EVENTS

For a more comprehensive list of events in trade and sustainable development, please refer to ICTSD's web calendar at: http://www.ictsd.org/cal/index.htm. If you would like to submit an event, please email events@ictsd.ch

Upcoming Events: 20 December - 16 January

9-12 January, Jaipur, India: STRENGTHENING SKILLS ON COMMERCIAL & ECONOMIC DIPLOMACY. This training programme for senior-level civil servants and executives, organised by the India-based CUTS Institute for Regulation & Competition, will impart knowledge and information on multiple aspects of commercial and economic diplomacy in the present and future context of globalisation and economic relations among countries. Two training programmes have been successfully accomplished for mid- and junior-level civil servants and executives respectively. Experienced resource persons from various backgrounds will conduct sessions with case studies and simulation exercises. It is aimed for senior level government officials (from trade and other economic ministries), representatives from inter-governmental and multilateral agencies, and other stakeholders such as businesspersons. For details, please see http://www.circ.in/CDS04/Pdf/CDS.04.pdf

Other Upcoming Events

21-25 January, Geneva, Switzerland: SIXTH MEETING OF THE CBD OPEN-ENDED WORKING GROUP ON ACCESS AND BENEFIT-SHARING. The meeting will address compliance, and traditional knowledge and genetic resources, capacity-building and the nature, scope and objectives of an international regime on access and benefit-sharing. Internet: http://www.cbd.int/doc/meeting.aspx?mtg=ABSWG-06

22-24 January, Beijing, China: BEIJING INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON COMBATING DESERTIFICATION. The State Forestry Administration of the People's Republic of China (SFA) and the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN-DESA) will organise this conference, which will bring together senior government decision-makers, representatives of local authorities, officials from the UN system, researchers and experts, as well as practitioners, to share lessons learned and best practices in combating desertification. It will be convened as an intersessional event in contribution to the 16th session of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD). Internet: http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/calendar/desertification_beijing2008.htm

24-28 January, Davos, Switzerland: WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM ANNUAL MEETING 2007: SHAPING THE GLOBAL AGENDA, THE SHIFTING POWER EQUATION. Be it in geopolitics from west to east, or in business from producers to consumers, power is shifting at a tremendous pace, raising questions of how we are to organize and operate in a changing global environment. The This year's World Economic Forum Annual Meeting summit is a unique opportunity forwill bring together leaders from all walks of life -- business, government, the media, academia, the arts and civil society -- to examine global shifts in power -- in geopolitics from west to east, as well as in business from producers to consumers. They will address questions of how to organise and operate in a changing global environment, and seek to this shift and shape the 2007 global agenda. Internet: http://www.weforum.org/en/index.htm.

30-31 January, Tokyo, Japan: A CHANGE IN CLIMATE FOR WHALES: IS THERE A COMMON WAY FORWARD? - SECOND PEW-SPONSORED WHALE SYMPOSIUM. This meeting follows the first Pew Whale Symposium held in New York in April 2007 and will precede a special meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) on the future of the whale conservation regime at the end of February, as decided at the last annual meeting of the IWC. Internet: http://www.pewwhales.org/tokyosymposium/

13-16 April, Ooty, India: GRADUATE COURSE IN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS AND TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER. The Society for Technology Management (STEM), Asia's premier technology management association, will be hosting its flagship international program, the Graduate Course in IPR and Technology Transfer. The intensive four-day program will examine the role of Intellectual Property (IP) as a strategic technology transfer tool using case studies, best practices, and interactive discussions. The faculty for the program comprises of senior IP practitioners, decision makers, academicians, drawn from prominent public research institutions and global international organizations involved in IP Management. This program is aimed at technology transfer officers, IP managers, technology managers and senior policy makers engaged in IP policy development from India and abroad. Participants will be able to learn current best practices in IPRs, in innovation management, and apply these principles and practices in their respective institutional and business environment. The program details, including program agenda and registration forms, are available online at http://www.stemglobal.org/events2008.html. Contact Akshat Medakker; akshatm@sathguru.com, or Prabhu Ram; prabhur@sathguru.com, for further details.