EVENTS

Coming up: 13-19 March

13 - 14 March, Chatham House, London, UK. CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY 2008: SUSTAINING MOMENTUM AND RESPONSIBLE GROWTH. At their 2007 Summit, the G8 nations signalled an unprecedented interest in corporate responsibility. Not only did they encourage the business sector to use specific Corporate Responsibility instruments, such as the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the UN Global Compact, but they committed to establishing a high level dialogue with leading emerging economies on the subject. This high-level conference is now in its fifth successive year as a joint venture between Chatham House and FTSE Group. The two day event will examine the latest thinking on the responsibilities of business, government and civil society and assess how far corporate responsibility has become a normal part of everyday business. For more information, please refer to the conference website at http://www.chathamhouse.org.uk/events/conferences/view/-/id/111/.

14 - 16 March, Chiba, Japan. GLENEAGLES DIALOGUE ON CLIMATE CHANGE, CLEAN ENERGY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. The Gleneagles Dialogue is a multi-year, multi-government, public-private policy dialogue on climate change and clean energy issues, the findings of which will be submitted to the G8 summit process at this meeting in Japan. For more information please refer to the summit website at http://www.do-summit.jp/en/about/summary02.php

16 March, Oxford, UK. SHARED GROWTH AND JOB CREATION IN AFRICA - ENGINES AND BARRIERS. This workshop, held by the World Bank and the Centre for the Study of African Economies (CSAE), is part of the CSAE Conference 2008. The Poverty Reduction Group of the World Bank will present its approach to finding binding constraints that limit shared growth and to assessing the role of employment and earnings changes in the growth-poverty reduction link. The underlying analytical framework will be presented and three country applications provided - Zambia, Madagascar and Rwanda. Discussants and session participants will be given ample opportunity to provide feedback on the approaches suggested and their policy implications. For more information please refer to the workshop website at http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:21652959~menuPK:34482~pagePK:2524753~piPK:51421526~theSitePK:4607,00.html or the conference website at http://www.csae.ox.ac.uk/conferences/2008-EdiA/.

17 March, Paris, France. OECD - IMF CONFERENCE ON STRUCTURAL REFORMS IN EUROPE. Further fundamental structural reforms in labour and product markets are needed to boost jobs, productivity and prosperity in Europe, notwithstanding significant progress to date. This one-day conference, jointly organised by the IMF and OECD, identifies priorities for further action and addresses related political economy issues. The speakers include economic policy-makers, academics, entrepreneurs and union representatives. Topics to be covered include:
1. What has been achieved in structural reform and what are priorities going forward?
2. What are the decisive factors driving reform initiatives and making them a success?
3. What role can European institutions play in fostering structural reform?
4. How can macroeconomic policies help promote structural change?
5. What are the major features of effective policy design?
For more information, please refer to the conference website at http://www.oecd.org/document/39/0,3343,en_21571361_39884857_39886631_1_1_1_1,00.html.

17 - 20 March, New York, US. UN ECOSOC COMMITTEE FOR DEVELOPMENT POLICY. The Committee for Development Policy (CDP), which will hold its tenth session in March 2008, is a subsidiary body of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (UN ECOSOC). One of the main topics the CDP will address will be initiatives aimed at accelerating the emergence of an effective, widely supported international response to the challenges posed by climate change. A main concern for the group is that actions to mitigate climate change should not reverse the development prospects of all nations, especially the developing countries and those most immediately adversely affected by climate change. Moreover, considerable attention should also be paid to adaptation and how to facilitate effective policy response by developing countries, in particular the most vulnerable among them. Renewed and strengthened cooperation at the global level will likely be required to address this challenge. For more information please refer to the committee website at http://www.un.org/esa/policy/devplan/

WTO Events

An updated list of forthcoming WTO meetings is posted at: http://www.wto.org/meets_public/meets_e.pdf. Please bear in mind that dates and times of WTO meetings are often changed, and that the WTO does not always announce the important informal meetings of the different bodies. Unless otherwise indicated, all WTO meetings are held at the WTO, Centre William Rappard, rue de Lausanne 154, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland, and are open to WTO Members and accredited observers only.

13-14 March: COUNCIL FOR TRADE RELATED ASPECTS OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

14 March: DISPUTE SETTLEMENT BODY

18 March: COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE

18-19 March: TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE WORKSHOP - GOOD REGULATORY PRACTICE

Other Upcoming Events

25 March 2008, Tokyo Japan. LESSONS LEARNED FROM SOUTH-SOUTH TRADE IN ASIAN REGIONS: UNCTAD XII PRE-EVENT. In preparation for UNCTAD XII, to be held from 20 to 25 April 2008 in Accra, Ghana, UNCTAD and the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) are jointly organizing a one-day workshop, to be held at JETRO headquarters in Tokyo. The main purpose of the workshop will be to examine the joint JETRO-UNCTAD publication entitled "South-South trade and regional trade agreements in Asia", including the implications of such trade and agreements for Asian developing countries and South-South trade in general. At the invitation of JETRO, the Secretary-General of UNCTAD will deliver a keynote speech at the workshop. Both UNCTAD and JETRO will deliver presentations on the publication, which will be followed by a panel discussion in which experts from business and academia will discuss further issues associated with the joint research, including lessons that can be drawn from the Asian experience for other developing countries. For more information, please refer to the meeting website at http://www.unctad.org/Templates/Meeting.asp?intItemID=1942&lang=1&m=15221&year=2008&month=3