The purpose of this Conference is to question and challenge the European Union's negotiating proposals in the run up to the Cancún WTO Ministerial Meeting, and in particular the attempts to put 'development' at the heart of the Doha Round. The Conference is organised by development NGO networks, but there will be participation from the wider European civil society and from the South. EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy has confirmed his participation in the 8 May afternoon panel debate and in the ensuing press conference.

The first day of the Conference will include workshops on agriculture, GATS and TRIPS in preparation for debates the following day with key EC Trade Negotiators. There will also be two plenary sessions to prepare for the debate with Commissioner Lamy on 8 May. The Commissioner will be challenged about the EU's policies and initiatives on agriculture, GATS and TRIPS but also Special and Differential Treatment, implementation issues, Singapore issues, the social dimension, and WTO institutional reform.

The Conference will start on 7 May at the offices of 11.11.11, rue de la Linière 11, Brussels, and continue on 8 May at the Résidence Palace, rue de la Loi 155, Brussels. Working languages will be English and French - simultaneous interpretation is foreseen on 8 May. Preparatory documents in English and French will be available for confirmed participants starting the week of 28 April. To help cover the costs there will be a fee of 20 Euro (to be paid upon arrival). This fee includes 2 lunches, coffee/tea and Conference documentation. Please find draft programme and registration form attached.

"Analysing the EU Rhetoric on Doha Negotiations"-- EU Trade Commissioner Lamy is a man who has recently been in West African countries of Ghana and Senegal in order to garner support for the ACP-EU negotiations over the Cotonou Agreement. In early April, he was in Asia to woo the ASEAN region. As he has been jetting round the world trying to woo countries into signing trade agreements with the EU, ICDA Secretariat's Jennifer Cyr has been analysing how consistent his rhetoric is. Read this analysis of the man NGOs have come to regard as the EU's bogeyman on trade.

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