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What's new at the ICDA Secretariat?
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2002 Secretariat News

2001 Secretariat News


What's happening at ICDA in December?
VOLUNTEERS & INTERNSHIPS: We are still looking for 2 new interns who can assist at the Secretariat starting January. For more, please visit the link here. Last date to apply is Friday 5 December! [Posted: Monday 1 December 2003 @ 12.35am CET]
What's happening at ICDA in November?
The whole of last week (week starting 24 November) was incredibly busy, with a meeting almost every day. Please see below for an overview of the meetings that Emmanuel attended:

  • 24 November--European Trade Network meeting
  • 25 November--Update of Doha Development Agenda post-Cancun
  • 27 November--Global Progressive Forum (Regional Trade meeting)
  • 28 November-- idem, with this time: United Nations Reform; Trade & Poverty [Posted: Sunday 30 November @ 11.55pm CET]
    After the débâcle of the Fifth WTO Ministerial talks in Cancun, much of Civil Society--ICDA included--has reassessed its priorities. Whereas some of ICDA's members have been working on the so-called Singapore issues, ICDA has decided to concentrate most of its efforts in emboldening Civil Society, by way of its close relations with the UNCTAD secretariat, to prepare our members, and the rest of the NGO community for UNCTAD XI, which will take place in June 2004 in Brazil.

    To boot, much like former ICDA intern Jennifer Cyr's efforts on the Rhetoric series centred on analysis of comments from DG Trade's civil society meetings, as well as her work on gender, we have decided to strengthen our focus on gender, through stronger collaboration through the International Gender & Trade Network.

    Angela de Tommasi, working at the Secretariat since September just before Martin Hopkins left back to Ireland, is the contact person on gender issues; Emmanuel, back in October, remains in charge of technical questions relative to the website; as well as questions on regional trade-related issues. For an overview of the work both are working on, please visit the page here.


