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UNITAR offeres an e-Learning course on United Nations Protocol (3 - 30 June 2013). This course aims to provide an overview of United Nations and multilateral protocol practices to guide the protocol practitioners who operate within the Offices of the United Nations at its Headquarters as well as in its numerous field Offices throughout the world. With the help of interactive online exercises, participants will finish the course with a concrete understanding of specific protocol-related situations. The course targets staff of the United Nations, mid to senior-level government officers in ministries, as well as staff of other intergovernmental / nongovernmental organizations. It...

Over 130 academics from around the world have signed a letter supporting the unconditional extension of the transition period within which LDCs Members of the WTO must become fully compliant with the TRIPS Agreement until any such country ceases to be an LDC.  The letter gives 10 reasons supporting the proposed extension, many drawn directly from the language of Article 66.1 itself. Source: www.Infojustice.org

Additional background on the extension of  the exemption of LDCs to fully implement TRIPS bas been made available by Intellectual Property Watch

Medicins Sans Frontiers (MSF) is voicing its support to the extension of the transition period for the LDCs to fully implement TRIPs obligations. The exemption is due to expire on 30 June 2013. The deadline does not apply to pharmaceutical patents. The 2001 Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health extended the period for least developed countries to comply with provisions on pharmaceuticals to 2016.  LDCs are campaigning to have their exemption renewed as well as to lift a clause imposed in 2005 which prevents them from amending or rolling back any legislation that reduces the degree of IP protection.  Article 5 of the 2005 Decision states that  "Least-developed...

Myanmar is the third Asian LDC (Cambodia and Laos are other two countries) to dedicate additional efforts towards graduating from the LDC category. A seminar was organized by the Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development with the support of the local UNDP office on May 3 to consider the requirements and implications of the country's possible graduation. Source: UNDP Myanmar

Postgraduate Training Fellowships for Women Scientists from Sub-Saharan Africa and LDC at Centres of Excellence in the South is receiving applications. Deadline for applications is 31 July 2013. This fellowship programme is for female students from Sub-Saharan Africa or LDCs who wish to pursue postgraduate training leading to a doctorate degree at a centre of excellence in the South outside their own country. Each fellowship will be offered for up to three years and will cover the following: travel expenses; monthly allowance; visa costs; medical insurance. Source: http://owsdw.ictp.it/activities/postgraduate-training-fellowships

The Multilateral Diplomacy Programme (MDP) at the UNITAR offeres an e-Learning course on Overcoming Negotiation Deadlocks (27 May - 23 June 2013). This course aims to equip participants with practical skills to enhance individual negotiation capacity and lead through situations of deadlock. It will help learners to improve their negotiation performance in order to obtain better outcomes in bilateral and multilateral negotiations, but also to become brokers of agreements when solutions look impossible. Participants from LDCs are eligible to apply for a fellowship to cover the participation fee of 600 USD. Source: ...

This online course, from 3 June to 7 July, 2013, aims to facilitate international negotiations, public sector work, and diplomatic engagement in relation to climate change impacts and adaptation measures through an enhanced understanding of its science, the international policy framework, and the key negotiation issues pertinent to the UNFCCC process. Participants from LDCs are eligible to apply for a fellowship to cover the participation fee of $800. source: UNITAR online course description

Myanmar’s garment industry is expected to grow rapidly with DFQF access. In May, the European Parliament will vote on granting the country full access to the EU’s EBA initiative. Exports are already increasing in the current 2012/13 year, in anticipation of a retroactive reinstatement of Myanmar’s trade preferences as of 1 July 2012. Annual exports in the fiscal year 2012/13 are exceeding US$1 billion, up from US$360 million in fiscal year 2011-2012. Sources: Eleven Myanmar and Lexology .

New York, Tuesday April 23 (from 1:00pm to 3:00pm, Room S-2723). A training session was held for New York based LDC delegates. This session focused on online real-time interactive training and on further building capacity for using the Portal as a tool for obtaining relevant information and gaining better access to the LDC-specific support measures.

