Panel Discussion: Global Public Goods: International Cooperation in the 21st Century

10 May 1999, New Delhi, India

A panel discussion on the book- Global Public Goods; International Cooperation in the 21st Century was chaired by the Senior Deputy Resident Representative, UNDP, Mr Richard Conroy. The book was officially released by the Chief Guest and the former Finance Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh. The Assistant Resident Representative and Senior Economist, UNDP, Mr R. Sudarshan, outlined the themes and kinds of public goods discussed in the book. Invited panellists were the Director, Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary Studies, Dr Bibek Debroy, the Member Secretary, Independent Commission for People’s Right and Development, Dr Nandini Azad, and the Senior Assistant Editor, The Times of India, Dr S. Varadarajan. The principal themes of the volume were highlighted by Dr Manmohan Singh who said, "Markets have an important role to play. They need basic goods through collective choices. Today, what happens in national policies has implications beyond borders." Dr. Singh remarked that at present, international relations were basically power play and that there was the danger of a new kind of imperialism.

For more information go to:
http://www.undp.org.in/UNDPNEWS/Sep99/pg13.htm

 
Seminar on Global Public Goods

08 Jun 1999, Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Stockholm

The Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs hosted a full-day seminar in Stockholm on the topic of global public goods within the framework of the project Development Financing 2000. The seminar centered around presentations by five contributors to the volume, each followed by dialogue between panelists and participants.

To read the seminar report, go to:
http://www.utrikes.regeringen.se/prefak/files/semrep990608.pdf

 
Panel Discussion: Global Public Goods: International Cooperation in the 21st Century

30 Jul 1999, Lebanese Centre for Policy Studies

The Lebanese Centre for Policy Studies organized a panel discussion on the book "Global Public Goods; International Cooperation in the 21st Century". The concept of global public goods was introduced and policy implications of "global public goods" were pinpointed, in particular from a national perspective, in the panel discussion. The panel discussion brought together 60 participants which included government officials, members of the private sector and civil society, and representatives of UN agencies. The panel aimed at raising awareness about, and initiating debate on the subject as well as launching a process of promoting initiatives and action in support of global public goods at the national level.

For more information go to:
http://www.lcps-lebanon.org/conf/99/index.html#global

Click here to read the report:
http://www.surf-as.org/Papers/global.pdf

 
Pro-poor international public goods?

15 Nov 2000, Overseas Development Institute, UK

A discussion meeting held at the Overseas Development Institute. The speakers included Adrian Hewitt and Oliver Morrissey of ODI and was chaired by Simon Maxwell, Director of ODI.

To read the meeting report, go to:
http://www.odi.org.uk/speeches/booth5.html

 
Centennial Lecture on Global "Public Goods"

24 Jan 2001, Yale Club, New York City, USA

William Nordhaus, the A. Whitney Griswold Professor of Economics at Yale and former member of the President's Council of Economic Advisors.

For more details, go to:
http://cowles.econ.yale.edu/archive/people/nordhaus/nordhaus_lecture_1-01.htm

 
Effective International Water Management as a Public Good

27 Mar 2001, The Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Stockholm

The Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs has initiated the Development Financing 2000 project, with the overall purpose 'to help increase awareness, knowledge and international commitment to a strong, effective and well-funded multilateral system in the field of development'. The first studies were presented at a Seminar in August 2000. In the third study Sweden was interested in exploring ways of facilitating and financing effective regional/international water resource management from a public goods perspective. The seminar in Stockholm, March 27, served the purpose of presentation and discussion of the findings of the report.

To read the seminar report, go to:
http://www.utrikes.regeringen.se/prefak/files/Seminar Report Water Study.pdf

 
Global Public Goods for Health Workshop

04 - 06 Jun 2001, International Development Research Centre, Canada

The International Development Research Centre (IDRC) hosted an experts' workshop entitled "Global Public Goods for Health: Making globalisation work to improve the health of the poor" on June 4-6, 2001. It was jointly sponsored by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), IDRC, Health Canada, and the World Health Organisation (WHO). This workshop brought together approximately 45 participants from developing countries and from across Canada to support empirical work on global public goods for health (GPGH), to advance understanding of GPGH, and to situate the concept within the greater context of globalisation and health. Participants included government representatives, development practitioners and academics.

