SEE
ALSO:
press
releases
WTO
news
Mike
Moore's speeches
Renato
Ruggiero's speeches, 1995-99
|
Programme
¦ Keeping
non-resident delegations informed
“I
want to make sure that all countries participating in WTO
work are fully aware of the situation as we approach the
Ministerial, and also of the possibilities for
trade-related assistance that are available through the
WTO and its sister agencies,” said Mike Moore, WTO
Director-General, in his invitation to the countries. Mr.
Moore first announced his intention to organize the
Geneva Week in his speech to the Group of 77 in Marrakesh
on 14 September 1999.
Thirty-seven
WTO Members and Observers will attend the Geneva Week.
Invitations were sent both to their Trade Ministries and
their permanent delegations in Europe.
Their
presence is funded by the governments of Norway,
Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
The
28 WTO Members and 9 Observers lack the resources to
maintain permanent offices in Geneva. They have
difficulty gaining full access to information on WTO's
work and being alerted to any action or issue that they
may need to consider. This information week therefore
intends to help non-resident WTO Members and Observers
inform themselves about the work going on in the WTO in
the count-down to Seattle, and also to expose them to the
work of other relevant agencies in Geneva.
The
37 countries invited are: Andorra*, Antigua
& Barbuda, Armenia*, Belize, Benin,
Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cambodia*, Central
African Republic, Chad, Dominica, Republic of the Fiji
Islands, Gambia, Grenada, Guinea Bissau, Guyana, Laos*
P.D.R. of, Macau, Malawi, Maldives, Mali, Namibia, Niger,
Papua New Guinea, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St.
Vincent & The Grenadines, Samoa*,
Seychelles*, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands,
Suriname, Swaziland, Togo, Tonga*, Uzbekistan*,
Vanuatu*.
Agencies
invited to make presentations at the Geneva Week include
the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development
(UNCTAD), the International Trade Center (ITC), the World
Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the World
Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the
International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the
World Customs Organization (WCO), the United Nations Food
and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations
Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the
International Labour Office (ILO).
* WTO Observers
(negotiating WTO membership)
“Geneva
Week” for non-resident delegations
1 - 5 November 1999
“Assisting Integration Into the Trading System”
Programme
Back
to top
Parts
shaded in grey are open to the media
1
November 1999
|
09-30
- 09.45
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Opening
Statement by WTO Director General
|
10.00
- 12.30
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Participation
in the WTO: opportunities for small developing
countries, resources available, and how to use
them
Panel
discussion at which participants introduce their
countries and state their interests and problems
relating to participation in the WTO and what
they expect from the seminar
|
14.30
- 17.30
|
Policy
Analysis for and Capacity-Building in developing
countries: the contribution of international
organizations
Presentation
by Secretary General of UNCTAD
Presentation
by Secretary-General of WIPO
Presentation
by World Bank
Presentation
by IMF
Presentation
by Executive Director of ITC
|
17.30
- 18.00
|
Press
Conference (Room B)
By Mike Moore, Rubens Ricupero and Denis Belisle
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2
November 1999
|
|
09.30
- 12.30
|
Policy
Analysis for and Capacity-Building in developing
countries (continued)
Presentations
by ISO, WCO, FAO, UNEP, UNDP, UNIDO and ILO
|
14.30
- 17.30
|
WTO
Information and assistance in trade and
development matters
Access
to information and documentation; WTO training
Programmes; technical cooperation for LDCs and
other small economies, including the Trade Policy
Review Mechanism and the Integrated Framework for
LDCs
|
3
November 1999
|
|
09.30
- 12.30
|
Preparation
for Seattle: Introduction to the issues
Introduction
to the structure and main points of the
Ministerial Declaration
|
14.30
- 17.30
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Preparation
for Seattle: Implementation
Issues
raised in the implementation debate; including
accession
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4
November 1999
|
|
09.30
- 12.30
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Preparation
for Seattle: The Built-in Agenda
Agriculture,
services, TRIPs, and other mandated reviews
|
14.30
- 17.30
|
Preparation
for Seattle: Other elements of the WTO work
programme, and immediate decisions at Seattle
Issues
from the third part of the Declaration
|
5
November 1999
|
|
09.30
- 12.30
|
Practical
arrangements for the Seattle meeting: How will it
work? What can delegates expect?
Post-Seattle:
How can non-residents participate and follow-up;
how can WTO best help them?
|
12.30
- 12.45
|
Closing
statement by WTO Director General
|
12.45
|
Closing
Press Conference
|
Keeping
non-resident delegations informed Back
to top
Twenty
eight WTO Members and 9 WTO Observers do not have
permanent delegations in Geneva. Seventeen of them are
least-developed countries, many are small economies.
Because it is vital for these Members and Observers to
keep in touch with WTO matters, the WTO Secretariat has
established several information links with them.
First,
the WTO is implementing a program of “Reference
Centers”. Under this programme, the WTO provides
computer equipment, an Internet connection and training
for the operation of a WTO Reference Center within each
trade ministry of the countries benefitting from the
programme.
In
practice, this means access to the WTO Internet site
which contains up-to-date information on all WTO
activities and access to the Document Dissemination
Facility which features all WTO official documents.
Reference Centres are also supplied with all WTO
publications and training materials, both on paper and in
CD-ROM format.
To
date, equipment and/or training have been provided to the
following countries: Angola, Antigua & Barbuda*,
Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin*, Bhutan,
Burkina Faso*, Burundi, Cambodia*,
Cape Verde, Central African Republic*, Chad*,
Democratic Republic of Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Cuba,
Djibouti, Dominica*, Dominican Republic,
Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Fiji*,
Gambia*, Ghana, Grenada*, Guinea,
Guinea-Bissau*, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Kenya,
Kuwait, Laos*, Lesotho, Macau*,
Madagascar, Malawi*, Maldives*,
Mali*, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco,
Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia*, Nepal, Niger*,
Papua New Guinea*, Rwanda, Saint Kitts &
Nevis*, Saint Lucia*, Saint Vincent
and the Grenadines*, Samoa, Senegal,
Seychelles*, Solomon Islands*, Sri
Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Tanzania, Togo*,
Kingdom of Tonga*, Trinidad & Tobago,
Tunisia, Uganda, Vanuatu*, Zambia.
The
network of WTO Reference Centres now extends to 27 of the
37 Members and Observers without permanent delegations in
Geneva. The establishment of Reference Centers is part of
the “Integrated Technical Assistance Programme”
initiated by the WTO, UNCTAD and ITC in July 1996. It is
funded by generous donations from WTO Members.
Second,
the WTO directly sends information to the European
missions of the 37 WTO Members and Observers which do not
have permanent delegations in Geneva. To keep them
up-to-date on major trade developments, the WTO
Secretariat sends missions outside Geneva daily trade
news summaries using stories from wire agencies. The WTO
Secretariat also faxes them the WTO Daily Bulletin, a
summary of all meetings, both future and past. WTO
publications are sent regularly to these missions.
*
WTO Members and Observers without a permanent delegation
in Geneva
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