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Negotiating Trade Agreements: From Theory to Practice, 2-13 December, 2002

Small Grant

Keywords

International Trade - Negotiations - Trade

Summary

The project consisted of a specialized course on trade negotiation, including a trade negotiation simulation, which will be used both for immediate training purposes and for data collection purposes in a research perspective. The course is intended for government representatives who are likely to be involved in trade negotiations. Representatives of the academic community and of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Secretariat will function as trainers / facilitators. Researchers from the academic community will be offered the possibility to observe the trade simulation with a view to use it as a "laboratory" for further study.

Immediate Objectives:

i) Transfer of knowledge and skills on negotiation techniques to government representatives of developing countries involved in WTO negotiations. This objective is in line with both the regular WTO training objectives and the specific post-Doha objectives of strengthening technical cooperation and capacity building in developing countries.

ii) Strengthen, through practical and concrete joint activities, the cooperation between the WTO Secretariat, in particular the WTO Training Institute, and the academic community. This objective is in line with the regular WTO training objectives as well as those of academic partners involved in the project and the GIAN.

Medium-Term Objectives:

iii) Develop practical and useful negotiation-related tools and instruments for developing countries which may strengthen their capacities to effectively participate in negotiations and play an active role within the multilateral trading system in general and the WTO in particular.

iv) Contribute to a world-wide research network on international economic negotiations, which would contribute to the development of better training tools for those countries that currently lack expertise in this area. The network is currently under construction with Prof. John Odell (University of Southern California, Los Angeles) as coordinator.

Expected Outcomes:

i) Curriculum development which may be used again for similar courses organized in Geneva or elsewhere. The present project may become part of the programme of regular Trade Policy Courses organized by the WTO Training Institute in Geneva or in the field.

ii) A two-week course for approximately 30 government officials from developing countries.

iii) Design of a series of observation procedures (protocol for the collection of data) that may be reproduced in similar simulations for research purposes.

iv) Reporting of preliminary findings by observing academics, which may take the form of an article or an essay; these findings may also be used in the specific context of courses of the Diplomatic Studies Program at Graduate Institute of International Studies (GIIS).

Partners involved in the project:

a) Graduate Institute of International Studies: Prof. Cédric Dupont;

b) World Trade Organization (Training Institute): Claude Mercier and Jean-Daniel Rey;

c) International Partners: Prof. Gilbert Winham, Dalhousie University (Canada);

Prof. Vinod K. Aggarwal, University of California, Berkeley;

Prof. John Odell, University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

The grant provided by the GIAN for this project totals SFr 45,080

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Project Team

Prof. Gilbert Winham , Principal Member, Centre for foreign policy studies , Dalhousie University (Canada) .