PROGRAMME OF WTO MOCK SUMMIT AUGUST, 2013: TRADE, ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT

WTO MOCK SUMMIT GROUP

BAYERO UNIVASITY, KANO – NIGERIA

PROGRAMME OF WTO MOCK SUMMIT

AUGUST, 2013

GENEVA, 2013

TRADE, ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT

M. M. YUSIF

DIRECTOR OF THE MOCK SUMMIT

WTO MOCK SUMMIT GROUP

BAYERO UNIVERSITY, KANO – NIGERIA

PROGRAMME OF WTO MOCK SUMMIT

AUGUST, 2013

Introduction

Human being must live and survive through efforts which trigger and sets in motion series of activities and changes.

Yes! Human society changes over time. From Neolithic age when man began to devise simple technology to move society to make progress, changes follow to the present era of electronic technology.

Thus, men and women are witnessing increased intensification of human work and other activities in production, trade and commerce, harnessing and utilisation of natural resources, cultural transformation, etc. etc.

Consequently, over the last one hundred years, we have seen the gradual and systemic globalization of the world which has increased the capacity of human being to exploit all available resources in the air, in the water and underground, for food, shelter and cloth as well as for all his needs and vision of development.

These human activities affect the environment and on the other hand the environment affects them.

These relationships between the environment and human especially economic activities affect both positively and negatively the development of human society.

The 2013 WTO Mock Summit which will hold in August, is going to deal with one aspect in these relationships. That is how trade activities affect environment and subsequently, development. We are also going to probe the role of WTO and how it intervened to regulate these relationships for the interest of human society.

Accordingly the title of 2013 Mock Summit is Trade, Environment and Development.

Indeed, trade and environmental policies are inevitably interlinked. Especially, given the world’s current economic and political systems which multiplied resource use, there are obvious experience of attack and endangering of environment.

However, the situation is not entirely hopeless. It can be under control. There is already successful reduction, in almost all developed countries, of emissions of ozone – depleting chemical and of gasses which cause acid deposition, thus protecting lives and generally the society from negative effects.

What of the developing countries? What are they doing to protect their environment? Although the capacity to do something is a question of power relation between the developed and the developing world, yet the world has not legally barred the developing countries to come up with their control mechanisms.

There are over one hundred and Sixty Multilateral Agreements on Environment (MEAs) which seek to regulate the dangers place on environment as a result of increasing human economic activities.

Concerns are also shown by great multilateral organizations.

-        The United Nations Organisation is directly engaged in this area.

a)    The UNTAD Organises conferences on Environment.

b)    United Nation General Assembly and the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) form the foundations of the United Nations Climate Change Regime (UNCCR) and regularly organizes conferences on climate change which resulted in many climate change Agreements.

c)    The General Assembly of the United Nation also established “The World Commission on Environment and Development” and asked among other things to recommend “ways and means by which the international community can deal more effectively with environmental concerns”.

-        Since trade and environment policies both affect each other, it is not surprising that the two are increasingly interacting. In spite of little concern in the Uruguay Round, the WTO work programme created a committee on Trade and Environment (CTE), designed to identify the relationship between trade measures and environmental measures, in order to promote sustainable development and to make appropriate recommendation on whether any modifications of the provisions of multilateral trading system are required.

It is obvious the relationship between trade and environment needs to be constantly examined and reviewed to ensure a sustainable development. Let me go down too practical – what would happen if there is degradation of land, spoiling quality of water and the resources inside water, the pollution of local and global atmosphere, the depletion of natural resources, the spillage of petroleum to destroy farmland, etc. Wouldn’t the above reveal worsening environmental problems. On the other hand wouldn’t the degree of quality of environment affect the nutritious content of farm products, the pricing and the market for the products. What about the trends of wages and employment as well as general living condition of workers and people in the areas?

As the recent “Repot of the World Commission on Environment and Development” has captured the problem, environment is our “Common Future”. We have to preserve it. We have to protect it. Energy and food for future human survival depends on the environment.

The WTO Mock Summit 2013 will explore and discuss these issues. When the Briefing Paper No. 6 comes out, the theoretical background would be detailed. Meanwhile the following issues may begin to be noted with serious debate of the ideas.

1)         Trade, environmental measures and sustainable development

2)         Does Trade help or harm the environment?

3)         Trade liberalisation and the environment.

4)         WTO: Trade and Environment Issues.

5)         Multilateral Environmental Agreements: Trade Perspectives.

6)         Economic integration and the environment.

7)         Growth of population and the environment.

8)         The Environment and energy crisis

9)         Environment, industry and pollution.

10)     Globalisation, trade and environment: Debate.

11)     Climate change: Trade Perspectives

These and other issues which would be specifically focused in the coming briefing paper and training would be addressed in the mock summit.

The WTO Mock Summit debate of this year is going to be on Does Trade Help or Harm the Environment?

