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The Latest News

GENEVA, 18 July 2003
Ministers, CEOs and Opinion leaders to dicuss governance and competitiveness in Asia.
A high-level meeting will be held at the Hotel Plaza Athenée in Bangkok, 2nd and 3rd of October, to discuss how the competing but interdependent agendas of governments, businesses and civil society in the Asia region can be aligned to develop competitive economies that boost growth and benefit the poor. Forty Ministers, CEOs and opinion leaders from across Asia will attend.

HO CHI MINH CITY, 14 June 2003
Global Programme and Vietnam Government to bring market information to rural and mountainous communities.
THE GLOBAL PROGRAMME HAS LAUNCHED a pre-feasibility study to to identify how communications technologies and information on market prices will allow farmers to make a better choice on how they grow and process their products and where they sell it. Opportunities have also been identified for communities in areas of natural beauty to advertise their facilities locally to tourists.

GENEVA, 8 May 2003
Participants at meeting on Special and Differential Treatment call for more flexibility.
THE GLOBAL PROGRAMME HELD A HIGH-LEVEL seminar to discuss how provisions for Special and Differential Treatment (S&D) in the Doha Round could be used to the benefit of developing countries. Partcipants agreed S&D could act as a tool for development and called for more flexibility.

GENEVA, 7 April 2003
Asian regional meeting in Bangkok on governance and competitiveness postponed due to SARS.
FOLLOWING THE IMPOSITION OF SEVERE travel restrictions to combat the spread of SARS, the Asian regional seminar on globalization, governance and competitiveness has been postponed to a later date.

GENEVA, 26 June 2002
Heads of agencies renew support for trade as best way out of poverty.
SPEAKING AT A SPECIALLY CONVENED session of the UNDP Executive Board in Geneva, Mark Malloch-Brown of UNDP, Mike Moore of WTO, Carlos Fortin of UNCTAD and J. Denis Bélisle of ITC called for more funding and collaboration for enabling countries to integrate better into the global trading system.

GENEVA, 5 June 2002
Global Programme invites suggestions for topics to debate on talkdevelopment.info.
THE GLOBAL PROGRAMME WILL SOON BE launching www.talkdevelopment.info, its online platform for knowledge-sharing in the field of globalization and sustainable human development, and is seeking your ideas for what it should discuss.

GENEVA, 19 April 2002
Expert meeting on best practices in the transfer of technology.
EXPERTS MET AT THE PALAIS DES NATIONS, Geneva on 11 April 2002, to identify policies favouring technology transfer and increased productivity.

BAMAKO, 10 January 2002
Members of Government and civil society in Mali agree to a comprehensive national action plan.
THE PLAN INCLUDES MEASURES FOR TRADE expansion and capacity building, as well as for the simplification of the business environment, investment promotion, support for SMEs and micro-finance and development of a communications infrastructure.

TIANJIN, 21 December 2001
Senior Asian trade and investment officials discuss policies to attract foreign direct investment and boost export competitiveness.
THE MEETING PUT INTO PLACE A NETWORK of policy makers and organisations to shape regional trade and investment flows and contribute to future negotiations on a Multilateral Investment Agreement.

PORT LOUIS, 10 October 2001
Identifying the research and training needs of Africa region trade policy makers and negotiators.
THIS WAS THE THIRD AND FINAL REGIONAL meeting in a networking effort aimed at strengthening the capacity of developing countries to participate more effectively in multilateral trade negotiations. Previous meetings were held in New Delhi for Asia, in November 2000 and Santiago de Chile for Latin America, in November 1999.

GENEVA, 8 October 2001
Global Programme launches second phase: Belgium pledges support.
ON BEHALF OF HON. EDDY BOUTMANS, Secretary of State for International Co-operation of Belgium, Ambassador Jacques Scavee, speaking at the UNCTAD Trade and Development Board this morning, pledged USD1million to the Global Programme.

TUNIS, 3 October 2001
Global Programme completes national workshop in Tunisia, generating dialogue and consensus among stakeholders.
THE WORKSHOP BROUGHT TOGETHER 80 members of Government, civil society and academia, widened the circle of people investigating how Tunisia can best seize the opportunities of integration into the world economy.

NEW DELHI, 5 April 2001
Developing and least developed Asia-Pacific countries perceive globalisation as a threat
THE GLOBAL PROGRAMME HAS PUBLISHED the conclusions of its "Regional Meeting on Research and Training Needs in International Trade in Asia-Pacific Countries". It details the "strong threat perception in most participating countries as to the implications of increased globalisation".

KINGSTON & MONTEGO BAY, 1 March 2001
Jamaica National Workshop: The Challenges Ahead
WORKSHOPS WERE HELD TO DISCUSS THE findings of the Jamaica country assessment, which praised the island's human development record and its productive labour force. It stressed the need to emphasise industries such as tourism, entertainment, high value-added manufacturing and information technology.

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