CUTS-CITEE
will implement the project in alliance with research institutions,
civil society organizations, and other stakeholders. CUTS has
been taking part in such initiatives, including exchange of
information and knowledge. As this project is about collating
civil society perceptions on issues of trade negotiations, CUTS
will gather inputs from other initiatives and will use them
as complementary information. In this manner, this project will
complement other initiatives and vice-versa. In the course of
implementing this project, CUTS will prepare a reader-friendly
database of WTO-related civil society initiatives in South Asia,
which will help in having better synergy in future.
The
process of civil-society involvement in trade negotiations can
be measured by their participation in consultations for developing
negotiating positions, involvement in national advisory committee
on international trade, participation in official delegation
to WTO ministerial, etc. The immediate effect will be the manifestation
of livelihood concerns while developing negotiating positions,
thus influencing the process of making the Doha Round of trade
negotiations a truly development round. The long-term effect
will be rectifying democratic deficits in economic governance
in these countries, so that the process of policy-making becomes
more people-oriented as opposed to current top-down approach.
In
India, CUTS has been working on many of the above-stated concerns.
CUTS is a member of the advisory committee on international
trade constituted by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry,
Government of India and chaired by the minister for commerce
& industry. Some other partners of this project are members
of such committees in their respective countries. CUTS and other
partners of this project will share their mutual experience
of being a part of the process and will see how best once can
learn from each other’s experiences.