For more information, go to:
http://www.idrc.ca/health/exec_summ_e.html

 
Annual meeting of Finnish Ambassadors (on the topic of Global Public Goods)

23 - 24 Aug 2001, Helsinki

 
Financing Global Public Goods

05 Oct 2001, the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Stockholm

This Seminar reported on the findings of a study commissioned by the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs on the Financing of Global Public Goods. The purpose of the seminar was to subject the findings of the study to critical review by an audience of key actors and to allow their comments to feed into and enhance the final report of the study. The later sections of this seminar Report summarise the general discussion under main themes, to highlight the implicit recommendations of the participants for areas of the study report which could be amended and to allow it to provide as much guidance to policy-makers as possible at this stage of the debate.

To read the seminar report, go to:
http://www.utrikes.regeringen.se/prefak/files/f_p_20011005.pdf

 
Seminar on Financing Global Public Goods

15 Jan 2002, New York

This seminar was organized jointly by the Government of France and UNDP to explore financing tools for global public goods and the synergies between global public goods and aid, including the possibility of resource additionality.

For more information, go to:
http://www.undp.org/ods/ffd-jan-2002-toc.html

 
Global Public Goods Financing: New Tools for New Challenges

19 Mar 2002, Monterrey, Mexico

This side event at the International Conference on Financing for Development was co-sponsored by the Government of France, the Government of Sweden and United Nations Development Programme.

For more information, go to:
http://www.undp.org/ods/ffd-monterrey-report.html

 
Global Public Goods and Trade: Conflicts, Compatibility and Complementarities

13 - 14 May 2002, ENSA Montpellier, France

The main objective of the workshop was to identify and analyse the sources of conflict between international economic relations and existing - as well as "emerging" - GPGs. To address this issue, four round tables are organised on the following themes: (1) the definitions of GPGs (2) the use of economic incentives to produce GPGs and their compatibility with WTO rules (3) the use of regulation systems and international norms to produce GPGs and their articulation with the trade regime (4) the emergence of "new" GPGs and their governance. Four round tables were organised with invited speakers and a chairman.

For more information, go to:
http://www.agro-montpellier.fr/sustra/research_themes/global_public_goods/

 
Global dimensions of development: Challenges and options for funding Global Public Goods.

17 Oct 2002, European Policy Centre, Brussels

An European Policy Centre (EPC) seminar was held in conjunction with the World Bank and the European Commission on 17 October 2002 on "Global Dimensions of Development: Challenges and Options for Funding Global Public Goods". This was a pilot project in connection with a new Europe World Affairs Forum that will discuss global development issues. This is not an official record of the proceedings and specific remarks are not necessarily attributable.

For more information, go to:
http://www.theepc.be/documents/dialdetail.asp?SEC=documents

 
8th General Conference of the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS)

19 - 23 Oct 2002, Delhi, India

The 8th General Conference of TWAS had an invited lecture session on Science and the Provision of Global Public Goods given by Bruce Alberts, USA, president of the National Academy of Sciences and chair of the National Research Council.

For more information:
http://www.ictp.trieste.it/~twas/DelhiProg.html

 
Seminar on Global Public Goods for Health: Rhetoric or Substance?

21 Oct 2002, Medical and Health Research Network, Hong Kong

Seminar delivered by Mr Richard D Smith of Health Economics, Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong. Hong Kong.

For more information:
http://www.hku.hk/facmed/mhrn/event/goodsforhealth.htm

 
Regional Public Goods and Regional Development Assistance

06 - 07 Nov 2002, Asian Development Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank, Washington DC

The Asian Development Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank held a Conference on Regional Public Goods and Regional Development Assistance at the IDV headquarters in Washington, DC on 6-7 November 2002. Among the topics discussed were the role of regional public goods in development, economic policy coordination, the role of regional development banks, and health, education and knowledge from a regional perspective.

For more information:
http://www.iadb.org/int/publicgoods/program.html

 
Panel discussion on Managing Globalization

11 - 13 Jan 2003, Fourth Annual Global Development Network, Cairo

For more information go to:
http://www.gdnet.org/GDN_activities/annual_conferences/fourth_annual_conference/parallels2/parallels2.5.html

 
International Symposium on Open Access and the Public Domain in Digital Data and Information for Science

10 - 11 Mar 2003, Paris

The International Council for Science, ICSU, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the National Academies, US, the Committee on Data for Science and Technology, (CODATA) and the International Council for Scientific and Technical Information (ICSTI) are jointly organizing a major international symposium and related activities on Open Access and the Public Domain in Digital Data and Information for Science.

