WTO Doha Round & South Asia: Linking Civil Society with Trade Negotiations Phase-II
April 21 & 22, 2006, Jaipur, India
CUTS Centre for International Trade Economics & Environment (CUTS-CITEE) Jaipur, India, will host an inception workshop of phase II of the Project WTO Doha Round & South Asia: Linking Civil Society with Trade Negotiations on 21-22 April 2006 in Jaipur. The project has been named as SAFIT-II (South Asia Forum for International Trade). The event will be held at the hotel Country Inn & Suites, Jaipur.
The purpose of the workshop is to deliberate on the scope and methodology of the study as well as agree on the work programme. It will be a focused and close group meeting of 12-15 people i.e. only researchers and select expert group.
The project will be implemented in five South Asian Countries, viz. Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka in partnership with various organisations. It would focus on the following issues, identified from the Hong Kong WTO Ministerial text:
• Duty & Quota Free Market Access
• Services
• Preference Erosion and Aid for Trade
• Agriculture: Special Products and Special Safeguard Measures
• Non-Tariff Barriers
One of the objectives of this project is to provide negotiating inputs to the negotiators and policy makers while taking into account the position civil society (including NGOs, business bodies, trade unions, women groups, particularly those working on gender and trade linkages) for the successful completion of the Doha Round in December 2006.
For further information please contact:
Purnima Purohit (pp@cuts.org)
Simi T B (stb@cuts.org)