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Regional workshop Trade liberalization: the WTO, the Doha Round and development challenges San José, Costa Rica Current context and challenges for the multilateral trade system: On 1 January 2008, the multilateral trade system celebrated its 60th birthday. At the same time, the Doha Round for Development, intended to ensure that the system enables developing countries to benefit more from trade liberalization, is going through a period of uncertainty about its immediate future. One of the main goals of the current WTO talks in the framework of the Doha Program for Development is to create new trading opportunities as well as ensure more balance between the standards of the multilateral trade system in favour of developing countries. These talks are at a decisive stage. Despite the progress made recently in the talks, the basic conflicts between the main players are still present. The closer we get to the end of the Round, the more profound the differences in interpretation about the level of ambition and what each member has to offer. The goal of the workshop is to promote better understanding of the multilateral trade system and encourage interest in it: inform parliamentarians about the basic operation of the WTO, the fundamental questions on the multilateral and regional trade agenda, and the status of talks on the Doha Agenda for Development. This activity will also provide a forum where participants can discuss and exchange ideas and views about the contents of the talks and their possible effects on countries in the region, as well as other topics of regional interest. It will also encourage a discussion of the potential role of parliaments, international organizations and trade in promoting development. Given that, in most countries, parliaments play a decisive role in creating the legal framework related to trade and in ratifying international agreements, another goal will be to enhance the transparency of the WTO and give legislators, as representatives of their citizenry, opportunities to obtain information firsthand on the latest developments seen in the WTO talks, exchange opinions and experiences with colleagues from other parliaments and interact with officials from the WTO and the Inter-Parliamentary Forum of the Americas (FIPA), in order to form a clearer idea of the challenges and opportunities at stake in the Doha talks. In the light of the preceding, the WTO and FIPA are jointly organizing a Regional Workshop for Central and South American Parliamentarians on the topic “Trade liberalization: the WTO, the Doha Round and development challenges”, to be held in San José, Costa Rica, 6 to 8 November 2008. Conference site: Radisson Europa Hotel and Conference Center P.O. Box 538 Calle Blancos Persons in charge of organizing the event: Said El Hachimi María Pérez-Esteve Emmanuelle Pelletier Luis Alvarez Soto
Regional workshop Trade liberalization: the WTO, the Doha Round and development challenges San José, Costa Rica TENTATIVE PROGRAM FIRST DAY OF ACTIVITIES 8:00 a.m. 9:00 a.m. Opening ceremony Marco Vinicio Ruiz, Minister of Foreign Trade of Costa Rica, or
another representative of the government of Costa Rica 9:00 a.m. 9:30 a.m. Group photo, coffee break 9:30 a.m. 10:30 a.m. Session 1: Basic principles of the Multilateral Trade System and Introduction to the WTO’s Doha Program for Development WTO Secretariat 10:30 a.m. 12:30 p.m. Session 2: The Doha Program for Development: Current status of the talks - Agriculture WTO Secretariat 12:30 p.m. 2:00 p.m. Lunch 2:00 p.m. 3:30 p.m. Session 3: The Doha Program for Development: Current status of the talks - Non-agricultural market access (NAMA) WTO Secretariat 3:30 p.m. 4:00 p.m. Coffee break 4:00 p.m. 5:00 p.m. Roundtable between parliamentarians concerning the topics raised Moderator: Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica SECOND DAY OF ACTIVITIES 8:30 a.m. 10:00 a.m. Session 4: The Doha Program for Development: Current status of the talks - Other topics included: trade in services, rules, trade facilitation, etc. WTO Secretariat 10:00 a.m. 10:30 a.m. Coffee break 10:30 a.m. 12:30 p.m. Session 5: The development dimension of the Doha Program: Aid for trade, etc. WTO Secretariat 12:30 p.m. 2:00 p.m. Lunch 2:00 p.m. 3:30 p.m. Session 6: The multilateral system and the new regional trade agreements Regional expert 3:30 p.m. 4:00 p.m. Coffee break 4:00 p.m. 5:00 p.m. Roundtable between parliamentarians concerning the topics raised Moderator: Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica THIRD DAY OF ACTIVITIES 8:30 a.m. 10:30 a.m. Session 7: Development challenges and trade liberalization: Poverty reduction Regional expert 10:30 a.m. 11:00 a.m. Coffee break 11:00 a.m. 12:00 p.m. Session 8: Development challenges and trade liberalization: Gender issues Regional expert 12:00 p.m. 1:30 p.m. Lunch 1:30 p.m. 3:30 p.m. Roundtable: Trade’s parliamentary dimension WTO representative 3:30 p.m. 4:00 p.m. Evaluation of the workshop and recommendations for future activities 4:00 p.m. 4:30 p.m. Final remarks and closing WTO Secretariat _______________________
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