South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics & Environment (SAWTEE)

South Asian Centre of Economic Journalists Formed

SAWTEE and Centre for Trade and Development (CENTAD) - an Oxfam GB Initiative - New Delhi jointly organised the three-day regional training seminar for South Asian journalists titled 'Road to Hong Kong' from 11-13 July 2005 in Pokhara, Nepal. The seminar culminated in the formation of South Asian Centre of Economic Journalists (SACEJ).

SACEJ is a loose network that aims to establish linkages between economic journalists in the region. Mr Shafqat Munir, a senior journalist from Pakistan, is the Convenor of the network while journalists from Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka are its members.

The objectives of the training seminar were two-fold:

To take stock of issues in the context of the Sixth World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial to be held in Hong Kong from 13-18 December 2005.
To orient and build the capacity of economic journalists in the region in the context of understanding issues under the ambit of the WTO and encourage them to help mainstream public interest dimensions in the trade negotiating process.
The training were provided on issues such as introduction to the multilateral trading system; agriculture; non-agricultural market access; services; standards; trade facilitation; intellectual property rights; trade and development; and dispute settlement. The South Asian trade experts made presentations on these issues to enable the media persons understand their implications on the South Asian economies. The seminar was instrumental in creating greater awareness among the participants on the need to put development at the heart of trade negotiations. Forty participants - including 32 economic journalists hailing from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka - participated.

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