For more information, go to:
http://www.codata.org/03march/03march-background.htm

 
International Public Goods and Transfer of Technology after the TRIPS Agreement of 1994: A Law and Economics Conference

04 - 07 Apr 2003, Duke Law School, Durham, North Carolina

This will be the first major conference to analyze the complex conceptual foundations of the new global IPR regime based on both legal and economic reasoning. It will examine ways and means to minimize social costs and enhance the benefits that could ensue from TRIPS and other international agreements by deliberately taking the promotion of public goods into account.

For more information, go to:
http://www.law.duke.edu/trips/index.html

 
Panel Discussion on Environment & Statecraft: The Strategy of Environmental Treaty-Making (Oxford University Press, 2003)

01 May 2003, United Nations Secretariat's Conference Room 5

Many global environmental challenges are of a global public good nature: their benefits/costs cut across national boundaries, and often, also across generations. Therefore, policy responses to those challenges often require cross-border cooperation, and moreover, not only cooperation among states but also cooperation between state and non-state actors.

Yet, as Scott Barrett's book rightly suggests, "the provision of global public goods like climate change mitigation must rely on a kind of volunteerism" (page 83). This results from the reality that, at the international level, there exists no equivalent to the national institution of the stat or government - i.e. no institution with coercive power. Hence, countries have to agree voluntarily to certain policy changes. The instrument they use for this purpose is, often, that of treaties.

The central message of Barrett's study is that come treaties are more successful than others; and that the more successful ones tend to share a characteristic: they are designed to be self-enforcing. In other words, Barrett concludes that treaties should not just tell countries what to do; rather they must create incentives for states to participate in a treaty.

The author: Scott Barrett, Professor of Environmental Economics and International Political Economy at the Paul H Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University.

To download a briefing note prepared by Scott Barrett on the book click here. For more information on the book click here

Two experienced diplomats, who have been engaged in negotiations over environment-related treaties, have commented on the book at the panel discussion held on 1 May 2003. The first comment was provided by Hosseein Moeini Meybodi, First Secretary at the Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations (click here to read the commentary). The other comment was provided by Irene Freudenschuss-Reichl, a diplomat from Austria, now the Special Representative and Assistant Director-General for UN Affairs of UNIDO. Click here to read the comment.

 
Financing Global Public Goods

16 - 19 Jun 2003, Wilton Park Conference, UK

How should global public goods be financed? What are the benefits in human welfare from provision of the economic resources to address transboundary water management, protection of biodiversity, effective medical action on HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, protection of biodiversity, defence of the global commons and mitigation of global warming? How can multilateral systems be made effective and paid for?

For more information, go to:
http://www.wiltonpark.org.uk/web/conferences/wrapper.asp?confref=WP714

 
7th International Conference on Public Goods and Public Policy for Agricultural Biotechnology

29 Jun - 03 Jul 2003, International Consortium on Agricultural Biotechnology Research, Ravello ( Italy )

In the past decade a number of agricultural biotechnology products have been invented and commercialized. These "genetically modified organism" (GMO) crops have attracted public attention and debate. Public discussion, however, has paid little attention to the fact that these products were enabled by advances in the biological sciences. The techniques of genetic engineering were first developed in scientific research programs and first pursued by scientists. The sciences underpinning the technology are continuing to open up new technological invention opportunities as genome maps are completed and as the fields of genomics and proteomics analysis take form.

For more information, go to:
http://www.economia.uniroma2.it/conferenze/icabr2003/

 
First Meeting of the Friends of the International Task Force on Global Public Goods

03 Jul 2003, Centre de Conférences Internationales, Paris, France

The first meeting of the group of “friends” of the international task force on global public goods was held in Paris on 3 July 2003. The French and Swedish governments, the two main sponsors of the task force, had convened the friends group, i.e., governments and international organizations that would wish to follow and support the work of the task force. The purpose of the meeting was twofold: (1) to provide an opportunity for participants to express their views on issues related to global public goods and to discuss how these can effectively be addressed by the task force; and (2) to build support for the task force. There were about 70 participants from developed and developing countries as well as from regional and international organizations.

