WESGRO/TRALAC in conjunction with the Market Analysis Section of the International Trade Centre is pleased to invite you to a two day seminar

"TIPS in collaboration with the Market Analysis Section (MAS) of the International Trade Centre UNCTAD/WTO will be holding an Advanced Seminar on Market Analysis for Trade-led Growth Strategies. This seminar is of particular interest to trade policy analysts and academics involved in international trade research and planning."

"TIPS and the International Trade Centre (ITC) will be hosting a seminar which will focus on the utilisation of ITC's tools for market analysis in the development of international trade strategies.
This seminar is of particular interest to businesses engaged in or planning to venture into international trade."

On behalf of the Department of Economics of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, TIPS will organise a workshop on Growth, Openness and Poverty in South Africa and Thailand. Attached find a paper that explores the interaction between investment and productivity in a intertemporal general equilibrium growth framework in Thailand. Attendance is by invitation only.

The UK Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) produced a White Paper on Trade and Investment in mid-2004, which aimed to address, among other issues, how the multilateral trading system could be adapted to make it more flexible and of benefit to all its members, especially the poorest.

As part of the consultation process for the White Paper, the DTI UK initiated a programme of seminars on the key themes during March 2004, which included a round table on trade and development in South Africa, with the overarching theme of how the economic gains from increased trade could be spread throughout the supply chain so that all benefit from greater globalisation.

One particular aim of the South African round table was to give stakeholders in the region an opportunity to feed into UK policy on trade and provide the DTI UK with a clear African perspective on the UK's current trade policy and the issues and concerns around such policy.

The Department for International Development (DFID) facilitated and TIPS co-ordinated the South Africa round table discussion.

Over recent years, there has been an unprecedented increase in the scope and level of protection of intellectual property rights (IPRs), including patents, copyrights, trademarks, and geographical indications. This trend has generated new opportunities, but also new tensions around key public policy concerns such as public health, food security, education, innovation, transfer of technology and biodiversity management. While much of the debate still focuses on the WTO TRIPS Agreement, higher standards of protection, with narrowed down exceptions (TRIPS plus) are increasingly being included in new bilateral and regional free trade agreements. In a knowledge-based economy, a strong understanding of IPRs and their development implications is indispensable to informed policy-making in all areas of human development. As a contribution to this debate, the dialogue aims to:

• Provide a platform for a strategic discussion between relevant stakeholders (negotiators, capital-based policy makers, academia, NGOs and private sector) on relevant trends and thematic issues in the area of intellectual property and their implications for sustainable development; and
• Develop elements of a regional agenda for development- oriented intellectual property policies and informal mechanisms to advance it in the coming years, through, among others, joint research and networking.

The dialogue was organised and conducted as an open, informal process, bringing together 20-25 stakeholders with a variety of interests and experiences. Formal presentations were kept to a minimum, allowing enough time for a frank and open debate. Think pieces on the four topics for discussion identified in the agenda were conducted by resource persons from the region. The presentations by resource persons were followed by observations and comments by the discussants.

This initiative was developed in the framework of the joint UNCTAD-ICTSD Project on IPRs and Sustainable Development, which aims to improve the understanding of the development implications of IPRs and facilitate an informed participation of developing countries in ongoing negotiations, through policy-oriented research, multi-stakeholder dialogues and outreach.

Further information about this Regional Dialogue is available at: http://www.iprsonline.org/unctadictsd/dialogue/2004-06-29/2004-06-29_desc.htm

Further information about Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) and Sustainable Development is available at the internet portal.

This forum provides an opportunity for national and international researchers, policy makers and other stakeholders to dialogue on important policy-relevant trade and industrial policy and broader economic policy issues. The fourth conference deals with the critical issue of employment.

Unemployment is the most important social and economic issue in South Africa. There is an urgent need to critically examine ways and means of improving the prospects for growth and employment in South Africa. The aim of the forum is to initiate rigorous research on a range of important areas. The forum will focus on specific themes listed below, beginning with an overarching themes followed by more specific detailed issues.

See Annual Forum papers

This forum provides an opportunity for national and international researchers, policy makers and other stakeholders to dialogue on policy-relevant trade and industrial policy issues. Although the main focus of the workshop was on growth and investment a range of topics within the broader framework of trade, industry and technology policy was covered.

See Annual Forum papers

TIPS Annual Forum, 1998 was held in Johnesburg , South Africa.

See Annual Forum papers

TIPS hosted its first annual forum in 1997. The idea of initiating a Trade and Industrial Policy Forum stemmed from the fact that there was at present no forum at which the users of research on trade and industrial policy could meet on a regular basis with the producers of research in the academic community and the private sector.

See Annual Forum papers