FIELD at Cancun

From 10 to 14 September 2003, WTO member states met in Cancun, Mexico for the fifth WTO Ministerial meeting. The main aim of the meeting was to take stock of progress in the negotiations and other work under the Doha Development Agenda. The ministerial is the organisation's highest level decision making body, and meets at least once every two years.

Below are details of just some of the activities in which FIELD staff were involved during the Ministerial:

Joint Legal Clinic

FIELD, the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) and the Centre for Trade, Law and Development Policy (CTLD) hosted a joint Legal Clinic at the Ministerial. Staffed by lawyers from FIELD, CIEL and CTLD, the Legal Clinic was open to developing country delegates seeking legal advice and assistance on trade and sustainable development issues arising under the Doha Ministerial Declaration.

Fair Trade Fair & Sustainable Trade Symposium

FIELD Trade Programme Director, Beatrice Chaytor, spoke at the Trade Preferences and Environmental Goods and Services Seminar scheduled on 10 September, at the NGO Centre, Hotel Sierra, Room 10A from 4.30pm to 6.30pm as part of the Fair Trade Fair and Sustainable Trade Symposium.

The seminar looked at the way in which current WTO negotiations are restricting trade preferences on environmental goods to capital-intensive environmental technologies which favour developed countries.

European Communities - Measures Affecting the Approval and Marketing of Biotech Products

This event, organised by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), was held on 12 September, between 11:15 - 12:45 at the NGO Centre- Hotel Sierra Av. Kukulcan km. 10, Zona Hotelera.

FIELD Staff Lawyer, Alice Palmer, gave an introduction to the current and potential future WTO cases.

Sustainable Development in Recent WTO Law and ‘Jurisprudence’ Legal Experts Panel

This discussion was held on Friday, 12 September 2003, at Room Madrid I at the Hotel Krystal from 2:00 to 4:00 pm.

FIELD Trade Programme Director, Beatrice Chaytor, was a discussant on the panel and they addressed questions such as: How do the areas of intersection between international economic, environmental and development/Human Rights law translate into concrete results in WTO law? Can the WTO pick up the thread from the World Summit of Sustainable Development in Johannesburg 2002 and live up to internationally set benchmarks for sustainable development? And whilst outcomes of WTO negotiations in areas such as intellectual property rights and health, subsidies, MEAs and other areas will be important for legal practitioners, decision-makers and academics alike, has integration taken place, or are future conflicts with human rights or environmental law likely?