For more information, go to:
www.gpgtaskforce.org

 
Panel Discussion on Public Goods: Revisiting the theory in light of today’s realities, 78th Annual Conference of the Western Economic Association International

11 - 15 Jul 2003, Denver, Colorado, US

The backdrop for this session were three recent publications on transnational -regional and global- public goods:

The panel presentations and the discussion centered on the analytical and practical-political usefulness of applying the public goods concept to various regional and global policy challenges. The issues raised during the session indicated opportunities for further research and policy dialogue.

For more information on the conference, go to: http://www.weainternational.org/conferences.htm

 
Innovative Sources for Development Finance – Project Meeting

05 Sep 2003, Helsinki, Finland

The Innovative Sources of Development Finance meeting report on a UNU/WIDER study led by Sir Anthony Atkinson of Nuffield College, Oxford University. The study, which has been undertaken at the behest of the UN General Assembly, looks at new ways to increase the flow of funding to the developing world.

For presentations of the main findings, go to:
http://www.wider.unu.edu/conference/conference-2003-3/conference-2003-3-papers/Atkinson,%201,%202,%2012%20_28.8.pdf

 
Sharing Global Prosperity

06 - 07 Sep 2003, Helsinki, Finland

Economists and development experts met in Helsinki to report and discuss research findings on the global economy and how it works for poor countries and poor people. Much greater effort must be put into increasing the flow of external finance to developing countries, particularly the poorest countries. And more progress is needed in reforming the world trade system, which at the moment works against the interests of the world’s poorest countries and poorest people.

For more information, go to:
http://www.wider.unu.edu/conference/conference-2003-3/conference2003-3.htm

 
First Meeting of the Task Force

25 - 26 Sep 2003, Yale, New Haven

The members of the International Task Force on Global Public Goods met for the first time in New Haven on 25-26 September at the Center for the Study of Globalization headed by Ernesto Zedillo, also co-chair of the task force.
The participants discussed the objectives of the Task Force, as well as conceptual and methodological approaches for achieving them. They agreed on a short list of international public goods (IPGs) to explore further, on the final products they will deliver and on the independent nature of their collective mandate. They also identified the deliverables for their next meeting, to be held in Istanbul in about five months time.


For more information, go to:
www.gpgtaskforce.org

To read the report go to:
www.gpgtaskforce.org/bazment.aspx?timestamp=632012250271530272&page_id=142#bazAnchor_

 
Die Globalen Öffentlichen Guter unter Privatisierungsdruck.

27 Sep 2003, Berlin

International conference on global public goods organized by Heinrich Boell-Stiftung. The theoretical frame of this conference refers to issues that have a major significance in the work of Prof. Elmar Altvater: (1) international financial markets and financial instruments, (2) globalization, deregulation and privatization, and (3) globalization and ecology - all of these in the context of the current global public goods debate. What influence do international financial markets have on the provision of global public goods? What does it mean, when public goods like health care are being privatized? What is the benefit of addressing climate, the ozone layer or biological diversity as global public goods?

For more information, go to:
http://www.otto-brenner-stiftung.de/fix/docs/files/hbs.pdf

 
New Diplomacy

28 - 30 Sep 2003, Dubrovnik

A session on diplomatic training for the management of Global Public Goods was scheduled on the agenda of the 31th meeting of Directors and Deans of Diplomatic Academies and Institutes of International Relations.

 
Public Sector, Private Sector: New National and International Frontiers What Are Public Goods

02 - 03 Oct 2003, Centre Saint-Gobain, Paris

The conference organized by Bob Solow and Jean-Louis Beffa for the Saint-Gobain Centre for Economic Studies, was devoted to stretching the understanding of economic theory and previous empirical findings on new public frontiers.

For more information, go to:
http://www.centresaint-gobain.org/site_html/site_uk/lien_maitre_conferences.htm

 
Forum 2000: Bridging Global Gaps Conference

15 - 17 Oct 2003, Prague, Czech Republic

The forum was held under the auspices of Václav Havel, President of the Czech Republic. Its participants gathered to address the issues of international trade, issues of corporate accountability and responsibility, debt management and global public goods, and formulate their proposals on how to tackle some of the dilemmas facing us today.


