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What's new at the ICDA Secretariat?
(Not quite a press release)
news ARCHIVE
2002 Secretariat News

2001 Secretariat News

What's happening at ICDA in December?
  • So, it's official: It's that time again. The "most wonderful time of the year" as Andy Williams, in his festive song, sang. It's a shame, though, that ICDA had to lose Eamonn Moran who has now gone onto greener pastures in the most appropriate place to get such pastures--Ireland. During his time at the Secretariat, he helped imbue it with a new dynamic that had been in the coming with Anjali & Melita's work and diligence.

    Nonetheless, it is safe to say that his interest that the State ought to play a greater role in affairs does not sit awry in the face of the aggressive economic globalisation that we see with increasing power of TNCs, and the growing power of regional blocs, such as the EU. Now with the 10 applicant countries joining the EU, international relations will take a turn--whether for the worse or the better remains to be seen.

    In any case, ICDA's efforts to encourage subscribers to join its free WTO Impact List will continue apace in the New Year. The Secretariat will also be sending out the new ICDA Update --n#43-- that will be completed for January 2003, and many more activities will be consolidated with the arrival of Jennifer Cyr and Simon Roughneen in January to the Secretariat to help with ICDA's interminable battle to disseminate information that calls for trade that is, ultimately, people-centred, and gender-sensitive.

    Have a very Merry Christmas and peaceful transition to a New Year 2003;-)*Emmanuel* [Posted: Friday '20' December @ 3.02pm CET]


    What's happening at ICDA in November?
  • ICDA's Annual Conference was reasonably well-attended. What this means is that we had circa 10 people excluding the speakers. We shall be posting updated information relating to the conference on the new page here: http://www.icda.be/annual-conference/stayinformed/index.html. This page will most likely go up next week, but for now, here's a quick breakdown of activities/happenings going on at the Secretariat:
  • Monday 25 November--Eamonn and Emmanuel both attended the European Trade Network (ETN) meeting, which is the last this year. For more info on the key change at the ETN, please visit ICDA's ETN Page here
  • Tuesday 26 November--ICDA was represented at the Second International Conference on Globalisation, which was attended by over 200 people at the University of Leuven. If you would like more info about the developments of this conference, please visit the page http://www.globalisationdebate.be
  • Wednesday 27 November--facilitatation of "an exchange of what NGOs in the 4 regions are doing and planning in terms of Cotonou-trade advocacy work".
  • In any event, it's still been rather busy at the Secretariat as Eamonn and Emmanuel try to finish off outstanding reports, and WTO Impact Lists. For a brief overview of what Eamonn's tasks are, please visit the page here [Posted: Thursday '28' November @ 12.43pm CET]

    Computer problems notwithstanding, the month of October was horrendously busier than expected. This caused a lot of problems with regard to the Intern's sending out of important information, such as the WTOIL is. At the time of writing, there are circa 3 outstanding WTOILs that need to be sent out along with the regular ones. If the WTOILs are all greek to you, please visit the following URL: http://www.icda.be/wtoimpactlist/5dayfocus.htm. In any event, last two weeks, apart from preparation for ICDA's Annual Conference,was spent attending a conference at Brussel's King Baudoin Foundation dedicated to Gender, ICT, and Rural Development on UN day--ie 24 October. Unfortunately, due to the large amount of tasks still to be completed, Emmanuel has yet to write--let alone post up -- the information for the website. Sadly, the report on the EBA-EPA negotiations that took place in The Hague is not yet ready. We will post it on Latest News here once all those reports are truly completed for dissemination.

