For Immediate Release
ILEAP Symposium to Discuss Impact of September’s WTO Ministerial Conference on Developing Countries
October 20, 2003 (Toronto, ON) — International Lawyers and Economists Against Poverty (ILEAP) will gather together international trade experts at a University of Toronto, Faculty of Law Symposium to discuss trade and export implications of September’s WTO Ministerial Conference on African and Caribbean countries.
ILEAP, incorporated as a non-governmental organization, uses its international network of institutions and individuals to assist developing countries that often lack the institutional infrastructure or expertise to successfully negotiate trade agreements or to fulfill the requirements of WTO regulations.
In the months leading up to the WTO conference, ILEAP advisors and trade experts provided advice and recommendations to assist negotiating teams in African countries. The goal was to better position these disadvantaged countries to deal with the growing complexity of trade policy issues and their impact on domestic policy. WTO members failed to reach a consensus.
What are the reasons for failure? What are the implications of this setback on the Doha Development Agenda? Does this represent a shift of power in the multilateral trading system?If so, is the shift beneficial to African and Caribbean countries? What role can Canada play to ensure enhanced participation for these countries? What approach should ILEAP take, and how can the university community contribute? These and other questions will be addressed at the Symposium.
For more information on ILEAP, please visit www.ileapinitiative.com.
What: ILEAP Symposium: “Implications of the WTO Ministerial Conference for Developing Countries”
Who: Dominique Njinkeu, Executive Director, ILEAP, University of Toronto, Faculty of Law
David Chatterson, Director, Multilateral Trade Policy Division,
Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT)
Blanka Pelz, Senior Economic Policy Advisor, Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
Susan Joekes, Team Leader, International Development Research Centre (IDRC)
Moderator: Professor Michael Trebilcock, University of Toronto, Faculty of Law
Where: Solarium, Falconer Hall, 84 Queen’s Park, University of Toronto, Faculty of Law
When: 12 p.m. - 2:00 p.m., Friday, October 24, 2003
Dominique Njinkeu has had an extensive career in the field of development and has expertise in trade, regional integration, poverty reduction and international negotiations. Prior to joining ILEAP, Njinkeu was Deputy Director of Research at the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) in Nairobi, Kenya.
David Chatterson has been working in customs and international trade in both Canada and Japan for more than two decades. After starting his career with Canada Customs and Excise, he worked for the Embassy of Canada in Japan and as a research manager with the Canadian International Trade Tribunal.
Blanka Pelz has worked on a wide range of trade and international development policy issues, such as trade-related capacity building. Within CIDA, she managed projects in the areas of governance, legal reform and health/HIV/AIDS for Russian and Commonwealth Caribbean programs.
Susan Joekes is an economist specializing in gender issues in relation to international trade, globalization, labour markets and natural resources management. Besides having consulted for the UN and World Bank, she has been a Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex, England.
The moderator for the symposium will be internationally renowned economist and legal scholar Professor Michael Trebilcock, who began teaching at the Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto in 1972. Professor Trebilcock specializes in law and economics, international trade and contract and commercial law.
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For more information, please contact:
Kathleen O’Brien, Communications Officer
University of Toronto, Faculty of Law
416.946.8188 or