For more information, go to:
http://www.forum2000.cz/forum2000.html

 
Global Public Goods - Concepts, Experience, Financing

04 - 05 Nov 2003, Berlin

International policy workshop organized by the Development Policy Forum (DSE) with the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and with the Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU).

The policy workshop focused mainly on the applicability of proven and innovative principles and instruments of the concepts of Global Public Goods. In support of the international Task Force on Global Public Goods, which had it’s first meeting this September the dialogue aimed, firstly, at taking stock of the experiences gained in the Rio/Johannesburg process on global environmental goods and the instruments and criteria developed in this context. Secondly, the dialogue discussed how already identified best practices may be transferred to other Global Public Goods. Thirdly, the meeting was targeted on analyzing proven and innovative financial mechanisms for supporting the supply of Global Public Goods. Finally, references to the Millennium Development Goals was discussed.

For more information, go to:
http://www.dse.de/ef/index.htm

 
World Science Forum

08 - 10 Nov 2003, Budapest, Hungary

The Hungarian Academy of Sciences hosted the first World Science Forum in Budapest on November 8-10, coinciding with the World Science Day (November 10), under the patronage of the President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, and the President of the Republic of Hungary, Ferenc Mádl.

The World Science Forum series on science, knowledge, information was initiated in order to tackle these issues and prompt a world-wide discussion about the new roles and challenges of science and knowledge in the global society of the 21st century, and as a follow-up to the successful World Conference on Science in 1999, organised by UNESCO and ICSU in Budapest, Hungary. The concept of knowledge-based societies implies that knowledge and information are viewed as global public goods and not as scientific achievements. They are tools to enrich learning environments and support life-long learning beyond educational institutions.

For more information, go to:
http://www.sciforum.hu/

 
Regional Integration and Public Goods

20 - 21 Nov 2003, United Nations University/Comparative Regional Integration Studies, Bruges, Belgium

Public goods have traditionally been provided by national and local governments and more recently and with limited effect at the global level. This conference addressed issues and concerns around the provision of public goods (health, knowledge, environment, security, governance) at the regional level. The conference considered theoretical, empirical and policy issues related to the provision of public goods in the context of regional integration.

 
Health as Foreign Policy: A U.S.-German Dialogue on Governance and Global Health

20 - 21 Nov 2003, German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Berlin

The Conference explored and compared perspectives on global health issues as they had developed in the United States and in Europe. The conference explored differences and similarities in: (1) the premise or "world view" that drives U.S and European approaches to global health; (2) the actors that engage in the global health arena; (3) the priorities that emerge and drive global health action; and (4) the delivery mechanisms that are preferred at the global and national level.

 
Global Progressive Forum

27 - 29 Nov 2003, Brussels

The Global Progressive Forum is a joint undertaking of the Party of European Socialists, its parliamentary group in the European Parliament and the Socialist International.

The Forum consisted of two plenary sessions in the Parliament's chamber and three sessions of parallel round tables on global issues (development issues, global policy issues –including global public goods-, and global governance). The chairman of the Forum was former Danish prime minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen. The two plenary sessions was chaired by Robin Cook, president of the Party of European Socialists, and by Enrique Barón Crespo, leader of the PES parliamentary group. Several leading international speakers addressed the Forum on Progressive Global Visions.

For more information, go to:
www.pes.org/globalprogressiveforum

 
Scaling Up Intensified Control of Neglected Diseases

09 - 11 Dec 2003, Berlin

The WHO meeting co-sponsored by the German Agency for Technical Co-operation (GTZ) and the German Federal Ministry of Health aimed at identifing solutions, which can be supported and delivered to those affected by Neglected Diseases today.

 
Hegemony and its Discontents: Power, Ideology and Knowledge in the Study and Practice of International Relations

17 - 20 Mar 2004, Montreal

The conference organized by the International Studies Association Meetings, explored questions about hegemony in both the study and practice of international relations. Underlying this focus were questions concerning the sociology, psychology and politics of the discipline, and its role in reinforcing and protecting economic, political, ethnic and gendered inequalities in world politics. During the conference, a roundtable was held on "Global and Regional Public Goods."

