South-North Dialogue of Food and Energy Security opens in Geneva, 17 June 2008

South Centre and the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Indonesia in Geneva organized this joint event to assess the underlying causes and policy dilemmas related to energy security, food security and livelihood security and multilateral responses required to correct the systemic issues.

H.E I Gusti Agung Wesaka Puja, Charge d'Affairs, Permanent Mission of Indonesia to Geneva and Dr. Yash Tandon, Executive Director of the South Centre provided the welcome address. Ambassador Puja stressed the need for multilateral responses to multidimensional crisis such as that of food security while Dr. Tandon laid out the systemic issues underlying food crisis and which requires a rethinking of existing development strategies.

Opening remarks were made by Mrs. Lakshmi Puri, Acting Deputy Secretary General of UNCTAD and by H.E Ambassador Juan Antonio Fernandez Ambassador of Cuba to the UN. Mrs Puri described the food crisis as an urgent wake up call in the area of development while Ambassador Antonio Fernandez illustrated the negative impact on the realization of the right to food of the worsening of the world food crisis, caused inter alia by the soaring food prices’.

Session 1: Understanding the Extent of the Problem

Mr. Josef Schmidhuber from Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reminded the audience that food prices will remain high as long as oil prices remain high.

Mr. Mbaye Ndiaye from Permanent Mission of Senegal stressed that agriculture should be high in the economic agenda at the national and intenational level and adequate resources should be mobilized to help developing countries, especially the LDCs.

Ms. Umpika Poonachit, Permanent Mission of Thailand shared the policy responses undertaken by Thailand - as a rice exporting, middle-income developing country, to tackle the food security issue.

Section 2: Causes and Possible Solutions

Ms. Teresa Cavero (Oxfam) explained how decades of wrong policy prescriptions to developing countries and forced liberalization have led to price crisis. Developing countries were forced to let agriculture fall apart and then forced to open their markets which were flooded with cheap imports. Unregulated capital and commodity markets and push towards biofuels has fueled food crisis.

Over 80 people are participating in the event from Missions to the UN of countries of the North and South in Geneva, NGOs and other development agencies.

South North Dialogue Series: Building Capacities on Climate Change

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 Bali and political will and efforts should be channelled through the UNFCCC avenue rather than splitting resources and creating alternative venues for action.

The Event concluded with a common agreement that whatever capacity-building and financing should happen on climate change, should be under the Convention.

Reflections on UNCTAD XII

South Centre organized an informal NGOs meeting on 23rd April 2008 to reflect on the UNCTADXII process, the challenges presented, the role played by the civil society, and future directions to take.

The meeting was well attended by several representatives of NGOs present for UNCTAD XII at Accra. There was an interest expressed in continuing with such informal meetings on the sides of key events to strategise and leverage efforts and actions.

Press Release: Six Major Challenges Ahead for UNCTAD

Read the Press Release at http://www.southcentre.org/info/2008Apr_Press_Release_UNCTAD_XII.pdf

Dr. Yash Tandon, Executive Director of the South Centre delivered his statement "Towards National and Collective Self Reliance of the South" at the General Debate of the Twelfth Session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD-XII) on 23rd April at Accra, Ghana.

According to Dr. Tandon, "there are areas of development in the South that give reasons to celebrate. The independence shown by some countries in Latin America from dependence in the North is an example of this positive development. The growth of the economies of certain countries in Asia whose increasing so- called “sovereign wealth” is now the source of bailing out distressed banks in the North is a sign of changing times".

Whilst we have a lot to celebrate, we still confront major challenges.

According to Dr. Tandon, "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. 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. Tandon listed six major challenges where UNCTAD should direct its energies and future efforts. The challenges include:

1 Recognise that the three pillars set by the UN reform process -- security, development and human rights -- are interdependent; none can be sacrificed for the others.
2. Recognise that MDGs are not simply a statistical game of numbers, or simply one of finding money. There are difficult and complex political issues underlying them. Statistization and monetization of MDGs mask /mystify systemic and structural malaise behind these issues, and divert attention from them. Recognise that what led to Millennium Summit in 2000 and MDGs was the development failure in 1990s. That still remains the case.
3. Recognise that the Washington Consensus is dead, and therefore there is need for fresh thinking on development, financial architecture, and climate change.
4. Recognise that development is self-defined; the North cannot define it for the South.
5. Recognise that aid and charity are the wrong way towards addressing systemic and developmental issues, especially of Africa. UNCTAD must lead the way towards finding ways and means of exiting from aid dependence for the countries of the South.
6. Recognise that the UN, imperfect as it is, is nonetheless the only truly global inter governmental system we have, and the need therefore to work through it. But understand that power and access to knowledge are the key to hard-nosed negotiations.

