Warmest welcome to Verité Research, ARTNeT's 73rd institutional member!

Verite’s economics, politics, and legal practices combined with its extensive media and development experience gives it a unique and holistic understanding of Sri Lanka’s economy, polity, and society. We are confident that Verité Research will be an excellent addition to the ARTNeT community. Having another member institution from Sri Lanka can help create further opportunities for productive networking with other ARTNeT institutional members. Verité Research had demonstrated wide engagement with stakeholders on trade, participated in working groups on trade-related issues and is very active in bringing trade-related research and commentary through media.

For more information about VR please visit here. 

This paper replicates the study of Topalova (2010), performs a robustness check, and extends the findings by applying the estimation technique to the economy of Thailand. Topalova (2010) found that trade liberalization in India has heterogenous effects on poverty and household consumption. More specifically, districts in which production sectors are more exposed to trade openness, experienced less poverty reduction and slower consumption growth. The effects of trade reform on poverty have been extended to a squared poverty gap, and the results are robust to other poverty measures.

For the full paper by Wannaphong Durongkaveroj and Taehyun Ryu please visit here. 

Access to finance is always a top concern for enterprises because just as a car cannot run without oil, a business cannot develop and grow without financing. Sufficient funds allow companies to upgrade their machineries, adopt new technologies and hire top talents, which in turn increase productivity and profitability. In agriculture in particular, the need for financing is even more dire because of the inherent seasonality of its cash flows, and compounded if farmers have small landholdings and financial systems are primitive.  Availability of finance and a robust financial system are important for the food value chain and, in general, for all businesses.

For the full text of this policy brief written by Gloria O. Pasadilla and Crystal Liu from our partner APEC PSU, please visit here.

This workshop co-organised with our member ITD aims at building the capacity of government officials on implementing trade facilitation and paperless trade initiatives and enabling them to more effectively support or participate in the work of National Committees on Trade Facilitation or related inter-agency bodies. The workshop will present an update on the state of implementation of key trade facilitation and paperless trade measures in the region. Many key measures and instruments on trade facilitation will be introduced, including the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement and the new Framework Agreement on the Facilitation of Cross-Border Paperless Trade in Asia and the Pacific. On practical implementation, participants will also learn how to conduct a Business Process Analysis (BPA) project to simplify trade procedures and learn about emerging topics on trade facilitation in the context of logistics management, gender specific dimensions of trade facilitation and e-commerce technical issues.

For more information please visit here. 

Our member SANEM opened its competitive call for papers and participation for the 4th SANEM Annual Economists’ Conference (SAEC) 2019 on “Governing New Challenges: Inclusive Development, Trade, and Finance”. SANEM aims to promote quality economic research among academicians, researchers, policy advocates, students and young aspiring economists. It is expected that the paper will have some relevance to South Asia and/or Bangladesh. The paper should be submitted following the format provided below. Any reproduction/extension of the previous study is eligible for submission. However, in the case of pre-published papers, consent of the publishers should be provided.

For the full call please visit here. 

Non-tariff measures (NTMs) are policy measures other than tariffs that can potentially have an economic effect on international trade in goods. The workshop on 3-6 July gathered more than 50 participants from 25 countries to study theories and the assessment tools of NTMs. 

For more information and the workshop material please visit here. 

ARTNeT was glad to have joined the annual event organized by our member International Institute for Trade and Development (ITD) in commemoration of ITD’s 18th Anniversary. With a theme “Transformation towards Innovative Trade and Development Agenda for Regional Integration”, this year’s forum brought together experts, researchers, government officials, and private sector representatives from Asia-Pacific and promoted insightful discussions on the latest trends in international trade and on the linkages between sustainable and inclusive development with trade and investment policies. Participants of the forum had also the opportunity to hear from Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi, the formal WTO Director-General and UNCTAD Secretary-General, about the global economic disorder and its impact on trade. Following Dr. Panitchpakdi’s insights were more rounds of discussions on institutional transformations necessary to promote further regional integration in the region and on the role of technology, and of corresponding policy-making, in building resilient societies.

For more information and the forum documents please visit here. 