For more Information go to:
http://www.isanet.org/montreal

 
Internet Commons Congress

24 - 25 Mar 2004, Washington DC

According to participants, the question of who owns the Internet seems in the same category as who owns the oceans or who owns outer space. Governments or private interests might own individual elements of the Internet, but the power of the Internet comes from collecting these contributions as a unified commons. By definition, the global Internet commons belongs equally to everyone. Each new application of the Internet inevitably gets attacked as trespass against the jurisdiction of some status quo interest, but movement away from equal ownership diminishes the Internet. The Internet Commons Congress provided a venue for users of the commons to educate each other, discuss ways of expanding the reach of the Internet as a commons, and organized resistance to the tendency of public and private interests to assert dominion over the Internet commons.

For more information, go to:
http://www.internationalunity.org/

 
World Conference on Health Promotion and Health Education 2004

25 - 29 Apr 2004, Melbourne

Every three years the International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE), based in Paris, holds a global conference on health promotion and education. This conference, organized jointly with the World Health Organisation and the Australian and Victorian (state) governments, was held in Melbourne from April 25 - 29, 2004. The World Conference assessed the current status of health promotion across the world to identify practical solutions to move forward. The sessions were based on the main themes: Maintaining diversity in a global culture for health and wellbeing; shifting the balance of power - new forms of governance and participation for better health; vision, purpose and leadership - exploring different pathways to health; setting an agenda for promoting Indigenous health; addressing stress from civil dislocation, unemployment, cultural change and restoring the balance between environment, health and spirituality.

For more Information go to:
http://www.health2004.com.au/default.asp

 
International Seminar on Poverty and Globalisation: Financing for Development, including the Millennium Development Goals

09 Jul 2004, Vatican City

The seminar, organized by the Holy See's Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace focused on the issues of the debt burden on the world's poorest countries and the mobilization of development funding. It has attracted high level attendance, including the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, who outlined his plan for an International Financial Facility that seeks to double global aid budgets between now and 2015 to finance the development goals agreed at the United Nations in 2000, as well as senior representatives of international organizations and Ministers of Finance and Development of various countries.

For more information, go to:
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/justpeace/documents/rc_pc_justpeace_doc_20040709_martino-poverty_en.html

 
Public Good or Private Gain? Reclaiming science for sustainable development

11 Nov 2004, Regent’s College Conference Centre, London

This conference, held by the Intermediate Technology Development Group (ITDG), seeked to address the question of how to redirect science and technology for the public good, poverty reduction and sustainable development.

For more information go to:
http://www.itdg.org/?id=publicgood_conference

 
The Third Global Forum on Human Development

17 - 19 Jan 2005, Paris, France

Academics, practitioners, activists and senior policy-makers from north and south examined critical issues for human development in the decade leading to 2015, the target date for achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), with a special focus on cultural liberty, democracy and global equity. The Forum drew public and media attention to the start of a crucial year for international development policymaking and financing that includes a G-7 summit focused on Africa, a heads of state summit at the UN in September on the follow up to the Millennium Declaration of 2000, and the resumption of the Doha trade round in December. A special panel identified and clarified the relationships between Global Public Goods (GPGs) and development by exploring the linkages between GPGs and the Millennium Development Goals and discussing the importance for development of regional public goods.

For more information go to:
http://hdr.undp.org/events/forum2005/default.cfm

 
Third Meeting of the Group of Friends of the International Task Force on Global Public Goods

21 Jan 2005, Berlin, Germany

This workshop was convened by the Development Policy Forum/InWent, in collaboration with BMZ and the Secretariat of the International Task Force. It brought together some 60 participants from governments, international agencies and civil society, and several members of the Task Force including its two co-Chairs. They discussed a new Working Paper, entitled "Meeting Global Challenges: International Cooperation in the National Interest”, produced by the Secretariat, which suggests an enabling platform for tackling the root causes of the undersupply of cooperation across national borders based on three mutually reinforcing pillars: better monitoring; a new financing architecture; and institutional reform.

