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Commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Havana conference on trade and employment

Announcement by the Government of Cuba
On the occasion of the celebration, in November 1997, of the 50th anniversary of the opening of the 1947 United Nations Conference on Trade and Employment, which concluded in the following year with the signing of the Havana Charter, as the first step towards the creation of the multilateral trading system, Cuba is preparing to organize a commemorative event from 19-21 November 1997 in its capacity as the host country of that Conference and a founding Member of the GATT in 1948.

The planned activities include a Solemn Commemoration on 21 November itself, the date when the 1947 Havana Conference opened, to which all the countries present on that occasion together with the highest-level officials of the United Nations, WTO, UNCTAD and other trade-related international and regional organizations have been invited, as well as the holding of an International Seminar on 19 and 20 November.

The Seminar will last two days and consist of four sessions, at each of which three papers will be presented by Cuban or foreign academics. The discussions during the first two sessions will centre on the scientific debate on globalization, macroeconomic and conceptual issues, as well as the prospects and challenges facing the world trading system and, in this context, the developing countries. The third session will be devoted to regionalism, its influence on international trade, and the analysis of the features of integration processes in different regions of the world. The last major theme will concern Cuba's integration in international trade.

For this occasion, major research centres and universities as well as eminent academics and scholars of the issues to be discussed are invited to present papers dealing with the three major themes mentioned above:

- The globalization process, the world trading system and the situation of developing countries;

- Regionalism, regional cooperation and integration processes and their impact on the world trading system;

- Cuba 50 years after the Havana Conference and its integration in the international trading system.

The Seminar will be held in the Havana Convention Centre and there will be no registration fee. The Convention Centre Bureau will offer five-day package trips (from 18-23 November) with preferential rates including room, breakfast and transfers airport-hotel-airport. Accommodation will be in the Palco Hotel, which is part of the Convention Centre where the event will be held.

Those interested should directly contact:

Palacio de Convenciones de la Habana
Lic. Eva Paula Bravo (OPC)
Apartado Postal 16046 La Habana, Cuba
Telephone: 22-6011 to 17, extension 1513/21-5609
Telex: 511609 palco cu
Fax: (537)21-9496 or 22-8382
E.mail: [email protected]