  • In the meantime, on Thursday 31 October, the Secretariat was a full house, as ICDA Chairperson Janice Goodson Foerde was here, along with former intern Ms.Anjali Ramachandra, and Ms.Melita Sammut, for whom that day was her last day of her three-month internship. It is with a degree of sadness that the Secretariat bids her goodbye as both she and Anjali both injected a new kind of momentum in the work that interns do at the Secretariat. Furthermore, we wish Melita all the best for the latter part of her dissertation, which must be ready in the very near future. Just when you thought there probably were enough people at ICDA that day, it was with great pleasure that Janice also interviewed two prospective candidates for the post of Administrative officer for ICDA. For more on this post, please visit Dev Nets website In any case, one person has been short-listed, and we shall be co-ordinating with her very soon.
    Please welcome Eamonn Moran, from Ireland, who came to the Secretariat also on Thursday! He has officially joined the ICDA team, and will be with ICDA for circa three months minimum. More on his job functions will be posted over the next couple of days.Also, Ms.Jennifer Cyr has been helping ICDA as a volunteer for the past week, and will be of invaluable help at ICDA's Annual Conference, too. We are certainly looking forward to an even more exciting period at the Secretariat.
    Sent off TWO NGO Impact Lists in the past week (n#24 & n#25). COMING SOON>>>...
  • ICDA Latest News (for members);
  • more on Eamonn Moran & his job functions;
  • more on plans for ICDA Website, and Annual Conference page.


  • The ICDA Secretariat was closed on Friday 1 November for All Saint's Day holiday.
    [Posted: Monday '4' November @ 1.31am CET]

    What's happening at ICDA in October?
  • The month of October has been unusually busy for the Secretariat--and it will be so even more now that our very dedicated colleague Ms.Anjali Ramachandran has officially terminated her internship period of three months, whilst simultaneously completing her Masters thesis. The Secretariat is very sad to see her go, but, alas, she is on to greener pastures. Meanwhile, Melita and Emmanuel badger on with preparation for ICDA's annual conference, entitled: "Filling the Development Deficits & Influencing WTOMC5. Transforming Blind Economic Globalization to Global Sustainability" More on this conference will be posted over the next few days.
    In the meantime, though E.K. is in the process of constructing a new page for conferences/meetings attended, and reports written by the Secretariat,(please check links on right), we will list below the conferences attended in this very busy month:
  • 30 September: European Trade Meeting @ 11.11.11, Brussels
  • 2 October: Trade & Development Day @ Borschette, Brussels
  • 3 October: NGO Seminar on Working in Sudan, ACP Secretariat, Brussels
  • 9 October: 'Save our Food from Genetic Pollution', Trolley campaign org. by Friends Of the Earth, Brussels
  • 10 October: Expert Meeting on EBA/EPA Issue of the ACP-EU Negotiations, org. by INZET, The Hague, The Netherlands
  • [Posted: Wednesday '16' October @ 6.21pm EST]

    What's happening at ICDA in September?
  • Although August was a quiet month in terms of NGO-work, most of it was spent by relatively new ICDA interns -- Melita Sammut and Anjali Ramachandran -- who both worked vigorously on trying to re-establish contact with erstwhile ICDA members. There were very few meetings to go to over that month, but there was a lot of work on updating lists, and databases, etc, -- especially at the Secretariat -- which remain pivotal for ICDA's networking agenda.

  • Since September 9, there have been three of us at ICDA -- Anjali, Melita, and Emmanuel -- who have been putting their heads together to keep the Secretariat moving forward in terms of WTOILs; NGO news; Gender-related issues, and writing up of reports. Also, ICDA will be publishing very soon -- thanks to Anjali & Melita's work over the month of August -- a new ICDA Update n#42, with a particular focus on WSSD. Finally, ICDA's TNC Seminar report is being formatted ready for publication by the end of October (latest). It promises to be a rivetting read, so please keep all eyes peeled! Having said all that, just a quick breakdown of things happening at ICDA:
    1. As mentioned, the Secretariat is in the process of -- still -- updating membership lists, and we hope very soon for there to be a new directory under http://www.icda.be/icdamembers/, where prospective members -- and current ones for that matter -- can obtain useful information about benefits of membership; where they can download ICDA Statutes, plus obtain ICDA Annual Reports
    2. Attended 17 September meeting at European Parliament on Global Investment Rules that was organised by the Socialist Group. There were some interesting discussions, including how the World Bank has basically NOT been lending new money, because all the money they receive is from developing and poorer countries re-paying their never-ending debt. Definitely food for thought.
    [Posted: Monday '23' September @ 3.27pm EST]
    What's happening at ICDA in July?
  • The week of July 15 to July 19 has been of the busiest for the ICDA Secretariat so far since the hot/chilly/rainy weather visited the Belgian capital. Last week, as soon as Anjali arrived, she started writing reports. She produced one wfter she attended the WWF-Seminar on SIAs, which we sent out to ICDA Members Tuesday 16 July. ALso Emmanuel wrote a paper, entitled Tale of Two Hypocrisies that went out in the Wednesday WTOIL the same day when the debate on the Common Agricultural Policy was going on in Brussels. The paper was an attempt to outline the main arguments from two news sources on the Farm Bill (USA) and the EU's CAP. In any event, since there is a lot to put down, we shall, for the purposes of clarity, outline briefly our activities in the past week:

