The drafting of the Handbook on Negotiating Development Oriented Intellectual Property Provisions in Trade and Investment Agreements was guided by the objective of supporting Asia and the Pacific economies in reaching successful and sustainable outcomes in trade agreement negotiations that involve intellectual property. To accomplish this objective, this Handbook introduces the multilateral intellectual property system and explains the trends for additional intellectual property protection in international trade and investment agreements.

The Handbook is available here.

The Symposium on Preferential Trade Agreements and Inclusive Trade is organized by ARTNeT Secretariat at ESCAP in cooperation with ECA and ECLAC as the three regional commissions partnered in the implementation of the project addressing issues of inclusive trade and preferential trade agreements (read more about the project here). The objective of this Symposium is to a) disseminate major findings arising from the research and capacity building components of the project, b) provide a platform for a multistakeholder dialogue about possibilities and limitations faced by policymakers, negotiators, producers and consumers with respect to achieving more inclusive sharing of benefits from preferential trade agreements, and c) launch the portal for online training and as an open source of data, tools and information on this and related topics.

Information on the Symposium can be obtained from Mr. Panit Buranawijarn on buranawijarn@un.org with cc artnetontrade@org

This workshop aims to familiarize participants with state-of-the art structural gravity estimation techniques using STATA. The focus will be on calculation of ad valorem equivalents of trade policy measures, with applications to trade facilitation and aid for trade. The workshop will also introduce participants to counterfactual analysis of the welfare effects of trade policy measures based on gravity results. Whenever possible the workshop will incorporate hands-on sessions giving participants sufficient opportunities to explore existing public databases and tools.

Registration is now closed, however the training materials will be available here after the course is completed. 

The Tenth South Asia Economic Summit X was held in Kathmandu, Nepal from 14-16 Nov 2017. It was organized by SAWTEE, an ARTNeT institutional member, and the National Planning Commission and the Ministry of Commerce of the Government of Nepal. The theme of the SEAS X was “Deepening Economic Integration for Inclusive and Sustainable Development in South Asia”. Over 250 persons, including representatives from all eight South Asian countries, participated in the Summit. The Summit comprised four plenary sessions and 14 parallel sessions.

Launched in 2008, the South Asia Economic Summit (SAES) is a premier regional platform for discussing and analysing economic and development issues and challenges facing South Asian countries, and advancing the cause of regional integration and cooperation. Envisioned as a Davos-like event in South Asia, the SAES brings together stakeholders from the government, private sector, research/academic community, and civil society to generate innovative and actionable ideas for consideration by the region’s policymakers and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). Details of the Summit are available here.

As an online database of trade agreements in the Asia-Pacific region, the database contains information on all preferential agreements within the region, an agreement-country matrix, and an advanced search engine allowing to locate agreements by country, agreement name, status, scope, WTO notification status, and keywords. You can download the full database in CSV format (last update: 1 November 2017)

To access the database please visit here. 

Moreover, ESCAP released an interactive data visualisation of the impacts of trade and complementary policy changes on sustainable development, Chapter 6 of Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment Report 2017. To understand more on impact of regional trade and investment liberalisation, and the Paris accord on climate change and income transfer, you can access the data visualisation here. 

Our partner International Trade Centre (ITC) has issued a call for applications for women entrepreneurs to the newly launched SheTrades Global. As the world’s leading event connecting women entrepreneurs to buyers, investors and other partners, SheTrades Global will be featured at the 2018 International Business Festival, which is a major global festival of trade and investment held every two years in Liverpool. The Festival attracts industry leaders, international delegations and companies from across the world looking to expand their trade footprint.

The 2018 edition of SheTrades Global will highlight four sectors – beauty and wellness; IT and business-process outsourcing; textiles and apparel; and tourism. Women entrepreneurs are encouraged to submit their applications by 31 December 2017 to be considered for participation. Applicants should provide their company and personal information, and select the products and services they are interested in selling and/or buying. Once registered, participants can request individual business meetings with other participants who fit their company’s needs.

For more information please visit here. 

PEP is offering three online distance-learning courses in Applied Development Economics, in collaboration with Université Laval in Canada, from January to March 2018. The three courses are:

• Course 1: Policy Impact Analysis
• Course 2: Computable General Equilibrium Modelling
• Course 3: Measuring and Alleviating Poverty and Inequality

For more information please visit here. 

The goal of the conference is to promote the exchange of ideas among economists conducting quantitative analysis of global economic issues. Particular emphasis will be placed on applied general equilibrium methods, data, and application. Related theoretical and applied work is also welcome.

For more details of this call please visit here. 

The Council on Economic Policies (CEP), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) are organizing a workshop on 25-26 April, 2018 in Geneva, Switzerland, on policy relevant aspects of the links between trade in services and inclusive growth. Papers presented in the workshop will be considered for an expedited review process for a Review of International Economics special issue to be published in 2019.

For more details of this call please visit here.

WIFF 2018 aims to deliberate on the future outlook for the global Islamic finance industry in light of rapidly changing market dynamics, driven by technological developments and growing need for innovative products to cater to upcoming sectors. Against this backdrop, the role envisaged for various stakeholders, especially the regulator, to expand the outreach will be discussed by Islamic finance visionaries at the conference. The international conference will bring together Shari’ah scholars, renowned academicians, leading Islamic bankers, regulators as well as prominent personalities from global Islamic financial and infrastructure institutions to deliberate on game changers for the industry.

For more details please visit here. 

Our collaborator Just Jobs Network, a global research organization focused on the creation of more and better jobs, is looking for the candidates for the posts below. For more information please visit the link:

• Economic analyst/Statistician
• Research associate

The IPS’ annual flagship report Sri Lanka: State of the Economy provides a critical assessment of the country’s economic performance and near term outlook for growth and macroeconomic stability. Each year, the report also examines crucial medium term policy priorities to achieve sustained growth and strengthen socio-economic development outcomes for the country.

For more information please visit here. 

Our partner ITC published its latest NTMs series:

• Nepal: Inadequate export quality infrastructure is seriously affecting Nepalese exporters. Half of 577 surveyed companies in Nepal (exporters, producers, logistics providers) face difficulties in proving compliance for buyer requirements, due to inadequate testing and certification bodies. The report recommends strengthening Nepal’s quality and customs infrastructure, better engagement with India for transit and trade facilitation, and enhancing the export production capacity of small businesses. 
• Philippines​: Trade rules and procedures pose challenges for 73% of surveyed businesses in the Philippines, according to ITC interviews with over 1000 exporters and importers. The survey results offer the Philippine government to address non-tariff measures in the domestic business environment, based on detailed analysis of challenges across many sectors and markets. The report recommends strengthening the inter-agency National Committee on Trade Facilitation to align and sustain trade facilitation efforts. Priority should go to lowering firms’ expenses for conformity assessment requirements; streamlining customs clearance procedures; and streamlining procedures for export licenses, permits and certificates of origin.

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The ARTNeT Secretariat welcomes submissions of policy briefs, working papers, book reports, research reports, and book reviews by ARTNeT members, partners and collaborators. For any submission to be considered, the editorial 'Guidelines for Submissions to the ARTNeT Working Papers Series' must be adhered to.

If you are an ARTNeT member, partner or collaborator and would like to publicise your publications, research or events in the next newsletter, please e-mail us at artnetontrade@un.org.