To read the meeting report, go to:
http://www.gpgtaskforce.org/show_file.aspx?file_id=33

 
African Consultation on the Work of the Secretariat of the International Task Force on Global Public Goods

28 Jan 2005, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

The first regional consultation on the work of the Secretariat of the International Task Force was co-hosted by the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the African Development Bank (ADB). The meeting brought together some 50 participants from African governments, regional agencies and civil society based in Africa. Participants emphasized the importance of Global Public Goods for the Africa region, and urged the Secretariat to give more weight to the regional level.

To read the meeting report, go to:
http://www.gpgtaskforce.org/uploads/files/52.doc

 
2005 Health in Foreign Policy Forum

04 Feb 2005, Washington, D.C. United States

While domestic health policy and foreign policy experts have traditionally had little interaction, in the last decade globalization has widened the nexus between these two fields. More and more health policy challenges stretch across borders, and even powerful nations like the U.S. have found that they can no longer ensure the health of their citizens through national policies alone. This growing interdependence has meant that there are new challenges that require both health policy and foreign policy perspectives.

In an effort to facilitate an inter-disciplinary dialogue between the two fields on these important, complex, and highly controversial policy challenges, AcademyHealth launched its first Health in Foreign Policy Forum on February 4, 2005, in Washington, D.C. The meeting followed the annual National Health Policy Conference, co-sponsored by AcademyHealth and Health Affairs.

The forum provided an overview of the issues that have emerged at the intersection of health and foreign policy, and will emphasize the different professional and political perspectives that currently compose public policy debates.
.

For more information go to:
http://www.academyhealth.org/nhpc/foreignpolicy/

 
Fairness: Its Role in Our Lives

14 - 15 Apr 2005, the New School Tishman Auditorium, New York

As illustrated by Kaul et al (2003) in Providing Global Public Goods: Managing Globalization (http://www.globalpublicgoods.org/), while the effects of global public goods are widely dispersed and may concern all people, they are often valued differently across various countries and section of the population. However, very often only a fraction of the public is involved in the decision-making process that places these goods in the public domain, which can be due to a lack of capacity of certain parties to be fully involved in the decision-making process (e.g. for developing countries) [For a discussion on matching circles of the stakeholders and decision makers see the chapter by Inge Kaul and Ronald U. Mendoza 2003. For a discussion on developing country negotiating capacity see the chapters by Pamela Chasek and Lavanya Rajamani, and Cecilia Albin].

This conference brings scientists, policy makers, historians, philosophers, and economists together in a public forum, to explore research on perceptions of fairness and consider historical case studies in the context of that science.

For more information go to:
http://www.newschool.edu/centers/socres/fairness

 
Conference on the World Bank’s Approach to Global Programs

14 Apr 2005, The World Bank, Washington DC

The Operations Evaluation Department (OED) of the World Bank Group hosted a Conference on the World Bank’s Approach to Global Programs on April 14, 2005, to share cross-cutting lessons about the design, implementation, and evaluation of global programs. A panel of international experts summoned a wealth of experience and insight to examine the recent evaluation of the Bank’s support for global programs. The panelists were (i) Sven Sandström, Director of Secretariat of the International Task Force on Global Public Goods; (ii) Uma Lele, OED Senior Advisor and the study’s Team leader; (iii) Chris Gerrard, OED Senior Evaluation Officer, (iv) Louka Katseli, Head of OECD’s Development Centre; (v) Inge Kaul, Director of the Office of Development Studies at UNDP; and (v) Deepak Nayyar, Vice Chancellor of the University of Delhi.

The conference welcomed more than 300 participants, including Spring Meeting Delegates, global program practitioners from developing countries, and Bank managers. Based on this first ever evaluation of global programs undertaken by the World Bank, the Conference provided a forum to discuss the Bank's current and future role in global program partnerships.

For more information, go to:
http://www.worldbank.org/oed/conference/global_programs/

 
International Public Goods for Economic Development

07 - 08 Sep 2005, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University

The conference sponsored by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) brought together a group of policymakers, scholars, and specialists in economic development, who contributed to identify concrete proposals and recommendations for policymaking at the national, regional and international levels, aiming to correct the undersupply of specific International Public Goods – those most relevant for reaching economic development in developing countries- and focusing especially on the role of the multilateral system in the provision of public goods.