    Tuesday: Sent out Latest News at ICDA -- July 2002 by email. Anjali wrote a summary of UNCTAD's LDC Report.

    Thursday-Friday Produced a report entitled: African Regional Blocs -- Too Many for the EPAs?. This went out in the WTO Impact List. The paper has to do with the implications of the the proliferation of regional organisations on the AFrican continent, and what constraints -- if any -- it can cause for the negotiations between the Brussels-based Africa Carribean Group that will be coming back from FIJI end of this week for a crucial meeting on the discussions that begin in September with the EU. EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy was in Fiji two days ago to sing the free trade tune to the 77-member group, that includes Cuba as Observer. More will be posted over the next few months.

    In any event, ICDA is pleased to welcome a new face to the Secretariat on 5 August-- Melita Samut, who will be starting full-time, to switch to part-time when Emmanuel returns in September. For her tasks, please visit the link here. PLEASE NOTE THAT ICDA LATEST NEWS WILL BE BACK IN EARLY SEPTEMBER News updates can be obtained from Emmanuel's two very competent colleagues Anjali & Melita over the month of August. [Posted: Friday '19' July @ 5.17pm EST]
  • ICDA is happy to welcome Ms.Anjali Ramachandran, who is currently working on an Msc.in International Housing and Social Change at the London School of Economics (LSE). She will be working with Emmanuel till mid-July (when he leaves for summer break), and will be herself, in turn, welcoming Mr.Eamonn Moran of Ireland in mid-August. You can contact her at anjali@icda.be .

  • In the meantime, you can find the report of the AD-Hoc meeting, organised by Eurostep, on the ACP-EU Negotiations as a Word Document here [Posted: Monday '8' July @ 3.52pm EST]
  • Emmanuel sent a report through the NGO Impact List, which shall be made available on-line next week, regarding the ACP-EU ad Hoc meeting on the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) that are to start here in Brussels in September. Yesterday's meeting at the EU's Borschette was very well-attended by Civil Society, but sadly, there was insufficient time for discussion. The meeting was replete with a lot of frank exchanges, and some candid views from the Commission representatives.
  • On Monday, posted up August 2001 WTOIL SOD Reports, which you can find at the following link here. They cover the topics of UNLDC3; RIO+10; WTO-QATAR; and Regional Trade. Do you remember when Blair was in Argentina? It triggered the usual pun of not crying for Argentina. The Economist magazine had it, the FT had a variation of it; yes, ICDA used it too -- uncannily before the Economist. Find out more here

