WTO Basic Telecommunications Negotiations: 10th Anniversary Symposium 20-21 February 2008

The symposium commemorates the 10^th anniversary of the entry into force of the 4^th Protocol of the GATS, more commonly known as the Basic Telecommunications Agreement. The two day event highlights the transformation of telecommunications over the past decade and the regulatory challenges governments have faced. It also explores the broader implications for the ICT sector, trade, economic development and growth, and prospects for the future.

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The Symposium features presentations from government trade negotiators and telecommunications regulators, international organizations, industry representatives and academics. Speakers will offer insights on commercial and regulatory trends in telecommunications and ICT, implementation challenges faced by regulators, benefits of reforms for economic development and society at large, and recent developments in ICT-enabled services that reforms have made more tradable today. Future challenges will also be addressed, in terms of implications of convergence and new technologies as well as implications for negotiations on further liberalization of the sector.

Programme

Wednesday 20 February 2008

10h00	Opening session: Moderator: H.E. Mr. C. Trevor Clarke, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Barbados to the WTO Welcome and Keynote address: Mr. Pascal Lamy, Director-General, WTO > Press release > DG's welcome and keynote address Audio Opening Remarks: Dr. Hamadoun Touré, Secretary General, ITU > Speech Mrs. Lakshmi Puri, Acting Deputy Secretary-General, UNCTAD Audio: Opening Session > help
10h30	Panel A: Telecommunications and ICT Economic and commercial trends Moderator: Dr. Tracy Cohen, Commissioner, Independent Communications Authority of South Africa ICT Market trends: Ms. Vanessa Gray, Telecommunication/ICT Analyst, BDT, ITU > Presentation Regulatory trends: Ms. Susan Schorr, Acting Head, Regulatory and Market Environment Division, BDT, ITU > Presentation > Report: Trends in Telecom Reform 2007 ICT trade and policy trends: Ms. Scarlett Fondeur Gil, Associate Economic Affairs Officer ICT & E-business Branch, SITE, UNCTAD > Presentation > Information Economy Report 2007-08 Audio: Listen to the Panel A > help > Biographies: Moderator and speakers Panel A
11h45	Panel B: Reflections on the BTA negotiations — Challenges for current negotiations Moderator: Mr. David Hartridge, White and Case International Trade, Geneva Mr. Karl Falkenberg, Deputy Director General, DG Trade, European Commission Mr. Clovis Baptista, Executive Secretary, Inter-American Telecommunications Commission (CITEL) Mr. Donald Abelson, Member, Sudbury International LLC, United States Audio: Listen to the Panel B > help > Biographies: Moderator and speakers Panel B
	Panel C: Regulatory challenges and best practices
15h00	Segment 1 — Moderator: Mr. Bill Scott, Director Trade Policy, Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Australia Dr Ahmad HIASAT, CEO, Chairman of the Board of Commissioners, Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Jordan > Presentation Mr. José Alfredo Rizek Vidal, Executive Director, INDOTEL, Dominican Republic Dr. Dinesh Sharma, Executive, Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, Nepal > Presentation Mr. Po-Chou LIANG, Senior Engineer, NCC, Chinese Taipei > Presentation Audio: Listen to the Panel C — Segment 1 > help > Biographies: Moderator and speakers Panel C — Segment 1
16h30	Segment 2 — Moderator: Mr. Harald Andreassen, Senior Adviser, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Norway Mr. Ernest Ndukwe, CEO, Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, Nigeria > Presentation Mr. Shun Sakurai, Director General, Policy Coordination, Minister’s Secretariat, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Japan > Presentation Mr. SO Tat Foon, Assistant Director, Office of the Telecommunications Authority, Hong Kong, China > Presentation Audio: Listen to the Panel C — Segment 2 > help > Biographies: Moderator and speakers Panel C — Segment 2
Thursday, 21 February 2008 back to top
10h00	Panel D: Positive network effects of expanding telecommunications services and networks: economic opportunity, growth and social benefits Moderator: Ms. Shaista Sohail, Economic Counsellor, Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the WTO Economic contribution of mobile communications: Mrs. Harriet Berg, Vice President Governmental Relations; Head of Brussels Office, Telenor > Presentation Health sector implications: Mr. Toby Simon CEO, Synergia, Bangalore, India > Presentation Environmental impact: Mr. Tony Warren, Executive Director for Regulatory Affairs, Telstra, Australia > Presentation > Report: Towards a High-Bandwidth, Low-Carbon Future Economic and social benefits: Ms. Zainab Hussain Siddiqui, Senior Project Manager, Ministry of Information Technology, Pakistan > Presentation Audio: Listen to the Panel D — Part 1 > help Audio: Listen to the Panel D — Part 2 > help > Biographies: Moderator and speakers Panel D
11h30	Panel E: Corporate perspective on developments in telecommunications markets Moderator: Mr. Carlos López Blanco, Director, International Office, Telefónica, Spain > Presentation Mr. Srinivasa Addepalli, Senior Vice President, Tata Communications, India > Presentation Mr. Gordon Moir, Vice President, British Telecom, United Kingdom > Presentation Mr. Eric Loeb, Vice President, International External and Regulatory Affairs AT&T Services, United States > Presentation Mr. Michael O'Connor, Investment and Business Development Officer, Orascom Telecom, Egypt Audio: Listen to the Panel E > help > Biographies: Moderator and speakers Panel E
15h00	Panel F: Cross-cutting impact of reform — benefits of a liberalized telecommunications market to other industries Moderator: Mr. Jonathan McHale, Deputy Assistant USTR, Telecommunications and E-commerce, Office of the United States Trade Representative Outsourcing: Dr. Krishna Mukund Oolun, Executive Director, ICT Authority, Mauritius > Presentation E-agriculture: Mr. Daniel Annerose, CEO/Directeur Général, Manobi S.A., Senegal > Presentation Computer services: Mr. Gaurav Singh, Senior Manager, NASSCOM, India > Presentation Infrastructure investment: Dr. Robert Pepper, Senior Managing Director, Global Advanced Technology Policy, CISCO Systems, Inc, United States > Presentation Audio: Listen to the Panel F > help > Biographies: Moderator and speakers Panel F
16h30	Panel G: Regulatory challenges in addressing new and emerging services, technologies, and e-commerce Moderator: Ms. Jacquelynn Ruff, Vice President, International Public Policy & Regulatory Affairs, Verizon, United States Dr. Tim Kelly, Head, Standardization Policy Division, ITU-T > Presentation > World Information Society 2007 Mr. Clovis Baptista, Executive Secretary, Inter-American Telecommunications Commission (CITEL) > Presentation Mr. Christodoulos Protopapas, Managing Director, HellasSat; Representative, European Satellite Operators Association, Greece > Presentation Mr. Nicklas Lundblad, European Policy Manager, Google Nordics > Presentation Audio: Listen to the Panel G > help > Biographies: Moderator and speakers Panel G
17h30	Panel H: Challenges for future trade in telecommunications — WTO implications Moderator: Mr. Harsha V. Singh, Deputy Director-General, WTO Dr. Peter F. Cowhey, Associate Vice Chancellor — International Affairs, Dean, School of International Relations and Pacific Studies, University of California, San Diego, United States > Presentation Mr. Muhammad Hanafiah Abdul Rashid, Director — International, Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore Video: Mobile phones > Presentation Audio: Listen to the Panel H > help > Biographies: Moderator and speakers Panel H

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