However, difficult as they may seem, UNCTAD should be bold enough to face them as the price for not taking action is something developing countries can ill-afford. And in this effort, UNCTAD will find in the South Centre a willing ally. The South Centre makes up for its woefully limited resources with hard work and independent conceptual thinking, and enjoys the confidence of the countries of the South.

Read the complete statement at:
http://www.un.org/webcast/unctad/xii/pdf/south_centre_en.pdf

or at: http://www.southcentre.org/info/EDpage/80423_Presentation_at_UNCTAD_XII.pdf

or contact: Vikas Nath, Head - Media and Communication, South Centre at nath@southcentre.org

South North Dialogue: Capacity Building in Climate Change for Developing Countries

Capacity-building for developing countries to be able to adapt to climate change will be an important component in further enhancing the global cooperative framework for action on climate change under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The key question is how best to undertake capacity-building, together with the provision of financing and technology transfer under the Convention, to strengthen participation of developing countries in meeting the developmental challenges of climate change. This is an issue which needs to be discussed in a North-South as well as South-South context and forms the theme of our upcoming South - North Dialogue Series to be held on 16 April 2008 at the South Centre from 1300 - 1530.

Please RSVP your participation to: Mrs. Shirley de Leon-Garnier, By email: deleongarnier@southcentre.org, By telephone: 022 7918055 ext. 29

Opening address will be provided by Dr. Yash Tandon, Executive Director, South Centre. Perspectives will be shared by H.E. Mrs. Marie-Louise Overvad, Ambassador of Denmark, and Ms. Reena Wilfrid-René, Second Secretary, Permanent Mission of Mauritius. Closing remarks will be provided by Mr. Vice Yu, Lead Expert on Climate Change, South Centre.

The South North Dialogue Series is an activity taken up under the South Intellectual Platform of the South Centre.

For further details on the event, see the Events section at http://www.southcentre.org

South Centre launches online course of IP and Development

South Centre in partnership with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) have launched the first e-Learning course on the theme of “Intellectual Property Policy and Development”. The online course will be run from 9 June - 25 July 2008.

the adoption of the WIPO Development Agenda, the international community and developing countries in particular will have to address various IP policy issues such as public health and patents, protection of traditional knowledge, and access to digital content. This instructor-led online course, which has been reviewed by leading academics and policy makers, will provide participants from the South and North with the necessary background knowledge to address IP policy issues in various areas such as public health, agriculture, traditional knowledge, and digital and internet content.

The course is FREE for delegates and government officials from South Centre member countries. - USD 150 for other participants/institutions from South Centre member countries, and for all participant/institutions from Goup of 77 member countries which are not South Centre member countries.- USD 400 for all other participants/institutions.

South Centre launches online course of IP and Development

South Centre in partnership with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) have launched the first e-Learning course on the theme of “Intellectual Property Policy and Development”. The online course will be run from 9 June - 25 July 2008.

With the adoption of the WIPO Development Agenda, the international community and developing countries in particular will have to address various IP policy issues such as public health and patents, protection of traditional knowledge, and access to digital content. This instructor-led online course, which has been reviewed by leading academics and policy makers, will provide participants from the South and North with the necessary background knowledge to address IP policy issues in various areas such as public health, agriculture, traditional knowledge, and digital and internet content.

The course is FREE for delegates and government officials from South Centre member countries. - USD 150 for other participants/institutions from South Centre member countries, and for all participant/institutions from Goup of 77 member countries which are not South Centre member countries.- USD 400 for all other participants/institutions.

Reflections on Formulating Chinese National Intellectual Property Strategy

The sixth South Innovation Perspective Series (SIP) was organized today by the South Centre at the Palais des Nations. The keynote speaker to this event "Reflections on Formulating Chinese National Intellectual Property Strategy" was Dr. ZHANG Qin, Deputy Commissioner, State Intellectual Property Office, China & Standing Deputy Director General of National IP Strategy Formulation Leading Group Office.

The commentators to this event were Prof. Dominique Foray, Director, Chair of Economics and Management of Innovation and Dean of the College of Management of Technology at EPFL, Lausanne and Mr. Kiyoshi Adachi, Legal Officer, Intellectual Property Team, Policy Implementation Section, UNCTAD.

The event was chaired by Dr. Xuan LI, Coordinator of the Innovation and Access to Knowledge Programme (IAKP) at the South Centre.

South FACE produced for this event will become available soon.