  • ICDA's new page MediaWatch (Monitoring the Media on Trade & Development) will be coming to the ICDA pages the week of 8 July, so please keep your eyes peeled.
  • WTO Impact LIsts have made sporadic appearances this week. Monday should see Fri 28 June; Fri 5 July; Thursday 4 July WTOILs sent out, under the new format of WTOIL#2xx | {Date} | {FOCUS} : {Key themes}
  • [Posted: Friday '5' July @ 6.06pm EST]
    What's happening at ICDA in June?
  • Today, we spent almost the whole day interviewing prospective interns. We have some very good applicants lined up, so please suspend applications for the months of July-October inclusive.
  • The WTO Impact List will be issued regularly commencing July 1. Subscribers will also receive this week's that was saved for use
  • [Posted: Friday '28' June @ 6.20pm EST]
  • Friday was Monika's last day at the Secretariat. This week is Caroline's last. This means that we continue relentlessly to look for interns to work here to replace Monika and Caroline after the week is out
  • [Posted: Monday '24' June @ 12.17pm EST]
  • Today, we went through the first out of three scheduled interviews this week. That is not saying anything at all, but that we are being stricter than usual in terms of what we are expecting from prospective interns. We would still encourage any prospective interns to read carefully the internship page. [Posted: Monday '17' June @ 6.20pm EST]
  • Yesterday, we had unexpected news at the Secretariat, which would mean that we are now urgently looking for 2 dedicated-NGO interns with a very strong commitment to the primary aim of ICDA to start immediately (most likely second last week in June/early July). The successful candidate would obtain a rigorous one-week training, and would work from July to October as full-time. The second would work from July to August as full-time only to possibly switch to part-time when Emmanuel comes back in September.

  • To obtain an idea of the specific tasks required for the successful candidate chosen for the one-month full time position, please check here [Posted: Friday '14' June @ 1.40pm EST]
    To be honest, a lot of things happened in May. However, we were busier than expected -- so much so that we were, unfortunately, able to inform our public. Nonetheless, here's just a quick breakdown of what we did in May:
  • Interviewed four prospective interns whose CV had been with us for some time.
  • Attended the following meetings:
    1. CUTS Meeting at Dorint Hotel on Trade, Investment, and Labor rights
    2. Meeting with IMF staff on Friday 3 May
    3. ETN Meeting(please see below)
    4. Conference on Sustainable Development @ European Parliament

    In the week of 20 May, Monika and Emmanuel prepared ICDA Updates, with payment reminders, and sent it off to our forty-odd members worldwide. You can take a look at our Members here, but it is important to remember that as the site is updated on specific dates for specific pages, our members page dates back to 2001. We have had a new member since...2001 - an NGO from Macedonia called ORT. For further details, do check the latter link after August when Emmanuel plans to lanch a re-vamped Members page.
    As the NEW Webpage Updates may have told you (please see below), Emmanuel updated the UN Ffd Site here, with Janice Goodson Foerde's article, submitted to the ETN meeting of 16 May, on the dynamics (and inherent failures)of Monterrey. You can read it here. Also updated is the ICDA Internship page, updated to reflect the strong commitment by prospective interns towards ICDA's aims and goals -- rather than just another internship/"stage" for your CV. For more info on, please visit the page here. [Posted: Tuesday '4' June @ 5.40pm EST]
    What's happening at ICDA in May?
  • What a difference the month of May makes! There were holidays on the following days:
  • Wednesday 1 May -- Mayday
  • Thursday 9 May -- Ascension
  • Monday 20 May -- Pentecost Monday
  • Yesterday, the first-ever ETN (European Trade Network) meeting took place here in Brussels. Much information exchange took place over trade issues, as per expected. The ETN Coordination Committee (please see ICDA's page on this here) will be sending out minutes of the meeting very soon, and have scheduled the next meeting to take place on 30 September.

  • In the meantime, Website changes are afoot. No more waiting to see which page has been updated by looking at the Update times (though that is also important). Now, simply go to the Main ICDA Home Page, and click the refresh button to see which pages have been recently updated. In any event, the ICDA Publications page has been updated. [Posted: Friday '17' May @ 4.50pm EST]
    What's happening at ICDA in April?
  • The ICDA Secretariat will be closed on May 1
    On Friday 26, ICDA sent out the following information regarding our WTO Impact List:

    On Saturday 20 April, ICDA hosted the much-publicised Seminar on TNCs, which comprised an interesting panoply of speakers including New Economics Foundation's Julian Oram; David Boys of Public Services International; Burghard Ilge of the Netherlands-based NGO Both Ends; and Christian Aid's Danny Graymore. For a closer look at the topics, please visit ICDA's Special Page on the seminar:http://www.icda.be/ffdevelopment/tncseminar

    There was much good discussion, out of which a report is being prepared by the ICDA Secretariat. There will also be some basic information posted on ICDA's Website to this end. Nonetheless, it is necessary to stress that the issue of TNCs, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Sustainable Development remains critical as Johannesbourg summit draws closer.

