40th Anniversary | CUTS International – Consumer Unity & Trust Society

CUTS 40th Anniversary

To mark its journey to the 40th Anniversary, CUTS International will be organising a series of lectures, conversations, and panel discussions around the globe, with eminent scholars, dignitaries and practitioners on various topics of interest surrounding the CUTS’ work agenda.

CUTS’ anniversary year lines up with the Indian presidency of G20 and the organisation believes that growth should be inclusive which is also the theme of G20 ‘Vasudeva Kutumbakam’ or ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future.’ For this, CUTS’ interdisciplinary, evidence-based policy research and advocacy in areas of rules-based trade, effective regulation, and good governance has been leading the course for the same.

The aim of the 40th Anniversary celebrations through this academic exercise is to shape CUTS’ future interventions with a forward-looking view toward the changing global landscape. These conversations will set a course for inclusive growth and its impact on consumer welfare. In the light of contemporary policy discourse on rules-based trade, effective regulation, and good governance, CUTS aims to move forward with the whole world for a singular future. CUTS intends to publish lectures in a volume and produce a videotape of the same as the lectures take place between April 2023-April 2024.

Backgrounder

Coming soon…

Media Room

AfCFTA to promote Economic and Trade Integration between Africa and the World
Modern Ghana, August 17, 2023
“We need innovative finance solutions to deal with climate change, which could include blended finance and co-financing with the private sector,” said Amitabh Kant, India’s G20 Sherpa
India Education Dairy, May 28, 2023
WTO DG hails Indian public policy think tank for its four-decade long role in civil society
Economic Times, April 07, 2023

Videos

Events

Building the Momentum Towards AfCFTA: Overcoming Implementation Challenges | CUTS 40th Anniversary Celebration
Accra, August 15, 2023
Challenges before G20 – CUTS 40th Anniversary Celebration
New Delhi, May 28, 2023
Battling the Headwinds: Challenges and Opportunities for the WTO – CUTS 40th Anniversary Lecture
Geneva, April 6, 2023

Key Messages

At Geneva by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General, WTO

This is your 40th Anniversary, and for a civil society organisation to be able to last that long, from a developing country – it is something to be really proud of. I want to congratulate you personally and CUTS for the substantive work that you do. Your criticisms have been constructive. I want to pay tribute to you and to the organisation.
You need to build trust in order to reach agreements. You don’t build trust by talking about trust, you build it through action. Members were able to come together to deliver a successful MC12, beyond expectations of most people, even the Members themselves. I have to give them credit and commend them and the staff of the Secretariat who worked so hard to back this up. We’ve achieved this together, that means there is a possibility for us to achieve more.
I like to remind people that what was created 75 years ago with GATT, then the WTO, has largely delivered. When I say it, it finds resonance. We need to remind each other. It has delivered so much that I term the multilateral trading system and the WTO a global public good.
The world is changing so fast, as we speak. But have the WTO rules and agreements been changing to keep pace? The answer is no. Our negotiation, monitoring and dispute settlement functions all need to be looked at and strengthened so that the organisation will be fit for purpose.
When people are bemoaning multilateralism not working, I remind them that there is one multilateral organisation that had Russia-Ukraine, US-China, EU, developed-developing countries around the table and delivered some binding agreements. That is pretty unique, and we should be able to carry that momentum into MC13.