CLA and ITLSA present: 2009 CLA Conference “Aid and Trade”

CLA and ITLSA present: 2009 CLA Conference “Aid and Trade”

Canadian Lawyers Abroad is hosting its 2009 Annual Conference, in cooperation with the International Trade Law Student Association (ITLSA), on the topic of “Aid and Trade”.

WHAT: Expert panel on “Aid and Trade”
WHEN: 4 p.m. – 6 p.m., Friday, March 13th
WHERE: Rm 147, Fauteux Hall, University of Ottawa, followed by a Wine & Cheese reception in the Tsampalieros Atrium
COST: Free, all are welcome!

CLA hosts an annual conference dedicated to analyzing a current international issue by providing a forum for discussion between legal practitioners, policy makers, NGO experts and academics open to all student and the community at large. This year’s theme is “Aid & Trade” and CLA has decided to team up with the International Trade Law Students Association (ITLSA) in this common interest.

A panel of experts will be discussing the key issues and linkages between development assistance and international trade, including the efficacy of "Aid for Trade" programs and the implications of Canada's recently introduced Official Development Assistance Accountability Act.

The panel will comprise experts in the area of international trade policy and law, including Hugo Cameron, Economic Policy Advisor at the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). In order to provide an informed and balanced discussion, we will also have input from the academic and NGO perspectives with Gauri Sreenivasan, a Policy Coordinator from the Canadian Council for International Cooperation (CCIC) and Professor Amir Attaran from the Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa.

PARTICIPANTS:

Dr. Amir Attaran is by training both a biologist and lawyer, and currently Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair at the Institute of Population Health and the Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa. Professor Attaran’s research emphasizes the subject of health, development and human security in poor countries. His interests include: to study the scarcity of foreign financial aid spent on controlling epidemic and pandemic diseases; to raise the standard of medical technology and care for patients in the world’s poorest countries; and to apply Canadian and international human rights law toward crises affecting transnational justice and human security. Professor Attaran is a recognized authority on global development and governance issues, and has acted a policy advisor to numerous NGOs, the United Nations, governments and corporations.

Hugo Cameron is Economic Policy Advisor in the Economic Analysis Division at the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), where he is responsible for coordinating trade policy and programming at the Agency-wide level. He was previously International Trade Negotiations Expert at International Lawyers and Economists Against Poverty (ILEAP), where he focused on issues around Aid for Trade from 2005. At the Geneva-based International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD), he was Director of Trade and Environment and edited ICTSD’s trade publication BRIDGES Weekly Trade News Digest from 1998 to 2004. He has assisted the government of Tanzania on trade negotiation issues, including fisheries and health and safety standards. Mr. Cameron holds degrees from Simon Fraser University and McGill University. He is the co-editor of "Aid for Trade and Development" published by Cambridge University Press in 2007.

Gauri Sreenivasan is senior policy analyst for Global Economic Justice and Policy Coordinator at the Canadian Council for International Co-operation, where she has worked since 1996. Ms. Sreenivasan’s research focuses on trade and investment policies as they relate to issues of poverty and human rights. She is the co-author of CCIC’s series of six papers on Canadian NGO perspectives on trade and development, covering issues such as food security, biopatenting, access to medicine and democratisation issues. She has also authored CCIC’s numerous briefs concerning the WTO and the Doha Development Agenda. Ms. Sreenivasan recently published a chapter reviewing Canadian trade policy under the Conservative government, in "The Harper Record" published by CCPA in October 2008. She worked previously for CUSO as a policy analyst, and before that as Coordinator for the Central America Monitoring Group, an NGO human rights advocacy coalition in Canada.

Check out the Canadian Council for International Co-operation's 2008 "Reality of Aid" report here.

Charles LaSalle is Senior Policy Advisor, Multilateral Trade Policy Division at the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT).

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