For more information, go to:
http://www.wcfia.harvard.edu/conferences/unido/home.asp

 
Second Annual Global Colloquium of University Presidents

14 - 15 Feb 2006, Princeton University, Princeton, N.J.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan created the colloquium to enhance the United Nations' relationships with universities, to seek the expertise of scholars on major problems facing the world and to examine key challenges in educating future generations of global leaders.

The second annual Global Colloquium brought together representatives of some 20 institutions from around the world. The attendees explored common issues facing leading international universities and solutions to global public policy challenges by focusing on two topics: "The Social Benefits of the Research University in the 21st Century" and "Innovative Sources of Funding for Public Goods."

Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz of Columbia University delivered the colloquium’s keynote on “Innovative Ways for Financing Global Public Goods� while Kemal Dervis, administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, chaired a series of talks among faculty experts from the participating universities that addressed the economic and political merits of various public funding proposals.

For more information go to:
http://www.princeton.edu/pr/pwb/06/0227/3a.shtml

 
Global Financing for Global Public Goods and Development

10 Mar 2006, ISAE - Piazza dellIndipendenza 4, Rome

A conference on financing global public goods was held at the Institute for Studies and Economic Analyses (ISAE- Instituto di Stuti e Analisi Economica), and included several presentations on global public finance and funding for the millennium development goals.

For more information go to:
http://cse.unile.it/pub/form/news_text_pub.asp?id=244
http://www.isae.it/Sintesi_per_la_Stampa_10032006.pdf

 
Workshop on Peace, Security and Sustainability: Exploring Ethics in Development

27 - 28 Mar 2006, St Edmund’s College, Cambridge, England

There has been considerable discussion on issues related to conflict and development and conflict and human security issues on the one hand, the potential role of environmental resources in triggering or exacerbating conflicts on the other hand. The proposed workshop aims to bring together discussions on issues straddling these different debates and will have in particular a strand on global public goods, international organisations and balancing economics and ethics of international institutions and policies.
The workshop is a collaborative effort of the Environmental Resources and Sustainable Development (ERSD) study group, the Development Ethics study group both of the Development Studies Association (DSA), the Capability and Sustainability Centre at the St Edmond’s College in Cambridge, and the Centre for Environmental Strategy at the University of Surrey. Paper for presentation at the Workshop could be submitted until 10th January 2006.

For more information go to:
http://www.devstud.org.uk/studygroups/environment.htm

 
The International Task Force on Global Public Goods released its report - Meeting Global Challenges: International Cooperation in the National Interest

18 Sep 2006, Singapore

President Ernesto Zedillo, co-chair of the Task Force and Director, Center for the Study of Globalization, Yale University hosted the event with Task Force members Kemal Dervis, Administrator, UNDP and Trevor Manuel, Minister of Finance, South Africa.

The report assesses the notion of global public goods and clarifies which should be accorded policy and expenditure priority. It emphasises that better and more proactive international action is necessary to address global concerns such as infectious disease, peace and security, climate change, financial stability, international trade and knowledge. Recommendations are made as to necessary action, focusing particularly on catalytic governance, effective institutions and appropriate financing. International cooperation is in the national interest and only through shared vision and collective action can global challenges be effectively addressed. While the goals set out in the report are ambitious, they are achievable.

Making progress requieres action from all sectors including government, private and civic; national, regional and international. Cooperation is needed to nurture an international system that is less divided and more concerted in its action, more capable of joint, global action and less vulnerable to global ills.

The Task Force was established by France and Sweden and has also been supported by a number of other countries, including Austria, Germany, Norway and the United Kingdom.

The final report of the International Task Force on Global Pubilc Goods can be found at:

For more information, go to:
www.gpgtaskforce.org

Related Press Release:

A report on global public goods has been launched in conjunction with the IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings in Singapore on Monday 18 September. The report addresses threats facing humanity, including the spread of communicable diseases, climate change as a result of the greenhouse effect, financial instabiliy, internationa terrorism as well as the proliferation and use of nuclear weapons.

The report states that these transboundary problems demand renewed commitment to international cooperation. The report proposes reforms of central international institutions and points out the importance of all states contributing politically and economically. In addition, a number of concrete proposals are presented on how to deal with pressing challenges.

Sweden and France together appointed the international task force that has produced the report.

Press Release Ministry for Foreign Affairs to Sweden
"Report on Global Challenges Launched"
September 18, 2006