TSPN Conference 2011

Washington DC, The World Bank Building | 30 Nov - 1 Dec 11

"Standards in South-South Trade and Opportunities for Advancing the Sustainability Agenda."

Under this topic TSPN members, partners, and interested experts will gather in Washington DC on November 30th and December 1st, 2011, for the TSPN annual conference.

A growing share of global trade is being carried out between developing countries and/or emerging markets. The enhanced South-South economic integration leads to growing interest in regional harmonization and equivalence among Private Voluntary Standards (PVS). Therefore, some developing countries pro-actively adopt agri-food standards in regional and inter-regional trade. Also, large national companies in the South tend to increasingly use PVS to avoid dual or triple track approaches regarding sustainability criteria.

Find out more in the Background Study written by Margret Will.

In three interactive sessions we will have the opportunity to explore and discuss the following sub-topics:

• "Co-Regulation in the Timber Sector" with a focus on the main challenges for timber certification in developing countries. Is sustainability certification better handled by PVS or by regulation? Another central question will be "Who benefits from certification?" by means of comparing examples.
• "Consumer Demand or B2B – What determines Standardization in South-South Trade?". The role of drivers and harmonization will be discussed in contrast to South-North Trade having in mind the increasing importance of certified products.
• " SME Traders and Importers in the South". Challenges and opportunities of SMEs in regional markets of differentiated certified products will be discussed by panelists from developing country SMEs.

!NEW! Updated Draft Agenda [pdf, 310 KB] !NEW!

Conference participants will have the chance to exchange with international multifaceted colleagues on practical experiences not only in the plenary and the discussions during the sessions, but also at the topic tables during lunch, at the market place and the reception in the evening.

Objective

This annual network event has the ambition to

• give an overview of the current dimensions (commodities, regions, etc.) and rationales of  South-South trade and the role and impacts of PVS for sustainable development;
• highlight policies and attitudes of developing country governments and discuss the expedience of capacity building for pro-active PVS use; 

...but as well, to

• exchange experiences amongst international development agencies and stakeholders with regard to the promotion of sustainability in South-South trade;
• contemplate examples of "best practices" in the implementation of PVS in South-South trade and discuss their transferability to other regions or sectors;
• draw conclusions as well as identify open questions which may direct future TSPN activities and joint research of TSPN members.

In case of further questions, please feel free to contact the secretariat at info@tradestandards.org.