    It is inevitable that many conferences, and seminars (not excluding list-servs), abound as to these inter-linking issues. However, given the limited participation of our seminar, ICDA decided to change the name of Friday's focus from [FfDEVELOPMENT] to [FfD-IFIs-TNCs]. This is so that we could use the Friday focus to present a faithful representation of the all-encompassing issues inherenst in the global financial architecture -- namely: the role of International Financial Institutions (IFIs), such as the World Bank & IMF; the Financing for Development process; plus the impact/role of transnational companies (TNCs) in a globalising world.

    We would very much welcome any information you have to this effect.

    In the meantime, we present you with four articles that featured in our latest ICDA Update (January-April 2002; No.40-41), and hope that you will be able to provide constructive criticism to help us improve the efficiency of the lists...

    We hasten to add that out of the interesting panoply of speakers, were two Civil Society representatives -- ICDA Chairperson Janice Goodson Foerde, and Ewa Charkiewicz, an academic at the Netherlands-based Institute of Social Studies, who gave the participants of the Saturday seminar a very useful insight into the not-so-responsible corporate methods of Mattel, the TNC that produces "Barbie" the doll, and Ken. Janice Goodson Foerde also gave as a powerful insight into the workings -- or non-workings of Civil Society during the Ffd Mexico conference in March.
  • [Posted: Tuesday '30' April @ 5.40pm EST]
    ICDA has set a historic precedent with its Information seminar on TNCs. We will now be putting a strong emphasis on the need for TNCs to work harder on Corporate Social Responsibility in our programme area.

    [Posted: Monday '22' April @ 4.49pm EST]


    It is still not too late to register for ICDA's Seminar on TNCs tomorrow (Saturday). We have steadily been receiving registrations from all walks -- students; European Comission people; NGOs.

  • ICDA finished its new publication yesterday (Thursday). ICDA's Update 40-41 is now ready. We shall be providing further details, such as an outline of the publication, shortly after the TNC Seminar is over, for our website visitors.
  • The ICDA Secretariat very much apologises for the delay with which the WTO Impact Lists have come out. Please excuse the tardiness. We shall be sending out the latest info to our subscribers on a regular basis next week. [Posted: Friday '19' April @ 1.22pm EST]
  • ICDA is decidedly getting ready for its conference (please see below) on TNCs, Sustainable Development and FfD. The first two weeks promises to be very tight as we prepare logistics, and publications for the conference. We shall be posting some more info when we get it very soon, so please bear with us. [Posted: Wednesday '3' April @ 12.09pm CET]
    What's happening at ICDA in March?

  • The ICDA Secretariat will be closed for Easter break from Friday 29 March to Monday 1 April (Easter Monday). We will resume on Tuesday, when we prepare full blast for our upcoming conference, entitled: PUSHING TNCs TO COMMIT TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS AND FINANCING FOR DEVELOPMENT: IS ETHICAL INVESTMENT, GOOD CORPORATE CITIZENSHIP, AND ACCOUNTABILITY FROM TNCs THE ANSWER? [Posted: Thursday '28' March @ 6:23pm CET]
    Emmanuel shall be away from the Secretariat from Thursday 21 to Monday 25 March. Please feel free to contact either of his colleagues -- Monika, or Caroline -- at the email addresses below (please see Monday 4 March posting) regarding the state of the WTO Impact Lists, or Secretariat-related issues. They shall be very happy to respond to your queries.

