Report of the 1st Extraordinary Virtual Session of the STC on Education, Science and Technology, 30 April 2020

Executive Council Thirty-Eight Ordinary Session Videoconference 03 - 04 February 2021 Addis Ababa, EthiopiaThis reports contains the first extraordinary virtual meeting of the Specialized Technical Committee on Education, Science and Technology (STCEST3) held on 30th April 2020. During this high-level ministerial meeting, the African ministers considered a comprehensive Education, Science, Technology and innovation response for COVID-19, to ensure continuity of education on the continent despite the disruptions caused by the pandemic and to galvanise and accelerate science, technology and innovation actions to quell the pandemic

Paths to Fisheries Subsidies Reform: Creating Sustainable Fisheries Through Trade and Economics

The world depends on the oceans for food and livelihood. More than a billion people worldwide depend on fish as a source of protein, including some of the poorest populations on earth. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the world must produce 70 percent more food to meet coming hunger needs.Fishing activities support coastal communities and hundreds of millions of people who depend on fishing for all or part of their income. Of the world's fishers, more than 95 percent engage in small-scale and artisanal activity and catch nearly the same amount of fish for human consumption as the highly capitalized industrial sector. Small-scale and artisanal fishing produces a greater return than industrial operations by unit of input, investment in catch, and number of people employed.Today, overfishing and other destructive fishing practices have severely decreased the world's fish populations. The FAO estimates that 90 percent of marine fisheries worldwide are now overexploited, fully exploited, significantly depleted, or recovering from overexploitation

The WTO Decision on Implementation of Paragraph 6 of the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health: A Solution to the Access to Essential Medicines Problem?

This is a pre-copy-editing, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Journal of International Economic Law following peer review. The definitive publisher-authenticated version [DOI: 10.1093/jiel17.1.73] is available online at: http://jiel.oxfordjournals.org/content/7/1/73.full.pd

Paving the Way for Consensus: Improving the Effectiveness of Multilateral Negotiation Management at the WTO

Reaching decisions on international trade by consensus amongst 164 governments is an extraordinarily difficult task. Social science research demonstrates that the management of the negotiation process by the host government and WTO Secretariat can play an important role in tipping the balance between deadlock and agreement. This requires close coordination between the representative of the host country and the Director General of the WTO. While effective process management alone will not solve the problems that the WTO faces, it can create more favourable conditions for reaching consensus. Conversely, poor process makes this already- difficult task practically impossible. Effective negotiation management consists of seven key elements: preparing well in advance; teamwork both within the host team and between the hosts and the Secretariat; transparent, consistent and realistic communication; selecting the right individuals for the job; breaking the process down into small-group negotiations and handling this with care; leveraging the legitimacy that non-party stakeholders can bring to the process; and increasing the likelihood of agreement through managing the agenda, draft texts, and the overall atmosphere of the negotiations. Both process and context determine negotiation outcomes. Comparing the 1999 Seattle Ministerial Con- ference with the 2001 Doha Ministerial Conference allows one to hold the context relatively constant, thus demonstrating the independent effect of process management. Variation in process management by the respective organisers of the two summits led to very different outcomes. The 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change was a notable success for multilateralism. Like WTO negotiations, climate negotiations also take place in the challenging environment of consensus decision- making. Process management by the French hosts is considered a model of best practice, and has been widely credited as a factor behind the successful outcome. Lessons can be learned from this case. Future hosts of Ministerial Conferences are specifically recommended to pay attention to the following: It is vital to consult with as many members as possible in advance of the Ministerial. If budget allows, it is preferable to travel to capitals to demonstrate respect. Toavoidconflictfurtherdowntheroad,clearlydefinetherespectiverolesoftheDirector-Gen- eral and the Conference Chair from the outset, with the Conference chair taking the political lead. Thehostgovernmentcannotmanagetheentireprocessaloneandwillneedtoappointfacilitators to chair issue-specific working groups. This critical role requires specific skills and experience. Organising a workshop for facilitators in advance of the Ministerial could increase their effective- ness. The format, attendees and timing of small-group negotiations at the Ministerial can all affect re- sults. Whatever form these meetings take, transparency is a key consideration. Seemingly trivial details such as room facilities, security and catering at the venue all matter to delegates and can cause unnecessary friction when mismanaged

African Water: Supporting African involvement in the EU Framework Programme.

Water researchers in developing countries have yet to take full advantage of the funding and collaborative research opportunities presented by the EU Framework Programme. There are a variety of reasons for this, such as insufficient information and a lack of previous experience. The African Water initiative aims to increase the involvement of African water researchers through a range of activities including communication and dissemination, capacity building and development, and complementary initiatives. The project has demonstrated that there is a demand for such sector-specific support activities. However, African Water is a small component of a much larger process of partnership between the developed and the less-developed countries of the world, involving many different European and African organisations working across political, institutional and technical domains, and complementing the wide range of actions already being undertaken

The South African Regulatory System: Past, Present, and Future

The drive for improved regulatory systems and the establishment of a more effective regulatory framework in South Africa has been evident for the past two decades but despite political intentions and legislative revisions success has been limited to date. Efforts to address the increasing volume of applications that have been received have to date failed and resources have been stretched to capacity resulting in the development of a significant backlog and extended timelines for product registration. The promulgation of the recently amended Medicines and Related Substance Act of 1965 triggered the establishment of the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) as a separate juristic person outside of the National Department of Health to replace the former medicine regulatory authority the Medicines Control Council (MCC). The aim of this review is to provide the historical context supporting the new regulatory environment in South Africa and the transition from the MCC to SAHPRA. Key recommendations to SAHPRA to ensure the full potential of the new regulatory environment in South Africa include: establishing a quality management system to safeguard accountability, consistency and transparency and to streamline the implementation of good review practices including quality decisionmaking practices and benefit-risk assessment; the measurement and monitoring of regulatory performance, targets for overall approval time and key review milestones to instill a culture of accurate metrics collection and measurement of key performance indicators and their continuous improvement and the employment of a risk-based approach to the evaluation of medical products and codify the use of facilitated regulatory pathways in policy and culture. The application of a risk-based approach to regulatory review commensurate with a product’s risk to patients will facilitate the application of increased resources for pharmacovigilance activities and to support the reliance and recognition of reference agencies.Peer reviewe

Making and Breaking Impasses in International Regimes. The WTO, Seattle and Doha

WTO; international agreements; international trade; governance

Strangers in the night:a comparative study on the socio-legal difficulties of importing America’s Bayh-Dole legislation to South African universities

In 2008, the South African parliament passed the Intellectual Property Rights from Publicly Financed Research and Development Act, which came into effect on 2 August 2010. In doing so, South Africa sought to replicate the apparent success of the United States of America’s Bayh-Dole legislation. One of the express objectives of the Bayh-Dole Act is the increase in university-industry collaborations. Whilst U-I has not been expressly stated as a primary aim of the IPR Act, the legislative history has demonstrated that issues relating to U-I have permeated the political landscape from the inception of the IPR Act. It is therefore relevant - although hitherto unexplored - to consider whether South Africa’s IPR Act might have the same supposedly positive effect on U-I experienced by the Bayh-Dole Act. In answering this question, this paper chooses to focus on two factors which may be considered particularly pertinent in light of South Africa’s recent socio-legal landscape, namely (a) the lack of substantive patent examinations, and (b) government investment in higher education. To this end, it will be argued that the IPR Act will only serve to have a negative effect on U-I, if any at all