WTO to hold public seminar in June

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) will hold a two-day public symposium in June 2003 to give an opportunity to government officials, represe...

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) will hold a two-day public symposium in June 2003 to give an opportunity to government officials, representatives of non-government organisations and members of the academia and the media to ‘‘interact and debate’’ important issues concerning the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) and the status of the current negotiations.

According to a note circulated by WTO director general Supachai Panitchpakdi, the symposium has been planned given the increasing amount of public interest in the work of the WTO and the DDA.

The symposium—‘Challenges ahead on the road to Cancun’— will be held on June 16-18 and will focus on some key areas of the WTO’s work. It will have WTO-organised sessions on topics including trade and environment, agriculture, services and development.

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Governments and NGOs would also be allowed to organise parallel roundtables on topics of their choice. Panitchpakdi pointed out in his note that such roundtables would add to the overall value of the symposium.

Several governments and NGO representatives have already made initial requests to have topics of interest to them included in the programme.

The symposium is being funded by Norway which has provided a special contribution to organise this event. Organised just three months prior to the fifth WTO ministerial meet in Cancun in September 2003, the symposium will play a significant role in opinion building.

The mini-ministerial in Cairo is also being planned around the same time as the symposium. However, while the mini ministerial would only give government representatives a chance to interact, the symposium would allow all stakeholders to take part in WTO discussions.

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One issue expected to feature prominently in the symposium is that of Trips & Public Health. A number of NGOs, including Oxfam, have taken keen interest in the issue and have criticised the US for holding up an agreement.

They claim that a dilution of the proposed agreement would severely affect poor countries with no capacity to manufacture medicines and other pharmaceutical products.