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James Love, Director of Knowledge Ecology International, started a session in WTO public forum by noting that global public goods are generally undersupplied because of sovereignty and free-rider issues, and that this is especially so in the case of knowledge. Although the private sector has been active in supplying knowledge in some cases, such as Wikipedia and Creative Commons, this effort is insufficient. He suggested that such an agreement under the WTO could operate with standardized and sui generis offers, depending on the area concerned.

The focus of a session in WTO public forum was the question of whether trade can contribute to food security at a global, regional and country level.

A session in WTO public forum considered the economic and trade prospects, challenges, and opportunities presented by the 2012 Rio Conference, and what role the international trade community could play in the Conference. All panellists concurred that the ‘Green Economy’ is an elusive concept that implies vast potential benefits as well as “detriments”. It thus presents a compelling agenda for the international trade community to address. In this regard, the WTO and other institutions should work together to bring coherence and legitimacy to the debate.

Maximizing the benefits from trade liberalization requires proactive policy because trade can not only create high-paying jobs for workers in productive industries, but can also destroy jobs in uncompetitive industries.

Moderated by Jayashree Watal (WTO), a session in WTO public forum discussed the role of intellectual property rights/Agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs/TRIPS) in global efforts to encourage the development and diffusion of new, climate-friendly technologies. Most speakers agreed that relevant technologies are largely in the public domain and patents cover only incremental innovations.

WASHINGTON – South Asia has seen an accelerated job growth and a substantial decrease in poverty over the past three decades, second only to East Asia. The region will be the largest contributor to the global workforce over the next two decades. More and better jobs are needed to sustain growth and reduce poverty, says a World Bank report released today.

As has been the case with past debates on trade and human rights, a session in WTO public forum raised interesting questions but did not provide many answers. The panel and audience alike seemed to agree that there is a (growing) relation between trade and human rights disciplines but they differed on where to place it concretely.

A session in WTO public forum discussed how the Internet had become a crucial instrument for trade and economic growth. However, this new engine for trade risked being shut down because of the increasing limitations on the free flow of information that were being adopted by governments. These limitations ranged from blocking of certain content, surveillance tools, local storage requirements to liability for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) for breaches in laws for content circulated on the Internet.

The panellists of a session in WTO public forum agreed that the failures of the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) cannot dominate the whole multilateral trading system, and that they should not imply that multilateralism is dead.

The main purpose of a session in WTO public forum was to gain a better understanding of the linkages between food security and trade in services. The overarching sentiment of all the speakers was that this link was of primary importance, particularly in relation to developing countries. However, it was an area that had not yet received much attention.