ARTNeT secretariat was honoured to have joined Saman Kelegama Memorial Conference on 29-30 June in Colombo, Sri Lanka organized by our member IPS. High-level dignitaries including Ranil Wickremesinghe, Prime Minister, Malik Samarawickrema, Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade and Harsha De Silva, State Minister of National Policies and Economic Affairs honoured late Saman Kelegama in their speeches at the opening of the conference while also mentioning his contributions to addressing the domestic and international challenges and opportunities in post-conflict development in Sri Lanka. Speakers at the conference included also representatives of several other institutional members of ARTNeT as well as its advisers.

For details on the conference programme and the conference video please visit here. 

The Regional Consultation Meeting on South-South Cooperation for Asia and the Pacific, jointly organized by the ESCAP, the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) and the Government of Thailand on 27-29 June. ARTNeT has showcased its work on how to foster South-South cooperation on intellectual exchange and inspire international solidarity to achieve the SDGs. 

For more information on the regional consultation please visit here. 

ARTNeT on STI Policy is the knowledge platform on science, technology & innovation policy for sustainable development. It is a platform to share findings of academic research & their policy implications, reflect on current STI policy issues, and support research in developing countries to inform STI policies for researchers & policymakers in Asia-Pacific.

Keep in touch with the latest news, sign up the ARTNeT on STI newsletter here!

To assist in this education strategy, our member APEC Study Centre (AASC) in Melbourne is developing a series of fun and engaging animations using simple examples to explore global trade impacts on everyday lives via a range of topics. This animation series aims to educate and inspire people to think more about global trade issues and how to be more informed global citizens.

The first two animations from the series, focusing on globalisation and supply chain, can be viewed on AASC’s youtube channel.

Our member, the APEC Study Centre (AASC) is delighted to announce the appointment of its new Director, Professor Andrew MacIntyre, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Global Development and Vice-President at RMIT University. Professor MacIntyre replaces Mr Ken Waller who has retired from the position. He is responsible for global development strategies, with specific responsibilities for overseeing RMIT Vietnam and RMIT Europe​.

For more information please visit here. 

The Founding Partners of the Green Growth Knowledge Platform (OECD, World Bank, UN Environment and the Global Green Growth Institute) are pleased to announce the Call for Papers for the Sixth GGKP Annual Conference (#GGKP6) to be hosted at the OECD headquarters in November 2018. It will be held in conjunction with the 2018 Green Growth and Sustainable Development (GGSD) Forum on the theme of “Inclusive Solutions for the Green Transition: Competitiveness, jobs and social dimensions”.

For the details of the call please visit here. 

The Open to Export International Business Awards is a great opportunity for SMEs around the world to take their next steps in international trade and to potentially win $5000 towards their plans. We offer a wealth of free information and practical advice to help you to complete your plan, guiding you along our 5 step journey to export success with articles, webinars, and frequently asked questions.

For more information about this call please visit here. 

The objective of this Vi online course is to provide participants with the empirical tools needed to assess the impact of NTMs on trade and welfare. A hands-on technical course, the emphasis will be on the manipulation of data and the use of econometric tools. The course targets researchers from universities, research centres, and governmental and non-governmental institutions in developing and transition countries involved in the research and teaching of international trade and trade policy, interested in enhancing their quantitative skills and conducting policy-relevant research on NTMs as they relate to their countries. Qualified women candidates are particularly encouraged to apply. The number of participants is limited in order to ensure appropriate support throughout the course.

For more information please visit here. 

The report by ESCAP and our partner ADB presents a new comprehensive framework to better examine the development of B2C e-commerce in the region. It provides a systemic way of understanding different facets and factors that define and affect the industry’s evolution. Moreover, the report examines the impact on e-commerce of so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies—such as blockchains, the internet of things, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and 5G wireless technology.

For the full publication please visit here. 

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The ARTNeT Secretariat welcomes submissions of policy briefs, working papers, book reports, research reports, and book reviews by ARTNeT members, partners and collaborators. For any submission to be considered, the editorial 'Guidelines for Submissions to the ARTNeT Working Papers Series' must be adhered to.

If you are an ARTNeT member, partner or collaborator and would like to publicise your publications, research or events in the next newsletter, please e-mail us at artnetontrade@un.org.