Events

Missing Links in Sustainable Development: South Asian Perspectives
Ninth Sustainable Development Conference 13-15 December 2006, Islamabad, Pakistan

Panel 1: Trade and sustainable development: The WTO needs a new face

Session: Regional trade agreements and conflict mitigation

The WTO is no longer the only game in town. The rapid acceleration of regional trade agreements (RTA) is having a profound effect on global trade flows and regional governance structures. But what does this mean for local, regional and global security? Does trade promote security or is it hindered by conflict. Proponents of the benign view cite the European model as an example of improved governance and regional economic and political integration. The southern experience is far less encouraging and tends to support the opposing view that peace is a pre-requisite for trade. In South Asia’s case, efforts by political and economic stakeholders have produced various RTAs, such as the South Asian Preferential Trade Agreement (SAPTA) and, more recently, the South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA). However, efforts to promote economic integration continue to remain stalled, triggered by political instability within smaller nations and a common animosity towards a surging India. Also, evidence points to South Asian countries buying into global rather than regional trade. Politically, too, the drivers tend to be extra rather than intra-regional. Perhaps the solution lies in broad-based approaches, which take into account shared commitments to institutional, cultural, religious-spiritual, social and environmental development. Is a broad-based approach more likely to yield measurable steps that build peace between all nations, equitable development and in turn, address the concerns of groups responsible for intra-state instability? Perhaps, SAARC does have a future after all.

We invite scholars and policy practitioners, both from within and outside the region to present their empirical and academic work focusing on the links between trade and conflict to enrich the ongoing discourse around this subject.

Contact:
Shaheen Rafi Khan, Research Fellow, SDPI
Email: shaheen@sdpi.org

Session: Informal Trade

The number of Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) has been increasing steadily over the last 15 years. By the beginning of 2005 around 250 RTAs had been notified to the WTO. Such agreements are viewed as either WTO-plus or as defensive arrangements to counteract the impact of globalization, which the WTO is instrumental in promoting. In terms of their trade impacts, the RTAs can be trade-creating or trade-diverting leading, respectively, to welfare gains or losses. Informal trade (smuggling) serves as an objective indicator of comparative advantage; its extent determines whether there are potential welfare gains in trade liberalization (via tariff and quota reductions). Also, an accurate fix on the magnitude of such trade provides useful insights for policy makers. It allows them to determine the volume of goods that will begin to flow through formal channels, their potential revenue effects, the impact such flows could have on domestic industries and the trade imbalances it could create. The estimation is not easy; in addition to data collection problems a comparative assessment of transport and procedural costs is necessary to determine the extent of tariff reductions required to trigger the cross-over into formal trade. This session invites presentations linking quantitative with analytical insights on informal trade, with a view to informing regional trade policy.

Contact:
Shaheen Rafi Khan, Research Fellow, SDPI
Email: shaheen@sdpi.org

Session: Marine fisheries: Compliance, sustainability and livelihoods

Exports of marine products from developing countries face increasingly stringent compliance requirements from northern consumers. The Sanitary and Phytosanitary-Hazard and Critical Control Point (SPS-HACCP) agreement governs health and safety standards while the voluntary Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) standards relate to harvesting activities. Although compliance requirements are flexible in view of the limited institutional capacities in the South, these standards will, over time, become more pervasive. The macro, meso and micro-level impacts can potentially engender export and livelihood losses. However, compliance with such standards is also key to ensuring long-term sustainability on the economic, social and environmental planes. Further compliance becomes increasingly more complex as one moves higher up the supply or value chain. Both the spread and depth of the issue require careful analysis in order to generate a suitably tailored menu of policy, institutional and technical interventions. Accordingly, we would like to invite contributions by academics and policy practitioners to share their research and shed light on a subject that is acquiring considerable regional importance.

Contact:
Shaheen Rafi Khan, Research Fellow, SDPI
Email: shaheen@sdpi.org

Panel 2: Regoverning markets: Inclusion of small growers and producers in the supply chain

There is an urgent need for anticipatory policy responses to agrifood restructuring that will enable small-scale producers to participate in dynamic markets. The capacity for public policy response is currently limited, notably because the majority of policy makers are unaware of the changes taking place. The debate around pro-poor growth and rural livelihoods is proceeding as if national public policy were still the key determinant of rural livelihoods.

Little strategic analysis and advice is presently available within the public domain, and the framework for information and lesson sharing within and between stakeholder groups and across countries and regions is weak. The private sector’s capacity to respond to the particular challenges of small-scale producers is also limited, particularly where there are few incentives to change business practice in ways that deliver development benefits.

The major aim of this panel is to explore the missing links that are hindering inclusion of small farmers and producers in the dynamic supply chains.

Contact:
Abid Qaiyum Suleri, Assistant Executive Director, SDPI
Email: suleri@sdpi.org