Session I:         State of Play on Trade in Services

This session will review the state of services trade negotiations and highlight key threats and opportunities for African countries.

Presentations:

• GATS and the Doha Round, Dale Honeck, Counsellor, WTO
• Trade in services and investment in RTAs and implications for African EPAs, Dirk Willem te Velde, Research Fellow, ODI
• Update on Trade in Services – A view from the Africa Group, Ambassador Arsene M. Balihuta, Uganda
• Preparing for services commitments in the WTO & EPA, Elijah Mahigila Manyara, Deputy Director, Ministry of Trade and Industry

Session II:       Advancing EPA trade in services negotiations

This session will critically review the substance and legal structure of the EPA texts on services proposed to the African regions in 2007, aiming to flesh out and address possible challenges arising.

Presentations:

• Comparative legal analysis of EC proposed EPA services chapter, Gerhard Erasmus, Associate, TRALAC
• Finding the development dimension in an EPA Services Chapter, Silke Trumm, Trade Advisor, GTZ
• Challenges for Africa in EPA services liberalization, Myriam Vander Stichele, Senior Researcher, SOMO

Discussant: Joy Kategekwa, Programme Officer, South Centre

Session III:      Status of services preparations in African EPA regions

The aim of this session will be first to hear from the Caribbean on their experience with the services EPA negotiations.  Secondly, it is to hear from the different African EPA regions on where they are with their services preparations and negotiations, where they envisage the work on services going in 2008, and key challenges they expect to face.  This discussion is intended to help set the groundwork for identifying, through the course of the workshop, national and/or regional backstopping needs for services negotiations.

Presentations:

• The Caribbean experience EPA services and lessons for Africa, Ramesh Chaitoo, Head of Services Trade Unit, Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM)
  1. CRNM Consultations for Negotiations re Services & Investment in EPA
  2. EU and CARIFORUM Approaches to Services in EPANegotiations
  3. Overview of CARIFORUM Services Trade Picture & Trade between EU-15 and CARIFORUM States
• Representatives from East Africa, Central Africa, West Africa, and Southern Africa
  1. Beatrice Dove-Edwin, Sierra Leone
  2. Isah Mbaye, ECOWAS (English)

Session IV       Linking regulatory frameworks with services liberalization

This session will focus on the role of regulation and the relationship with services liberalization, with a consideration of the Tanzanian experience.
Presentations:

• The role of regulation in services liberalization, Dirk Willem te Velde, Research Fellow, ODI
• The Tanzanian experience with regulatory reform and services liberalization, Bede Lyimo, CEO, Better Regulation Unit (Tanzania)

Session V:       Multilateral dimension of rules on domestic regulation

This session will focus on the relationship between rule-making, domestic services reforms and development, with a view to putting these in the context of multilateral discussions on domestic regulation.

Presentations:

• Where are we on negotiating GATS rules on domestic regulation, Dale Honeck, Counsellor, WTO

Session VI(b): Telecommunications and ICT

Facilitators:

• Dirk Willem te Velde, Research Fellow, ODI
• Kennedy Mbekeani, Trade, Debt and Globalization Advisor, UNDP
• Sékou Falil Doumbouya, Director, Groupe de Recherche et d'Apprui au Developpement Economique et Social (GRADES)
• Ann Ssemboga, Uganda Communications Commission

Session VI (addendum) On complementary measures

To help support the sectoral discussions on complementary measures, this brief session will provide a framework for considering such measures using the Aid for Trade (AFT) lens, providing specific examples of potential services-related projects and interventions.

Presentation:

Session VI(c):  Financial services

Facilitators:

• Elisabeth Tuerk, Economic Affairs Officer, UNCTAD
• Myriam Vander Stichele, Senior Researcher, SOMO
• Moses Kiptui, Central Bank of Kenya
• Kenneth Egessa, Research Department, Bank of Uganda

Special Public Event – Book Launch

Aid for Trade and Development

Session VI(e):  Tourism

Facilitators:

• Dale Honeck, Counsellor, WTO
• Dirk Willem te Velde, Research Fellow, ODI
• James Lugaganya, Principal Economist, Tanzania Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism
• Mr. Vivian Lyazi, Department of Tourism, Uganda Ministry of Tourism, Trade and Industry

Session VI(f): Movement of natural persons / professional services

Facilitators:

• Dirk Willem te Velde, Research Fellow, ODI
• Sheila Sabune, Programme Officer, ICTSD
• Elisabeth Tuerk, Economic Affairs Officer, UNCTAD
• S.C.M. Wafula, Former Chair, Association of Professional Societies in East Africa (APSEA)
• Mr. G Walusimbi Mpanga, Uganda Services Exporters Association

Session VI(g):  Transportation

Facilitators:

• Valerie Ongolo, Researcher, University of Yaoundé II
• Samuel Helu, Principal Planning Officer, Kenya Ports Authority

Session VII: Mechanisms for effective participation

This session will consider options for the effective participation of African stakeholders in services negotiations, including the management of requests and offers, and the compilation of reference material and data to backstop the liberalization process, as well as the negotiations. The aim will also be to re-fine and articulate a future work programme of support.

1. AFT Committee Draft Roadmap and Plan of Action on Trade in Services
2. Model for services AFT needs identification
3. AFT Committee presentation: Trade in services: harnessing the benefits through an aid for trade agenda