    VOLUNTEERS & INTERNSHIPS: We are currently looking for an 2 new interns who can assist at the Secretariat starting January. For more, please visit the link here. [Posted: Monday 17 November @ 1.11am CET]
    What's happening at ICDA in July?
    European Trade Network (ETN): --Both Martin & Natasha spent almost the whole day at the Brussels building of the ICFTU, where the last ETN meeting, before the Fifth WTO Ministerial in Cancun, took place. More to be posted later on the outcome & conclusions. [Posted: Wednesday 16 July @ 0.41am EST]
    WEBPAGE UPDATES: --Emmanuel updated in June the Informal Working Group on Gender & Trade (IWGGT) page. You can read it from here: [Posted: Wednesday 25 June 2003 @ 12.45pm EST]
    NEW Interns!:-- We are pleased to welcome two new interns/programme assistants: Martin Hopkins and Natasha Forbes. For a list of what they will be working on in the next four months (for Martin), and next two (for Natasha), please check the link here. In the meantime, Emmanuel will be back at the Secretariat on Monday 15 September. Till that time, changes in the website will remain suspended till he's back in September. [Posted: Sunday 13 July @ 11.20pm EST]
    What's happening at ICDA in June?
    Internships-- We have currently shortlisted around five people for interviewing. We will continue to accept internship applications starting July, and beyond. We urge all prospective interns to *seriously* and religiously read the Internship page, as it forms the basis of a core part of our interviews. Our interviews will continue throughout the week. We hope to have someone start within two weeks. We regretfully will respond only to short-listed candidates. Thankyou for your understanding. If you are interested in collaborating with ICDA at some point, please contact us here. [Posted: Tuesday 24 June @ 11.20am EST]
    Suffice to say that June is proving to be an even busier month than May was. May was replete with many religious Belgian holidays, but it did not stop the staff at the Secretariat from monitoring, and attending meetings critical to the trade/development work. Of notable importance were meetings of:
    1. Thursday 22 June @ Borschette. This is the Civil Society Dialogue meeting on the update of the Doha Development Agenda, or DDA, to which both Jennifer and Emmanuel, along with the new volunteer, Kathryn Person, attended. At this meeting, John Clarke, the EU official, placed a greater emphasis on multilateralism than we have ever seen before. You can take our word for it-especially Jennifer's. Read her updated analysis of the Lamy rhetoric here.
    2. Wednesday 28 May @ Palais D'Egmont.At this royal residence, where both the former Queen of the Belgians, Fabiola, and the incumbent, Queen Paolo, were present, the meeting bore witness to a host of ambassadors, businessmen, and civil society activists keen to hear the latest debates and updates on Fair Trade. For a summary of the meeting theme-wise, please check the Latest News Meetings page.
    WTO Impact List--The WTOIL continues to grow in number. We have obtained a considerable increase in the number subscribing, and has only emboldened the Secretariat to continue to ensure that our service is not only timely, but as eclectic as possible. That means that it features a wide variety of views from worldwide news sources that YOU would not have the time to peruse, or browse. We would like to emphasize that in our 431st edition, at the time of writing, the WTOIL is your best way to keep up-to-date on the latest globalization and trade/development issues.
    Internships--Not surprisingly, this is what will interest most young people at this time. Yes, we are currently looking for someone as dedicated and enthusiastic about the ICDA as Jennifer has been, and remains, to take over in July. Sadly, Jennifer finishes at the end of the month. She will be sorely missed. Responsible for integrating the analysis of EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy's rhetoric into the core of ICDA's work, the next intern will be expected to have read and followed this work. You can read it on the EU-NGO Dialogue Page. If you are interested in reading up on the work that interns, or programme assistants, are expected to do, please follow the link here. [Posted: Tuesday 24 June @ 11.12am EST]
    What's happening at ICDA in May?
    European Trade Network (ETN): --Emmanuel spent the whole day at the second ETN meeting of the year. Of particular interest was the presentation by UNDP's Kamal Malhotra who is the author of the comprehensive 300-page co-UN publication entitled Making Global Trade Work For People. IN this two-hour session, there was a lot of clarification over how the report was formulated, some history about the group that helped produce it, plus some responses to key questions by ETN participants on issues very pertinent to NGOs. Other than this, the usual updates of meetings in Geneva were broached among NGOs. All of which made for a fascinating day at 11.11.11 offices. [Posted: Wednesday 21 May @ 0.55am EST]
    GENDER: --At the time of writing, Jennifer is in Geneva, Switzerland, for a Commonwealth Gender Workshop representing ICDA Chairperson Janice Goodson Foerde, as well as IGTN Europe (for which ICDA is the European focal point); and the so-called Informal Working Group on Gender & Trade (IWGGT). All this is in an effort to raise the profile, as well as awareness, of the ongoing and ever-increasing importance of gender in development. This is a culmination of very hard work by Jennifer, with co-ordination of Janice Goodson Foerde, and representatives from WIDE and APRODEV to ensure that gender was mainstreamed into the 7-8 May NGDO Conference that culminated in a press conference on Day Two. You can visit ICDA's EU-NGO Dialogue Page, where you will be able to read two briefing papers prepared by ICDA on Gender.
    WEBPAGE UPDATES: --Emmanuel has updated some of the ICDA pages considerably, and created some, too. Please see below for a very short breakdown:
  • ICDA's United Nations Conference on LDC III Page, with updates on:
  • UNCTAD news, which is information culled from the UNCTAD Homepage
  • ICDA's WTO Impact List News Archive reports on globalisation, trade and development, WTO, and other multilateral institutions, including regional organisations that were prepared and written by 2001 ICDA Interns Hannes Huhtaniemi, Julio Montes de Oca, and E.K.Bensah
  • Latest meetings attended by members of staff of the Secretariat
  • 2002 reports of meetings attended at European Parliament, European Commission's DG Trade; Borschette, elsewhere in Brussels or Europe. Reports are by former interns Anjali Ramachandran; Monika Adamova; Caroline Lemerle; Melita Sammut, and Emmanuel.K.Bensah