South Centre participates in Geneva Brainstorming for World Economic Forum on Africa

Vikas Nath, Coordinator of the South Intellectual Platform, South Centre participated in the Geneva Brainstorming session of the World Economic Forum on Africa which will take place between 4-6 June 2008 in Cape Town, South Africa.

Mr. Nath shared the reflections emerging from the South Intellectual Platform meetings periodically organized by the South Centre on how the South is reshaping the global agenda and on the need to furthering South-South cooperation.

The Third South Intellectual Platform (SIP) Retreat Convenes

The third South Intellectual Platform (SIP) Retreat was organized at the Chateau de Bossey - Ecunemical Institute, Switzerland on 17 Feburary 2008. The Retreat provided an opportunity for the Chairperson, the Board Members of the South Centre, and some of invited guests to brainstorm on issues of relevance to the South. Discussions focused on new and re-emerging challenges for the South; the changing dynamics of South-South cooperation - including how to balance the interests of small and big economies; engaging media, NGOs and private sector from the South; and on emergence of South Centre as a knowledge centre.

All the sessions were chaired by Mr. Benjamin Mkapa, the former President of Tanzania and the Chairperson of the South Centre and by Professor Norman Girvan.

The South Intellectual Platform (SIP) is an initiative of the South Centre to reflect on the new issues and challenges for the South which have emerged since the work of the South Commission over 15 years earlier. The first SIP workshop was held on 10-11 July 2006.

South Centre TV: Interview with the new Chairman of G-77 Chapter in Geneva

On 12 February 2008, Ambassador Chitsaka Chipaziwa of Zimbabwe assumed the Chairmanship of the Geneva Chapter of the Group of 77 from Honduras at an official ceremony at Palais des Nations, Geneva.

The South Centre TV captured the first interview given by the new Chairman on the challenges he sees ahead for the G-77 and the role of South Centre. The interview was conducted by Mr. Vice Yu, Head, Global Governance for Development Programme, South Centre.



This interview is also available at YouTube.com at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okCrd3sckfg and at http://blip.tv/file/664666

South Centre Digital TV: 2008 EU - Africa Summit at Lisbon: An African Perspective

Mr. Demba Moussa DEMBELE, Director, African Forum on Alternatives, Senegal provides an African perspective on the EU - Africa Summit 2008 being held in Lisbon. Framed as the Summit to herald a new relationship between EU and Africa, is EU really showing sincerity in this direction?

Click To Play

The whole of Africa is watching them, for the recent EU moves on the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with Africa proves to be on the contrary.

South Centre in Media: Disparities Seen In Developing Countries’ TRIPS Implementation

The South Centre recently organized a seminar on "The Implementation Game: Developing Countries, the TRIPS Agreement and the Global Politics of Intellectual Property" in Geneva on 5 December 2007. The seminar was chaired by Dr. Xuan Li, Coordinator of the Innovation and Access to Knowledge Programme, South Centre and Dr. Carolyn Deere, Director, Global Trade Governance Project, Global Economic Governance Programme, University of Oxford, UK was the keynote speaker.

This event has been reported by the IP-Watch in its article "Disparities Seen In Developing Countries’ TRIPS Implementation." Although developing countries have strong concerns about the TRIPS agreement, a significant number of them have implemented even higher IP standards than those required by TRIPS, according to research on 107 countries presented by Carolyn Deere, director of the Global Trade Governance Project at the University of Oxford. The complete article is available at: http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/index.php?p=865

The Seminar was fifth in the series of the South Innovation Perspectives regularly organized by the South Centre which aims to provide a forum where cutting-edge research and ideas on innovation, access to knowledge and intellectual property, from a development perspective, are presented and debated.

South Centre organizes the Second South Intellectual Platform Workshop

Several eminent intellectuals and practioners from the South gathered under the Chairmanship of Mr. Benjamin Mkapa, former president of Tanzania at Chateau de Bossey, Crans-près-Céligny, Switzerland on 6 October 2007 to take stock of current and emerging issues in which developing countries are stakeholders.

The workshop, second in the South Intellectual Platform series, identified priority areas where the strength of the South lies collectively and where the South needs to assume leadership. Those present, included Chief Emeka Anyaoku, Ambassador Ma Yuzen, Norman Girvan, Deepak Nayyar, Abdul Minty, Bagher Asadi, Carlos Lopez, Martin Khor and Yash Tandon.

The South Intellectual Platform is an initiative of the South Centre to reflect on the new challenges for the South which have emerged since the work of the South Commission 15 years later. The South Intellectual Platform helds its first workshop in Geneva in 2006. More details about this initiative is available at: http://www.southcentre.org/sip/sipindex.html