WTO PUBLIC FORUM 2016

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Moderator

Pierre Sauvé, Director of External Programs and Academic Partnerships and faculty member at the World Trade Institute

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This working session aims at investigating the impact of the new generation of free trade agreements on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Pacific region and elaborating strategies to help SMEs to take advantage from them. It will look into the new generation of Free Trade Agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Pacific Alliance and the Agreements signed by the EU with pacific region partners. It will analyse the opportunities for enhanced integration of SMEs into both manufacturing and services value chains through the creation and exploitation of FDI-SME linkages in the Pacific region and the role of PTAs in strengthening SME performance in partner countries. The session will also address the question of what could/should be the role of technical assistance programmes in strengthening the substantive relevant provisions for SMEs found in FTAs with pacific region partners. Finally, it will draw some lessons from such FTAs practice for the multilateral trading system.

Speakers

• Giovanna Adinolfi, Associate Professor of International Law, University of Milano
• Claudio Dordi, Technical Assistance Team Leader of the EU-Vietnam Multilateral Trade Assistance Project and Associate Professor of International Law, Bocconi University
• Ilaria Espa, Senior Research Fellow, World Trade Institute, University of Bern
• Carolina Palma, Professor of International and Economic Law, University of Costa Rica
• Ronald Saborío, former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Costa Rica to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and partner at IDEAS Centre, Geneva