South Centre @ Poznan Climate Conference

South Centre participated as an Observor at the UN Climate Conference held in Poznan, Poland from 1 -14 December 2009.

During the Conference, South Centre provided negotiations assistance and research support to the G77 and China and also participated as an Observor in the various meetings. Vice Yu, Coordinator, Global Governance for Development Programme and Vikas Nath, Head (Media and Communications) represented the South Centre to this Event.

Is there any Development Agenda left in the Doha Development Round?

On 5 December, the South Centre organised an invitation-only brainstorming discussion on the Development content of the Doha Round at the World Trade Organisation.

Leading the discussions were H.E. Mme Maria Nzomo, Ambassador, Permanent Mission of Kenya to the WTO and Dr. Yash Tandon, Executive Director, South Centre.

Some of questions of interest to developing countries were taken up during the presentations and subsequent discussions, namely: Is the idea of liberalization as the golden bullet to development still valid?, Is the Doha Round simply about technical coefficients and numbers or are there broader development issues at stake? Are the processes of the proposed mini-Ministerial democratic and transparent?

South Centre Networks at Financing for Development Conference, Doha

Some snapshots of South Centre Networks at the Financing for Development Conference in Doha (28 October - 2 November 2008).


Yash Tandon, Executive Director with H.E Mr. Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, President of Tanzania.




With H.E Mr.E. Ahamad Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, India

With H.E Pedro Páez Pérez, Minister of Economic Policy Coordination, Republic of Ecuador.





With Mr. Jean Ping, Chairperson of the Commission of the African Union.

South Centre @ FFD Doha 2008 - Climate Change and Development – How to Mobilize, Transfer and Use Innovative Funding

Dr. Yash Tandon, Executive Director, South Centre was a Panelist for the side event "Climate Change and Development – How to Mobilize, Transfer and Use Innovative Funding", organised by European Commission, Governments of Germany and Sweden on 1 Dec. 2008, 1:15 - 2:45 pm.

Other panel members included, Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Germany (Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for the Follow-up International Conference on Financing for Development), Louis Michel, Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, European Union, and Margareta Wahlström, Member of the Swedish Commission on Climate Change and Development.

Watch the intervention made by Yash Tandon below:

Financing for Development, Doha: Time for Change: Building a New Global Economic Architecture

South Centre was represented by Yash Tandon, the Executive Director and Vikas Nath, Head - Media and Communications at the Financing for Development Conference held in Doha, Qatar from 29 November - 2 December 2008.

Time for Change: Building a New Global Economic Architecture

This South Centre organised side event was held on 30 November and was attended by over 60 participants. The panelists included Mr. Pedro Páez Pérez, Minister for Economic Policy Coordination of Ecuador and President of the Ecuadorian Presidential Commission for the New Regional Financial Architecture-Banco del Sur, and Mr. Jomo Kwame Sundaram, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Research Director, Intergovernmental Group of Twenty-Four (G-24) along with Dr. Yash Tandon.

The financial crisis which started with the US and then got “globalised” through inter-bank collaterised securities is not a product of “severe market disruption but endemic to the present system of capitalism, as part of its inner logic.

It is imperative that the South decouples itself from the crisis-prone institutions of the North and looks towards other alternative solutions than those provided by the existing global economic architecture.

Cuba: The Debt is Unpayable

On 3 December 2008, Professor Norman Girvan (Board Member of the South Centre), a former economic adviser to the late Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley, one of the founders of the Association of Caribbean Economists and later a former secretary-general of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS), was the recipient of an honorary degree of Doctor of Economic Sciences from the University of Havana.

There have been three recipients of honorary doctorates from the University of Havana since Eric Williams - the historian and first prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago - became the first to have been so honoured back in 1975. The others were the Jamaican scholar Keith Ellis (1999); the noted political novelist and commentator George Lamming (2007) and followed by Professor Girvan.

Click here to read the remarks (The Debt is Unpayable) made by Professor Girvan at the Great Hall of the University of Havana on receipt of the degree of Doctor of Economic Sciences, Honoris Causa.

Building of A Common Platform Between Developing Countries

On 4-5 December 2008, the South Centre organized a training workshop on EPAs/FTAs for developing country negotiators in Brussels.

The workshop was organized by the Trade for Development Programme of the South Centre.

Workshop agenda can be downloaded from here.

Working Lunch on WIPO Programme and Budget Committee and WIPO Assemblies

On 3 December 2008, the Innovation and Access to Knowledge Programme (IAKP) of the South Centre organized a working lunch meeting to discuss and coordinate developing country participation at the WIPO Programme and Budget Committee (10-11 December) and the Assemblies of the Member States of WIPO (12 December).

These two meetings took decisions with respect to two key issues: defining new goals for the organization, and the financing for all it activities, including the implementation of the WIPO Development Agenda and technical assistance to developing countries.

An analysis by the South Centre estimates that the budget share for development
activities has decreased by about 15.5% in the Revised P&B in comparison to
the P&B approved at the WIPO General Assembly in March (GA/44/2).

Principles and Modalities of EU-Indian Cooperation on African Development

Dr. Yash Tandon, Executive Director of the South Centre delineated the "Principles and Modalities of EU-Indian Cooperation on African Development" at an international conference on “Engaging with a resurgent Africa” organised in New Delhi on 20th and 21st of November.

The conference was organised jointly by Observer Research Foundation and Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung of Germany.

According to Dr. Tandon, in any future relationship between Europe and India on Africa’s development, it must be a matter of common understanding that the colonial history should not be repeated. Development is a good objective, but it cannot justify an asymmetrical power relationship between the three partners of development, or an unequal sharing of its benefits. This should be the starting point of any discussion on the subject of this triangular relationship.

Capacity Building of Parliamentarians from Eastern and Southern Africa on EPAs

Ms. Luisa Rodriguez, Programme Officer, Trade for Development Programme gave a presentation on "Food Security and EPAs" at a workshop organized by Agency for Cooperation and Research in Development (ACORD) in Kenya to build the capacity of parliamentarians on EPA-related issues.

The workshop was held on 14 -15 November 2008 in Nairobi.