  • WTO Impact List (WTOIL): The number of subscribers to ICDA's free WTO Impact List continues to grow, but, sadly, COMPUTER PROBLEMS abate. Sadly, it has seriously affected the Secretariat's sending of the much-appreciated free newsletter. Are you new to the WTOIL? Check the page here. Otherwise, if you are an old subscriber, please click here to comment on it. We very much hope that by next week ending, the list-sending would be regularised. We sincerely apologise for any inconveniences. On a positive note, ICDA has now produced 400 editions of the WTO Impact List. We do hope that we can continue to have as much impact as we aim to do with what one subscriber positively referred to as "provocative newsletters". Want to know what others have said before? Click here.
    VOLUNTEERS & INTERNSHIPS: We would like to thank all those who have applied as volunteers for the ICDA office for the upcoming months. PLease understand that there are so many volunteers we can accept. We truly appreciate your good spirit, and hope that you can, in the absence of a volunteer position, be offered an internship position over the next couple of months. So that you are not caught out, and understand the nature of ICDA's internship, please carefully read the internship page here. Thankyou! [Posted: Friday 16 May @ 5.15pm EST]

    What's happening at ICDA in April?
    Suffice to say that March was not as busy as we anticipated. Last Friday, for example, most of the time was spent trying to prune our computers of old mails, so multiple apologies for any late emails. That being said, there were a few meetings that either Jennifer or Emmanuel attended--namely:
    1. 26 March--meeting with representative from ActionAid Alliance
    2. 25 March--Meeting with Pascal Lamy @ DG Trade on developments in DDA (Doha Development Agenda)
    3. 24 March--Meeting at CIDSE Secretariat (so-called WTO Reference Group) to discuss upcoming NGO conference in May
    4. 20 March--meeting with final-year journalists to explain, and clarify role of ICDA, and NGOs @ ICHEC, near Grand Place
    So as to dispel the notion that most of the staff's time is spent on attending meetings, we are happy to inform that we have been working on the WTO Impact Lists still, to which you are still very welcome to subscribe to here. It's a simple, 1-minute process, but we do hope that you will give us more about your interests, which we *always* treat very confidentially.

    With regard to the NGO WTO Impact List, we posted one along with the focus on UNLDC3 last week. Title was:
    "NGO WTOIL#30--March 25, 2003; + WTOIL#385 | Mon-24 March 2003 | [UNLDC3]: "


    It bears reminding that yesterday--31 March--was the final day for offers on GATS, and modalities for the Agreement on Agriculture. As a consequence, there will be much critique and developments that will ensue. We posted up EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy's response to the NGO Letter prepared by European NGOs on New Issues. You can read that letter at ICDA's WTOMC4 Information Page here. If you have something you'd like to submit to us, please send to wtomc4-info@icda.be [Posted: Tuesday 1 April @ 12.45pm CET]

    What's happening at ICDA in March?
    As this goes to the web, Jennifer is sitting listening to European Commission officials in so-called dialogue at DG Trade's Civil Society Issue Group discussions on the ACP-EU Negotiations.As the EU's DG Trade website reveals, there were two meetings today:

  • 10.00-12.30: Doha Development Agenda -- overview
  • 15.00-17.30: EU-ACP negotiations
  • We promise to post more on this within the next few days. To be honest, this week is going to be replete with meetings. Please check the Meetings page to the right of your screen to check what these meetings, and themes are.

    With regard to the WTO Impact List, we have been sending them out later than usual. We apologise for the delay, but plead plausible deniability: our favourite servers have truly promised that "anything can happen"--and it has. The servers have been down for a couple of weeks now, preventing us to send out the WTOILs on time. In any case, please check out the WTOMC4 Information Page regularly, and submit articles to us. You will find more information on the WTOMC4 Info Page on how to submit, as well as to how to keep up-to-date on the developments in international trade, WTO-related news; LDCs; and regional trade.


    INTERNSHIPS--We interviewed two prospective interns two weeks ago (week of 17 February), and are pleased to say that we have a serious candidate who can assist with ICDA matters within the next few weeks.

    NGO MEETINGS--For the sake of confidentility, we evidently cannot disclose much. Suffice to say that you can obtain a feel for the meetings we have had on our MEETINGS page here.

    [Posted: Tuesday 4 March @ 4.25pm CET]


    What's happening at ICDA in February?
  • Yesterday, Jennifer & Emmanuel spent almost the whole day participating in the first meeting of the European Trade Network. We have updated, on our Reports page to the right of your screen, the main themes that were discussed. It must be stressed, however, that there was a very interesting input by Peter Brun of the Committee 133 (which monitors European Trade policy for the member states); plus usual NGO updates on the latest development in the follow-up for Cancun.