The Office of the United States Trade Representative has announced that it will be conducting a public hearing on the possible designation of Myanmar and Laos as beneficiaries of the US GSP scheme and, if so decided, on their designations also as least developed country beneficiaries. The  hearings will take place on 4 June 2013. According to the USTR notice both countries indicated their interest in the review. While Laos had never had been a beneficiary under the US GSP programme,  Myanmar had its benefits suspended in 1989 as it failed to meet eligibility requirements regarding internationally recognized worker rights. Source:  Office of the US Trade Representative...

The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) offers e-Learning courses on Green Diplomacy and Mediation Skills. Participants from LDCs are eligible to apply for a fellowship.   • Green Diplomacy (29 April - 9 June 2013) Course fee: 800 USD - Application deadline 25 April 2013 This course aims to support the overall integration of environmental considerations into key diplomacy tracks by considering the substantive issues in question, understanding the gaps in existing policy frameworks and ongoing multilateral negotiations, and equipping negotiators with concrete tools and resources for advancing their environmental priorities in these respective...

Indonesia, host of the the 9th WTO Ministerial Conference (Bali, December 2013) has announced it is considering the introduction of a DFQF scheme for LDCs that are Members of the WTO.  The scheme is anticipated to be implemented from the first quarter of 2014 onwards. The Indonesian autorities  are still to identify which products should be eligible for the DFQF facility. According to UN COMTRADE on-line data base, Indonesia imports from LDCs totalled some US$ 1 billion in 2011 and while exports  to LDCs reached US$3.7 billion in that year. Source: The Financial Express    

The WTO Appellate Body has just issued its 2012 Report. It indicated that 70 WTO Member countries participated in appeals which Appellate Body reports were circulated between 1996 and 2012.  Among these 70 countries, 6 were LDCs which participated as third parties: Benin, Chad, Madagascar, Malawi, Senegal and Tanzania. Source : Appellate Body Annual Report 2012  

Development aid to poor countries slipped amidst tightening government budgets. Data for 2012 show that bilateral net ODA to the group of LDCs fell by -12.8% in real terms to about USD 26 billion. Source: OECD

WTO Secretariat, Geneva - 12 March 2013. The Support Measures Portal for LDCs was presented to 22 participants from the WTO LDC Group in Geneva. The presentation by the CDP Secretariat was followed by a question and answer session as well as a training focusing on assisting the participants in accessing the information provided by the Portal. Participating LDC delegates indicated the usefulness of the Portal as a tool to enhance their trade-related capacities and its value added to their work. The delegates also expressed their views on the need for continued training on how to access the information on the Portal and to inform their capital-based colleagues on the existence of the...

The WTO Council for TRIPS met on 5-6 March 2013 but took no decision on the extension of  the transition period for LDCs to implement the TRIPS agreement. Currently, LDCs have to comply with only articles 3, 4 and 5 of the Agreement (provisions on most favoured nation and national treatment). Discussions included whether the transition period should be extended up to a given date or whether the exemption from TRIPS disciplines (with the exception of for the articles mentioned earlier) should be applicable until a LDC graduates from the category. The transition period is due to expire on 1 July 2013. The TRIPS Council will consider the issue at its next meeting in June 2013. ...

The President of Myanmar, H.E. Thein Sein, called upon the EU to grant his country DFQF access under the EU’s EBA initiative. Myanmar lost preferential access to the EU markets in 1997 when the EU found Myanmar to violate conventions against the use of forced labor. The European Commission proposed in September 2012 to the European Parliament and the European Council to reinstate Myanmar’s trade preferences, but the issue is still under consideration. Sources: Bangkok Post and European Commission

Laos became the WTO’s 158th member on 2 February 2013. Laos had already informed the WTO on 3 January 2013 that it had ratified its membership agreement. Source: WTO  

On 26 February 2013, UNAIDS and UNDP published a Issue Brief on TRIPS trasition period extensions for LDCs. A proposal to further extend   the transition period for full TRIPS compliance by LDCs, which will expire in July, will be discussed in the upcoming meeting of the Council on TRIPs on 5-6 March 2013. Additional information: Policy Brief