As the stalemate in the WTO Continues the 2013 summit is also a Mini Minesterial conference organised by the WTO secretariat. The chairman of the summit is the chairman of the General Council of the World Trade Organisation. 

Members of General Council of the World Trade Organisation Heading Various Commissions and Panels of the Mock Summit

1)         Mohammed Dauda Aliyu                  -         Chairman

2)         Najibullah Abdullahi Nuhu     -         Director General

3)         Aminu Mubarak                      -         Director of Research

4)         Clement Adebayo Oloyede     -         Director of Media

5)         Ibrahim Babuga                      -         Head of Commission

6)         Rabiu Shamma                        -         Head of Commission

7)         Sadiq Ibrahim Ayuba              -         Head of Commission

8)         Wakili Hassan                         -         Head of Commission

9)         Zahra Mustapha                      -         Head of Commission

10)     Uchechukwu I. I.                              -         Head of Commission

11)     Junaidu Mohammed                -         Head of Commission

12)     Rabi Musa                               -         Head of Commission

Commission Report on the Following

1)         Trade, Environment and Development: A threat but a common future

2)         Environmental Issues in WTO Agreements.

3)         MEAS, trade measures and the WTO.

4)         Globalisation, Trade and Environment

5)         TRIPS and Biodiversity

6)         Environmental impacts on trade policies and Agreements.

7)         Environmentally Sound Technologies

8)         Exports of domestically prohibited goods

9)         Trade, Environment and Development: The Nigerian Experience

10)     Trade liberalization and Environmental regulation

11)     Economic integration and the Environment

12)     Trade, Environmental measures and sustainable development.

13)     Environment, industry and pollution control

14)     Growth of population and the environment

15)     Climate change: Trade perspectives

Selection of Countries to Send Delegates

United States          -         The Phillipines

European Union    -         Thailand

Japan                     -         Switzerland

Canada                   -         Mexico

China                     -         Argentina

India                      -         Australia

Brazil                     -         New Zealand

South Africa                    -         Cuba

Nigeria                   -         Venezuela

Russia                    -         Kenya

Names of Delegates

1.         Mohammed Mukhtar               -         Computer Science

2.         Umar Auwal                           -         Economics

3.         Kabiru Yakubu Achimugu      -         Political Scienece III

4.         Ali Tofa Abubakar                            -         Political Science IV

5.         Imam Sani                               -         Political Science IV

6.         Joseph Manga                         -         Political Science IV

7.         Wisdon Johnson Isaac             -         Political Science II

8.         Murtala Hassan Mohammed    -         Political Science II

9.         Bashir Ado Hassan                  -         Political Science IV

10.     Mujahid Abdullahi                            -         Political Science III

11.     Student from Department of Mass Communication

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14.     Bashir Danjuma                      -         Political Science IV

15.     Tijjani Falalu                           -         Political Science III

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Observers

1.    IMF…

2.    World Bank…

3.    UN

Organising Committee

1.         Mohammed Dauda Aliyu                  -         Chairman

2.         Najibullah Abdullah Nuhu      -         Secretary

3.         Clement Adebayo Oloyede     -         Director Media

4.         Adullahi Shehu                       -         Director Security

5.         ..      ..        ..        ..                            -         Director Human Right

6.         Ibrahim Babuga                      -         Member

7.         Rabiu Shamma                        -         ”

8.         Sadiq Ibrahim Ayuba              -         ”

9.         Wakili Hassan                         -         ”

10.     Zahra Mustapha                      -         ”

11.     Uche I. I.                                 -         ”

12.     Junaidu Mohammed                -         ”

13.     Imam Sani                               -         ”

14.     Murtala Hassan Moh’d            -         ”

15.     Ma’awuya Ibrahim                            -         ”

16.     Hamza Muh’d Ifo                             -         ”

17.     Jamalu Mika’ilu                      -         ”

18.     Suleiman Ya’u                        -         ”

19.     Umar Auwal                           -         ”

20.      

Terms of Reference

1)    To provide general logistics for successful WTO Mock Summit 2013.

2)    To mobilise finance for all the Pre-summit, the Summit and Post-summit demands of the Mock Conference.

3)    To publicise both within and outside the campus the mission and the vision of the WTO Mock Summit 2013.

4)    To organize get together for members of WTO Mock Summit family who graduated in 2012 during the coming Convocation.

5)    To begin planning and organsing for a National meeting of WTO Mock Summit family.

Resource Persons for the Summit

1)    Dr. Ibrahim Lawan                    -         Department of Biological Sciences

2)    Dr. Aminu Aliyu             -         Department of Economics

3)    Malam Mainasara Kurfi   -         Department of Mass Communication

Assistants for the Summit

1)    Surajo Yahaya Mohammed

2)    Aminu Sunusi Hayatu

3)    Riyyauddeen Zubairu Maitama

4)    Abubakar Salihu

5)    Auwal Abubakar

6)    Hafsat Y. Yakasai

                                                                                           M. M. Yusif

                                                                                           Director WTO Mock Summit