NEW WORLD TRADE UNIVERSITY LAUNCHED. A new 'World Trade University' was launched at the third UN Conference on Least Developed Countries (LDC III) last week (see related story, this issue). The institute is designed to foster a broader understanding of the multilateral trading system by catering to the training needs of entrepreneurs and policy- makers from least developed, developing and transition economies in an affordable, accessible and adaptable way. The University will be based in Toronto, with campuses in Africa and Asia. WTO Director-General Mike Moore emphasised the important role it would play in capacity-building throughout the world. "New World trade university launched at UN conference on the world's poorest states," UN NEWS SERVICE, 18 May 2001.

UNCTAD JOINS FORCES WITH LAW FIRMS TO BUILD CAPACITY. The UN Conference for Trade and Development (UNCTAD), in collaboration with well-known international lawyers and law firms, has set up a project called International Lawyers for Multilateral Trade Cooperation (ILMTC). The project aims to build capacity in least developed countries by providing access to legal expertise in international trade, investment and intellectual property practice. The project will also develop a handbook on dispute settlement, convene regional and international workshops, organise internship programmes, and provide advisory services to developing countries. For further information contact: Mr Erik Chrispeels, UNCTAD Legal Advisor, 8-14, Avenue de la Paix, 1211 Geneva 10; tel: (41-22) 907-5829; fax: 907-0042; email: erik.chrispeels@unctad.org. ICTSD Internal Files.

JAPAN, MEXICO TO SET UP JOINT TRADE STUDY PANEL. The governments of Japan and Mexico are expected to reach agreements to set up a joint study panel during the visit of the Mexican President Vicente Fox to Japan in June. The panel -- which is likely to include government officials, business leaders and academics from both nations -- would be charged with formulating a framework for a bilateral trade agreement aimed at eliminating tariffs between the two countries. Agricultural products are expected to feature strongly in the panel's discussions, as many in Japan have expressed concern that a trade pact would lead to a flood of cheap agricultural products from Mexico onto the Japanese market. "Japan, Mexico eye free trade agreement- Nikkei," DOW JONES, 14 May 2001.

ECUADOR REJECTS FOOD AID CONTAINING BIOTECH CROPS. Ecuador's Social Welfare Ministry has asked the UN World Food Program destroy US food aid containing genetically engineered crops following the discovery that some donations contain biotech soybeans. Distribution of food aid to Ecuador has now resumed, however, after discussions with government officials, Abigail Spring, spokeswoman for the World Food Program, said. The environmental group and strong critic of biotech food Friends of the Earth said it had sent samples of US food aid for Ecuador and Latin America for tests, which showed high levels of transgenic crops in the food donations. US Agriculture Department officials said that the genetically modified crops varieties contained in US food aid shipments have all been approved for human consumption by the US government." Ecuador ask US food aid contain no biotech crops," REUTERS, 17 May 2001.

GM COFFEE THREATENS LIVELIHOODS OF POOR FARMERS: REPORT. A genetically engineered (GMO) coffee variety -- developed by the Hawaii-based Integrated Coffee Technologies Inc.-- could cost the livelihoods of smallholding coffee farmers, according to a report published last week by development organisation Action Aid. The GMO berries are modified to all ripen at the same time after being sprayed with chemicals. While making plantations more productive by allowing strip harvesting, the technology would force out small-scale coffee farmers who handpick berries when they ripen at a natural and uneven rate. "Small farmers will be squeezed out of the market with GM coffee, " said Dr. Tewolde Egziabler, Ethiopian spokesperson at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. "It is a shift from a labour-intensive to a capital intensive system, from small farmers to large farmers." Coffee exports account for nearly 70 percent of Ethiopia's export earnings. "GM seen as a threat to poorer farmers," FT, 17 May 2001.