  • In the meantime, ICDA's Page on Financing for Development went up on Monday right on time for the UN conference in Monterrey, Mexico. We are closely monitoring the issues. Our bit is to provide, where possible, contextual analyses of articles -- both print and Web -- dealing with FfD-related issues. Please read Monika's ICDA FfD briefing here.
    Also, you can read the latest analysis on aid, which you can find under the title of Whiff of Sweet Words, but No ODA of Commitment here
  • Please note ICDA's URL on FfD Conference: http://www.icda.be/ffdevelopment/ [Posted:Wednesday 20 March @ 6:21pm CET]


  • We apologise for there not being any WTO Impact List since Friday 15 March. Spent almost the whole of Monday working on publishing UN's Financing for Development Conference page online. The FfDEVELOPMENT, UNLDC3 + RIO+10 focus should all come out tomorrow (Tuesday)
  • [Posted:Monday 18 March @ 5:55pm CET]
  • Thursday's Interactive Teleconference for the Financing for Development Conference went well, though there was little time to ask a second round of questions. Nonetheless, in terms of those who made interventions, the only correction is that of WEDO. This New York-based NGO, where, incidentally, ICDA Chairperson Janice Goodson Foerde is also Senior Advisor, was represented by the Executive Director June Zeitlin.

    Please find below a very short breakdown of views expressed:

    Oscar Rojas--encourages many NGOs to participate in discussions, especially round table sessions, where 7 seats will be allocated to civil society.

    Poul Nielson--believes link should be made from Doha (WTOMC4) to Johannesburg (WSSD), via Monterrey (UN FfD) & Italy (FAO World Food Summit+5). That link would be increasing EU Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) average from 0.36% to 0.39% by 2006.(!)

    Ruth Jacoby--emphasizes commitment by all, especially IFI's (Int'l Financial Institutions), such as World Bank, IMF, WTO, and Finance Ministers of UN states, plus stakeholders. She believes EU's idea of ODA is undeniable "manifestation of commitment" towards MDG (Millenium Development Goals) of 2015.

    June Zeitlin--calls on governments to use FfD & Johannesburg to mobilise financial resources. WEDO is also calling for a "fair, people-centred, & gender-sensitive" approach towards development that would also involve an empowerment of the United Nations at a global level.

    These are the main summaries, of course. A full report will be sent out to NGOs and, hopefully, through ICDA's two versions of the WTO Impact List. Both Caroline & Monika, & Emmanuel are working on finalising a report at time this info is published on the web. [Posted:Friday 15 March @ 12:14pm CET]


    Multimedia Centre @ UN Office, Brussels Visit the UN BENELUX Website

    ICDA Interns will be participating today in interactive Teleconference on the upcoming UN Financing for Development Conference. This conference for NGOs will include the following people:

    1. M.Poul Nielson, European Commissioner for Development & Humanitarian Aid
    2. Ms.Ruth Jacoby, Swedish Ambassador & Vice-President of the Preparatory Committee of Financing for Development (FfD)
    3. Mr.Oscar de Rojas, Executive Co-ordinator of the UN Secretariat on FfD
    4. Mrs. Joan Ross Frankston, Director of Information @ Womens Environment Development Organisation(WEDO).
  • [Posted:Thursday 14 March @ 11:34am CET]
    The Trade Info Exchange, held here at the ICDA premises, went smoothly. Reports should be going out today to NGOs. In the meantime, preparing seriously for Financing for Development Conference follow-up in Monterrey, Mexico, plus getting up-to-date on SOD Reports. Please find below those that we have so far produced:

    July SOD Reports 1.1-1.5
    1.1 Pandora Revisited: The Plight of LDCs and Food Security
    1.2 Kyoto; Business v Sustainable Development; Trade Policy
    1.3 The WTO: A Tale of Exhortations, Negotiations, and Wooings
    1.4 The Big Four: MERCOSUR; ECOWAS Tales, and NAFTA
    1.5 Capital Flows & Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs)
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    August SOD Reports 2.1--2.5
    2.1 Globalising LDCs Gently: Food Security, HDR, & Genoa
    2.2 Gearing Towards WSSD -- Part I
    2.3 Gearing Towards Qatar -- Part I
    2.4 Free Trade Unlimited: Mercosur, SADC, AGOA & New Zealand
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    September SOD Reports 3.1--3.5
    3.1 The Heart of Darkness: Globalisation & Racism
    3.2 Gearing Towards WSSD -- Part II
    3.3 Gearing Towards Qatar -- Part II
    3.4 New Scrambles on the Bloc: EU, TNCs & Regionalism
    3.5 Aiding and Abetting Whilst Taxing the Speculators
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    October SOD Reports 4.1--4.5
    4.1 Agriculture, Food Security & the Multinational
    4.2 Who's Reviving Kyoto Whilst the Ozone Burns?
    4.5 On Theories of Free Trade & Multinationals
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    November SOD Reports 5.1--5.5
    5.1 Africa and Lessons of History
    5.2 Who's Killing Kyoto Whilst the World Burns?
    5.3 On Poverty & the Keynes Doctrine
    5.4 ACP Group & Agriculture Before WTOMC4
    5.5 Romancing the Rhetoric of Development
    [Posted:Tuesday 12 March @ 3:55pm CET]


  • March promises to be another busy month at the Secretariat. Monday morning, sent out a short, albeit tardy, ICDA WTO Impact List, including (a) SOD Report 4.5 (October Financing for Development) entitled On Theories of Free Trade & Multinationals. To date, ICDA has produced 21 out of an envisaged 25 WTOILs. 2002 SOD Reports have yet to be produced; they should be coming out within 3 weeks time. If you are at all interested in receiving the reports, please bear in mind that you need , first, to be subscribed to the WTO Impact List.
  • ICDA has two new interns! They are Caroline Lemerle, and Monika Adamova. Please watch this space for later if you need to check on what they are working on. If you'd like to leave them a message, please contact them directly, respectively, at caroline@icda.be, and monika@icda.be. They shall be assisting with usual secretarial stuff, plus a few other assigned tasks that you can find posted soon on the "About Us" Page.
  • Last week, set up ICDA Members list-serv, designed in order to facilitate information exchange between ICDA's members. ICDA is also currently actively seeking not only new members to strengthen good historical networking, but also to help network grow. For information, please contact ICDA Secretariat between the times available, or simply email us at info@icda.be. [Posted:Monday 4 March @ 4:25pm CET]
    What's happening at ICDA in February?

    ICDA will no longer be accepting INTERN Applications. Many thanks to all those that applied. We are sorry we could not respond directly to you, but we trust you were able to follow-up on this page. In any event, please check the Internship page for details on current standing of interns. ICDA is pleased to accept 1 full-time intern, and another part-time intern for work at the Secretariat, following deliberations at ICDA's AGM on Saturday. [Posted:Monday 25 February @ 4:25pm CET]
  • Yesterday, CENNT Meeting went very smoothly. More than 10 NGOs were represented. Which now means that this was the very last CENNT meeting. The next meeting will be decided by the newly-formed Coordinating Committee, who will decide on many other things, such as agenda-setting, and invitations.
  • The ICDA AGM meeting takes place today at the Secretariat. Those ICDA Members that could not come will recieve shortly info on ICDA Activity Report 2001, plus some other crucial information regarding ICDA structure.
  • With respect to prospective Interns, the same rule of thumb applies. Please see below, posted Valentine's day. ICDA has actually shortlisted three prospective interns who could start straight away.
  • WTO Impact Lists, steadily growing in subscribers, should be coming out regularly next week -- ie.week of 25 February to 1 March
  • For NGOs, the [NGO Impact List] was revived two weeks ago. If you need to send information to us, first subscribe to the WTO Impact List, and we shall see to it that you also start receiving regular updates on NGO news.
  • [Posted:Saturday 23 February @ 12:17pm CET]
  • Preparations for the CENNT meeting, and ICDA's Annual General Meeting are seriously afoot. This has resulted in some mails being sent out a bit later than usual. For those that have subscribed to the WTO Impact List, we trust to get you samples and confirmation before the weekend is out.
  • Completed SOD Report 3.5:Aiding and Abetting, Whilst Taxing the Speculators, which went out on Monday, with the belated [FfDEVELOPMENT] focus that went out on Monday. Currently working on a few more SOD reports for WTOIL subscribers. For anyone interested, the latter report deals with the Tobin Tax and Tied Aid, an issue that will be very much subject of debate at the upcoming UN Conference on Financing for Development. Interested in receiving regular updates of the WTOIL's SOD Reports? Then subscribe free of charge to the WTO Impact List!
  • With respect to Interns, we are closing our applications for Interns we need now. We have three shortlisted, whom we are in the process of interviewing. May thanks to all those who submitted their applications. Those who are interested in working during the summer will be highly placed. Check this page often to see the status on interns.
  • [Posted:Thursday 14 February @ 6:29pm CET]


