Mutual Recognition Agreements and the GATS, UNCTAD.

Negotiation of MRAs is often a long, complex, costly and time-consuming…A country that wishes to be party to an MRA, first of all, has to meet some basic requirements, such as to have in place a domestic system for regulating the profession at stake, an accreditation system, and a national register of professionals…
 Link to UNCTAD Study

The National Project and the Role of the Engaged Intellectual in the South, Yash Tandon

Keynote Address, Conference on “Reinventing the Political Economy Tradition of the Caribbean”, Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (SALISES), University of the West Indes, Mona, Jamaica, March 26, 2008.
Dr. Tandon is Executive Director of the South Centre 
In this lecture I focus on what may not be common knowledge among young intellectuals…those who come from an [...]

EPAs: A ‘historic step’ towards a ‘partnership of equals’? Mareike Meyn, 25/3/08

ODI Working Paper 288, March 2008
This paper argues that the (interim) EPAs initialled between the EU and less than half of all ACP states at the end of last year do not represent a ‘historic step’ in EU-ACP relations. The majority of EPAs concluded to date are neither complete nor comprehensive trade agreements. Almost all [...]

Competition Policy in the EPAs: Development Challenges, by Vicente Paolo Yu III, (19/06/07)

Competition rules are a key part of the EU’s trade promotion strategy as they assist in opening up overseas markets for EU exporters[1]. The European Union has a long history of aggressively pushing for competition rules in international trade negotiations….
More…

Negotiating Intellectual Property in the Cariforum EPA, Ermias Tekeste Biadgleng

Access in Trade Negotiations Insights, July-August 2008, pages 5-6
The EPA agreements introduce binding TRIPS-plus standards in the Caribbean with non-binding commitments for
cooperation in innovation, technology transfer and cultural industry development. Whether the Caribbean will benefit
from the provisions for cooperation in innovation and technology transfer depends on further implementation
arrangements and funding from the Europeans. However, if [...]

Intellectual Property Rights in the EPAs, By Dalindyebo Shabalala

New Technical Brief from the Commonwealth Secretariat:
Intellectual Property in European Union Economic Partnership Agreements with the African, Caribbean and Pacific Countries: What Way Forward, (April 2008) By Dalindyebo Shabalala*, Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), Geneva. Download
For much of late 2006 and 2007, the EU attempted to conclude comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) [...]

Innovation and Intellectual Property in Cariforum EPA, South Centre

This Chapter of the draft EPA text covers issues linked with key aspects of socio-economic development of the Cariforum states (CF). Section 1 largely provides for non-binding commitment, declaratory statements, and matters that will be defined during implementation. Section 2 largely establishes binding TRIPS-plus standards that should be implemented by the parties. If Section 1 [...]

Intellectual Property in the Cariforum EPA, Diane Daley

Series of articles by Diane Daley in the Jamaica Observer
Intellectual Property in the CARIFORUM EPA, Part I: Copyright & Related Rights and Industrial Designs,
Part II: Patents, Utility Models and New Plant Varieties
Part III, Trade Marks and Geographical Indications

Public Procurement in the EPAs: Assessing the Potential Impact, by Stephen Woolcock

New Study from the Commonwealth Secretariat:
Government Procurement, one of the ‘Singapore Issues’ that was resisted from being included in the WTO DDA negotiations by developing countries are being negotiated within Free Trade Area Agreements. This paper analyses the likely costs and benefits for ACP states of incorporating within the EPAs, any possible rules on [...]

The Post Colonial Economy and Society: Facing the Challenge. Norman Girvan (12/02/08)

Lecture delivered at Public Forum on the Post Colonial Ecnomy and Society, Kingstown, St Vincent anf the Grenadines, February 12, 2008.
The basis of colonial economy and society was the disempowerment of the majority of the population. Accordingly, the basis of the post colonial economy and society must be the self-empowerment of the population by meams [...]