The WTO has recently established a WTO Chairs Program to support WTO-related research and teaching activities in developing countries. While the deadline for the first round of call for proposals has expired on May 29th, similar opportunities might be offered in the future. Interested readers can find out more about the background of the program and application guidelines here. I'm honored to serve as a member of the Advisory Board of the programme.
At the kind invitation of Dr. Sorajak Kasemsuvan at the International Institute for Trade and Development (ITD) , I went to Bangkok earlier this week to participate in the Regional Workshop on "FTA's Impacts on Developing Countries: the Asian Context" on March 17th. The ITD is jointly sponsored by the Government of Thailand and UNCTAD and is one of the most active centers on trade issues in the region. The workshop also marked the public launch of South East Asia Trade Policy Training Network (SEATRANET), a joint project between the APEC and Canadian International Development Agency.
At the kind invitation of Professors Ramon Torrent and Pierre Sauvé, I will be in Barcelona early next week to teach in the University of Barcelona's new Master of Laws in International Economic Law and Policy (LL.M. IELPO) program. With the stellar faculty from around the world, this program is one of the best of its kind in the world and I strongly recommend it to anyone who is interested in WTO matters.
In the summer, I will be teaching another program in Macau. This course is run by the IEEM in Macau and again taught by some of the best scholars on WTO issues. Another advantage is the nice location in the gaming capital of the world.
I should also mention both programs have scholarships available to talented students from developing countries. Please approach the respective programs via the links on their websites.
For the whole week last week, I was teaching the Trade Negotiation
Simulation Exercise (TNSE) at the Regional Trade Policy Course (RPTC)
for about 30 Asian Pacific developing countries. The RTPC was first
created as a joint venture between the WTO Secretariat and the
University of Hong Kong, and I was in charge of the course as the
Academic Coordinator while I was in Hong Kong. As the WTO has a rule
which requires the course to be moved to another place after a maximum
three years, the course came to Singapore in 2007 after three
successful years in Hong Kong. Currently the local host of the course
is the law school of National University of Singapore, which actually
occupies the previous campus of SMU.
The TNSE was first designed by Prof. Gilbert Winham. It contains
simulated negotiations on both tariff matters and non-tariff matter
(subsidies and countervailing measures) between four fictional
countries, two developed, the other two developing. While the world
has changed a lot since the exercise was first designed, it is still a
very useful tool for developing country officials to hone their
negotiation skills. Indeed, it has been so useful that some even blame
it for at least being partly responsible for the impasse of the
current Doha Round (the developing countries are too good to negotiate
with!).
In my view, while it is important to have enhanced negotiating
capacity for developing countries, another challenge facing many
developing countries is how to translate the needs of the domestic
groups into substantive negotiating positions. Even in countries as
big and powerful as China, there is a big gap between the interests of
the industry and the trade policy of the country. In the US and
Europe, there are various mechanisms for the domestic industries to
voice their concerns to the government. In China and many other
developing countries, the channel is still slowly being established.
I'm currently doing a research project on the foreign trade barrier
investigation mechanism of China, and would welcome any comments and
suggestions on this interesting topic.
I have recently been appointed as a Member of the Review Body on Bid Challenges (under the World Trade Organization Agreement on Government Procurement).
Established by the Hong Kong government in late 1998, the Review Body is a dedicated, independent and impartial body set up under Article XX of the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA) whereby suppliers may challenge against alleged breaches of the GPA by procuring entities in relation to relevant procurements.
The terms of reference of the Review Body on Bid Challenges are:
(a) To receive from suppliers challenges made in respect of alleged breaches of the World Trade Organization Agreement on Government Procurement by procuring entities arising in the context of relevant procurements in which they have, or have had, an interest;
(b) To conduct inquiries in respect of challenges made by suppliers in accordance with (a) above; and
(c) To make determinations and recommendations in accordance with the Rules of Operation of the Review Body on Bid Challenges.
The following Government and Non-Government Entities are subject to the GPA if their contracts of procurements exceed the values specified:
1. All Government bureaux and departments
For contracts above the value of -
130,000 SDR for procurement of products and services;
5,000,000 SDR for construction services
2. Non-Government public bodies including the Housing Authority and Housing Department, the Hospital Authority, the Airport Authority, the Mass Transit Railway Corporation Limited and the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation
For contracts above the value of -
400,000 SDR for procurement of products and services;
5,000,000 SDR for construction services
(Special Drawing Rights (SDR) is an international currency unit set up by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Governments belonging to the IMF are permitted to draw upon it for gold or foreign currencies to settle their international payments. The current Hong Kong dollar equivalent to 1 SDR is about HK$11.52725).
I have recently been appointed as a member of the Committee on International Trade Law of the International Law Association. I am the first and currently the only member on the committee from the People's Republic of China.
The International Law Association (ILA) is one of the world's oldest and most distinguished learned societies in international law. Founded in Brussels in 1873, ILA engages primarily in the study, clarification and development of both public and private international law. ILA is now headquartered in London and has about 50 regional branches around the world. Its membership, at present about 3,700, includes people from all walks of life who are interested in international law, ranging from legal professionals in private practice, academia, government and the judiciary, to non-lawyers from commercial, industrial and financial sectors. The work of ILA through its committees and conferences has played an important role in the development of modern international law.