  • Completed SOD Report 5.3, entitled: "On Kyoto and the Keynes Doctrine" yesterday. If interested in what the SOD reports are, then please visit the link here [Posted:Friday 8 February @ 3:18pm CET]
  • ICDA sent out the RIO+10 WTOIL a few minutes ago. Wednesday's should be ready along with Thursday's regular focus on Regional trade.
  • Very busy few weeks, hence mails have been coming sporadically
  • This afternoon, re-vamped CENNT Page. Read up on why CENNT exists, and what are its attendant problems, objectives. Also, if you're unsure how to contact us, don't be any longer. Please check us out at the "Contact Us" Page here.
  • With respect to Interns, we are sorry to say that we are no longer accepting applications without coverletter/motivation letter. We have been literally inundated with applications. We will get in touch only with candidates whom we feel are sufficiently experienced to deal with ICDA's environment.

  • Completed SOD Reports since last week and yesterday:
    1. 5.1 Africa and Lessons of History
    2. 5.2 Who's Killing Kyoto Whilst the World Burns?
    3. 5.4 ACP Group and Agriculture Before WTOMC4
    4. 5.5 Romancing the Rhetoric of 'Development'
    [Posted:Wednesday 6 February @ 5:58pm CET]
  • Since last Friday, ICDA has been inundated with internship applications. At time of writing, we have over 85 applications to consider. Given the voluminous number, we shall only be looking at those that fulfill the requirements as outlined on the Internship page. We have also restricted the list down to those within Europe for practical reasons. We will regretfully discard any applications by people who merely attach their CV, without explanations as to why they're interested in Interning at ICDA. Also, we shall consider those with *NGO experience*, either small or big. [Posted:Friday 1 February @ 11:58am CET]
    What's happening at ICDA in January?
  • We've been still quite busy updating the website, especially the WTO Impact List page, whose URL has now changed to the following here. On this page, you can find out what exactly the 5-day focus is about here. Also, if you are already a WTOIL subscriber, you can request an article here.
  • On 23 January, Olivia Nelson, new part-time ICDA intern, started working at ICDA. Given her part-time status, she will be working on a limited number of things, of which the principal will be the IGTN-list serve, set up by former ICDA Intern Julio Montes de Oca in October 2001.
  • On Friday, we received a deluge of internship applications. We are in the process of going through them. We shall be getting to prospective Interns very shortly. [Posted:Monday 28 January @ 2:45pm CET]
  • Due to the unforeseen departure of Ms.Galeazzi, Mr.Bensah shall be taking over, albeit temporarily, the issues she was working on. Please find them detailed here.
  • Also, ICDA will welcome its new intern, who will, thankfully, start working at ICDA slightly earlier than envisaged. The Webmaster is still working on upgrading the website, so apologies if accessing the site causes a few glitches. In the meantime, if there is anything of utmost importance, please contact us here.
  • For the latest information regarding CENNT, please note that the meeting has been postponed -- again -- to what looks like the definitive date of 22 February 2002. Check the link here [Posted:Monday 14 January @ 1:35pm CET]
  • Though we officially started working on Monday 7 January, due to unforeseen absences at the ICDA Secretariat, we've been a bit slow in getting out information. The WTO Impact List will be back on Monday. Please keep your eyes peeled. [Posted:Friday 11 January 2002 @ 3:54pm CET]




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