Newly elected Chair of the G77 and China in New York visits South Centre

H.E. Mr. Lumumba Stanislaus-Kaw Di-Aping, Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of Sudan to the UN in New York visited South Centre to meet the Chairperson, Executive Director and the Staff members.

Sudan has been newly elected as the Chair of G77 and China in New York for 2009 and Ambassador Stanislaus-Kaw Di-Aping will have the responsibility of coordinating the G77 and China positions and acting as the spokesperson on several issues.

Ambassador Stanislaus-Kaw Di-Aping, also participated in the fifth South Intellectual Platform Meeting organised by the South Centre on 7th February where he shared his reflections on the challenges ahead for the G77 and China in 2009 and called for greater cooperation and advisory role of the South Centre to the G77 Chair in New York for 2009.

Fifth South Intellectual Platform Meeting

The fifth South Intellectual Platform (SIP) meeting was held on 7th February 2009 at Chateau de Bossey. Almost 40 colleagues participated in the meeting.

The full-day SIP meeting was chaired by H.E Mr. Benjamin W. Mkapa, President of Tanzania (1995-2005) who is also the Chairman of the South Centre. President Mkapa provided an overview of the global situation and prospects, and what it means for the developing countries. Dr. Yash Tandon, Executive Director, South Centre presented the reflections coming out of the previous SIP meetings.

Professor Norman gave a presentation on "Cuba: The Debt is Unpayable" based on the speech he delivered in Cuba on the receipt of the degree of Doctor of Economic Sciences, Honoris Causa, at the Great Hall of the University of Havana on 3 December 2008. This was followed by remarks byMr. Jorge Ferrer Rodríguez, Minister Counsellor of the Permanent Mission of Cuba to UN in Geneva.

The first session was on "Did South Show Leadership in 2008?" where reflections were made by Chief Emeka Anyaoku (on US Presidential Election), followed by Mr. Bagher Asadi (on Climate Change) and Ambassador Kwabena Baah-Duodu of Ghana (on the Ghanian Election and what good governance means for the South).

The second session was on "Where Should South Show Leadership in 2009?" where reflections were shared by Mr. Yilmaz Akuyz and Mr. Deepak Nayyar (on financial crisis and how the South will be impacted). Mr. Rashid Bawja from Pakistan shared his views on poverty alleviation in South Asia. Mr. Martin Khor provided an overview of the new and ongoing challenges the South is facing including those related to trade and financial crisis.

The third session was on "South South Cooperation or Competition". Reflections were shared by Ms. Leticia Ramos Shahani (on migration and national development issues) and Ambassador Mr. Lumumba Stanislaus-Kaw Di-Aping of Sudan and the current Chair of G77 and China in New York (on the role of G77 and China, and the challenges ahead for it in 2009).

The Fifth South Intellectual Platform ended with vote of thanks by the Chairman on the stewardship of Dr. Yash Tandon as the current Executive Director of the South Centre and the work and dedication of all the South Centre staff. Mr. Martin Khor was welcomed as the new Executive Director of the South Centre from 1 March 2009 onwards.

Working Lunch on Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs)

The Trade for Development Programme organised an information exchange and brainstorming meeting on the ongoing EU - ACP EPA negotiations today (5 February) at the South Centre.

The meeting provided an update on where African countries and their sub regions are in the EPA/FTA negotiations; how the processes will unfold in the coming months and how the Centre can better support them.

The meeting was chaired by Mr. Aileen Kwa, Coordinator, Trade for Development Programme, South Centre.

South Centre and BaKaForum 2009

Dr. Yash Tandon, Executive Director, South Centre was one of the keynote speakers at the Basel-Karlsruhe Forum (BakaForum) 2009 on 30th January 2009 at the Basel University. Other keynote speakers included, Vandana Shiva, Klaus Leisinger and Thomas Stocker.

South Centre participates in European Patent Office organised worskhop

Nirmalya Syam, Innovation and Access to Knowledge Programme (IAKP), South Centre participated in a Workshop organized by the European Patent Office (EPO) in Munich, Germany from 29-30 January 2009.

The workshop discussed various strategies through which the European Patent Office can interact meaningfully with stakeholders in the civil society with the objective of ensuring a balance between representation of interests of users of the patents system and other stakeholders in the patents system. The discussions were based on four possible scenarios for the future and the role of the EPO in those contexts. Participants were divided into 5 working groups to discuss strategise on the future role of the EPO in these contexts.

South Centre in BBC Documentary "Beyond A Dollar A Day"

Dr. Yash Tandon, Executive Director, South Centre attended the preview of the BBC documentary "Beyond A Dollar A Day" which includes his short interview on the issue of aid and development.

The preview took place in Zurich and was attended by almost 500 people and was followed by a panel dicussion which included Martin Dahinden, Director-General, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation; Hernando de Soto, Director, Institute for Liberty and Democracy, and Yash Tandon and David Syz, the producer of the film.

Despite massive flows of aid over the last 50 years, poverty remains endemic. More than a billion people live on less than a dollar a day. If poor countries are to generate their own wealth, the entrepreneurial spirit of all of the people needs to be unleashed. 'Beyond a Dollar a Day' travels to three countries - Peru, Mozambique and Pakistan – to meet a range of entrepreneurs to discover how far their work is helping to reduce poverty.

The documentary will be casted on BBC World News at: 1410 GMT on Saturday 31st January Repeated: Sunday 1st February 0810 and 1810 GMT, Monday 2nd February at 0210 GMT. http://www.bbcworldnews.com/Pages/Programme.aspx?id=249

South Centre participates in Science and Commons World Forum

Ms. Viviana Munoz Tellez, Innovation and Access to Knowledge Programme (IAKP), South Centre participated this week at the first World Forum on Science and Democracy, held in Belém, Brazil from 26-27 of January 2009. The Forum is created as a space aimed to extend democratic principles to the fields of science and technology, and to support new initiatives and new forms of partnerships between social movements, citizens and the world of scientific and technological research. The Forum is linked to the annual World Social Forum that took place in Belém from 27 January to 1 February 2009. Viviana participated in the panel on "Access to Knowledge: Building the Commons", and spoke on the topic of Traditional Knowledge and the Commons. The full programe of the forum is available at http://fm-sciences.org/

EPA scenario building workshop for West African countries

Ms. Wase Musonge, Trade for Development Programme, South Centre participated in the EPA scenario building workshop for West African countries organised by the
Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) in Benin from 19 -23 January 2009. Almost 30 participants attended the training programme.

Training on EPAs/ FTAs for Developing Country Negotiators in Brussels

On 4 -5 December 2008, the Trade for Development Programme of the South Centre organised a training programme on EPAs/ FTAs for Developing Country Negotiators in Brussels.

Over 30 colleagues from different regions participated in this programme. The purpose of this meeting was to bring a small group of like minded countries together to discuss key issues that these countries are likely to agree on. The intention is that these countries will then be able to strengthen each other in their respective negotiations by presenting the same arguments to the EU in their FTA negotiations. It is also hoped that these countries will be able to encourage other countries within their regions to take more progressive positions in the FTA negotiations.

Some of the issues covered included Market Access Issues – Agriculture and Industrial Products; Services and Investment Liberalisation: What has been proposed and what are the development challenges?; Intellectual Property – Going Beyond TRIPS: What Implications?; Competition Provisions and Trade Agreements; and Government Procurement and Trade Agreements among others.

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.