Cooperative activities planned to help African, Arab-speaking countries deal with issues of international trade, finance, globalization, other topics
UNCTAD and Egypt expanded their wide-ranging trade and development cooperation through a memorandum of understanding signed 3 February 2007 that provides for joint training activities by UNCTAD and the Egyptian Institute for Diplomatic Studies (IDS).
The agreement, signed in Cairo, envisions a series of activities to provide Egyptian nationals and African and Arab-speaking diplomats and Government officials with improved skills in international trade, finance, globalization, and other key issues.
UNCTAD will provide the substantive services and technical advice of its staff, experts, and consultants, and IDS will provide, on a case-by-case basis, inputs for the research and analytical activities of UNCTAD and for the preparation of relevant training materials, especially analyses and case studies on national and regional topics. The training activities will be jointly arranged on a case-by-case basis and may include the holding of workshops, distance learning courses, videoconferences, and programmes for "training of trainers."
Among the other aims of the agreement are to assist Government institutions, academia, civil society, and the business sector in formulating economic policies and legal frameworks to achieve national and regional objectives; and to promote economic and development cooperation between developing countries ("South-South cooperation"). The memorandum notes that IDS has a long-term objective of establishing a Centre on Training on International Economic Relations (COTIER) in the field of economic diplomacy in the Arab and African region.
The memorandum also establishes IDS as a focal point for the regional launching of the major UNCTAD annual reports, including the Trade and Development Report and the World Investment Report.
A regional training course co-organized by UNCTAD, the IDS, and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa on Key Issues on the International Economic Agenda is scheduled for 4-22 February 2007 at the IDS in Cairo.
Recent cooperation between UNCTAD and Egypt includes a Regional Arab Dialogue on Intellectual Property, Innovation and Sustainable Development, held jointly with the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development and the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, in Alexandria, from 26-28 June, 2005.
A national workshop on Current Trends in Intellectual Property Policy and Public Health was held in Egypt on 29 June 2005, sponsored by UNCTAD, the Centre for the Study of Developing Countries (CSDC) of Cairo University, and the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development.
On 3 March 2006, UNCTAD delivered a training session to 26 junior diplomats from the Egyptian Institute for Diplomatic Studies and members of the Permanent Mission of Egypt to the United Nations Office at Geneva.
In addition, UNCTAD and Egypt prepared an Investment Policy Review in 1998 and a subsequent follow-up review of the country´s investment environment in 2005.
UNCTAD and the Government of Egypt also have carried out joint technical cooperation activities in the fields of trade and environment, competition policy, negotiation of international investment agreements, and intellectual property rights. And there have been joint activities related to the Egypt-Gaza border within the framework of UNCTAD´s programme on Assistance to the Palestinian people.
