience. A lot has been achieved in Baliand political will and efforts should be channelled through the UNFCCC avenue rather than splitting resources and creating alternative venues for action.
On 24 April 2008, the South Centre's Innovation and Access to Knowledge Programme (IAKP) organized a working lunch for the delegates of developing countries working on the IP Issues.
The purpose of the meeting was to assist developing country delegations to share information, prepare and coordinate their participation in the upcoming third session of the World Health Organization (WHO) Intergovernmental Working Group on Innovation, Public Health and Intellectual Property Rights (IGWG) from April 28 - May 3, 2008.
The third WHO IGWG meeting is to negotiate and finalize the draft text of the Global Strategy and Action Plan to be submitted for approval to the WHA in May 2008. The aim of the Global Strategy and Action Plan is to create a medium term framework to increase research and development for developing medical products targeted at addressing the disease burden of developing countries.
Mr. Darlan F. Marti, Programme Officer, Trade for Development Programme at the South Centre served as a discussant in the session on "Comparative analysis of liberalisation schedules and other commitments of the African interim EPAs" at Brussels on 17 April 2008.
The session was organized by APRODEV, ODI and ECDPM as a part of their meeting on the EPA negotiations state of play and assessment of options of the way forward.