  • Jennifer & Emmanuel will concentrate their efforts, in the month of February, in re-invigorating the relationship between the Secretariat and its members; attending any NGO meetings; working on finalizing, and preparing for ICDA Updates; plus updating regularly the WTOMC4 Information Page. [Posted: Thursday 6 February @ 1.50pm CET]
    What's happening at ICDA in January?
    January may have been a slow month, but it certainly was an extraordinarily fast one. Jennifer started along with Emmanuel in the first full week of the month trying to learn the ropes - a task that she has acquitted herself honourably with. Here are some of the highlights of the work Jennifer has done thus far:

    1. started working on Gender Bytes. For how to subscribe to this list-serv that comes under the moniker of IWGGT, please contact the Secretariat for details.
    2. Started preparing, along with Emmanuel, new newsletter that is to go out to ICDA Members preparing for Cancun
    3. Worked on several WTOILs, which you can find at the WTOMC4 Information page

    For a look at some of Jennifer's tasks, please visit the page "Contact Us" here.

    In the meantime, Emmanuel has been following suit with the work by doing the following:

    1. updating the whole website (website colour; content-wise, etc), with a special focus on updating the WTOMC4 Information Page for visitors. If you are interested in submitting an article, please email it to wtomc4@icda.be
    2. finishing the ICDA's Annual Conference report, with a view to producing a reasonably comprehensive one to the upcoming ETN meeting, scheduled for Wednesday 5 February. ICDA anticipates putting this information on the website by the end of next week (week of 10 February) for public perusal and download. In the meantime, to familiarise yourselves with the themes of ICDA's Annual Conference 2002, please visit the page here. The report was produced with considerable dedication by former ICDA intern Eamonn Moran, with assistance from Simon Roughneen and current programme intern Jennifer
    3. servicing the WTO Impact List. You can now fully unsubscribe by clicking the link here: http://www.icda.be/tellus-index.htm.

    We have had good commentary on the WTOIL-President of the Institute of Agricultural Policy (IATP) who manages one list-serv out of a dozen-plus on the IATP's very informative website, continues to post our Impact List in the wto-info@iatp.org list. You can subscribe to our daily free newsletter at the WTO Impact List site here, but for a more comprehensive overview of the list, please visit the WTOMC4 Information Page.

    On Friday, both Jennifer & Emmanuel attended the so-called WTO Reference Group that comprised representatives from EURODAD; EUROSTEP; SOLIDAR; APRODEV; WIDE; and chaired by CIDSE's Bob van Dillen. The minutes of the report for which both Jenny and Emmanuel took notes will be sent exclusively to ICDA Members, as well as posted on the web-you need to be an ICDA Member to access. (http://www.icda.be/icdalatest/reports/hidden/index.html). Otherwise, for your information, please visit ICDA's Meeting's page here: http://www.icda.be/icdalatest/meetings/index.html. Here, you can view upcoming meetings, and obtain an insight into what the staff at the Secretariat thought of the meetings in snappy, succinct-as-possible terminology.

    [Posted: Monday 3 February @ 11.32am CET]


  • HAPPY NEW YEAR 2003 to you!
    The year has started very slowly with a lot of things to finish off. For ICDA's part, we hope to be bringing our members a new ICDA Page for Members, that will provide better information as to what the benefits of membership to ICDA are, among other things. Secondly, we aim to finish ICDA Update 43 so that it can be ready for send-off by January ending. Finally, we are aiming to finish off the report of ICDA's Annual Conference, which proves to be an interesting read. The new page for "staying informed" on developments will also be coming up by January ending latest.
    Last Thursday, Emmanuel was able to post up the new WTOMC4 Information Page, originally put online in November 2001 in the wake of the Fourth Ministerial in Qatar. Please check ICDA Latest News 2001 for more info on this. Equally important, has been the joining to ICDA by Emmanuel's 'new' colleague Jennifer Marie Cyr, who was actually also instrumental in helping with ICDA's 2002 Annual Conference of of 15-16 November, held in Brussels. [Posted: Monday 13 January @ 2.44pm CET]




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