The UN, development and services

On Monday we visited the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).  ”Established in 1964, UNCTAD promotes the development-friendly integration of developing countries into the world economy.” (UNCTAD website).  One of the areas of growth is in the services sector, driven largely by human creativity (something all people possess in varying degrees) and technology.  We toured the UN Office in Geneva afterwards, and saw the negotiation rooms for disarmament issues, human rights, and more.

our international group at the UN Office at Geneva

Hailey at the UN Office at Geneva's General Assembly room

UNCTAD briefing

On Wednesday, Lee Tuthill and Martin Roy of the WTO Secretariat came to our class to discuss telecommunications and audio/visual sectors.  Questions included how music downloads are classified – as a good or service -, how cloud computing will be classified and into which sectors the various components will fall, and how negotiations might move forward within the Doha round.

We had other great lectures in the morning, afternoon simulations and discussions, and concluded the full two weeks on Friday with a lecture on the future of the WTO by Prof. Cedric Dupont, followed by a cocktail reception and a photo of the whole group on the grounds of the Graduate Institute.  As you can see by the larger group photos, we were joined for two weeks by 35 or so people from all over the world.  It was truly a pleasure to get to know them, and we all benefitted from the many perspectives on trade and development.

WTO summer program participants on Villa Barton's lawn

Happy 4th of July!

Geneva is reputed to have the largest 4^th of July celebration in Europe, but we discovered it has been affected by budget constraints.  In the past, the US Consulate sponsored a celebration with food, entertainers, and fireworks near the old city.  This year, fireworks happened on July 1^st in a joint Canada Day/ July 4^th celebration.  Our group of students from Georgetown and the Graduate Institute found a unique way to celebrate.

In the park next to Musee d’Histoire des Sciences, a group of people gathered to enjoy the evening.  Tango dancers filled the dance floor while others lounged on the grass or in chairs drinking and eating.  Our group celebrated the birthday of a classmate and the United States with cakes and wine and enjoyed the atmosphere.

 

While barbeque and fireworks were absent from our celebration, we made up for it with a lovely environment and wonderful friends from around the world.

Train trip to Montreux – vineyards, mountains, castle and jazz

Saturday morning we bounded onto a train for the hour long trip to the lakeside town of Montreux.  The train ride itself is an attraction, passing through terraced hills and vineyards.  Closer to Montreux, the train travels right along Lake Geneva’s shores, which affords views of the turquoise waters and across to the French Alps and towns of Evian and Yvoire.

on train to Montreux

vineyards along train route to Montreux

Once in Montreux, we took a local train just five minutes to the stunning Chillon Castle, built in the 1100s, home to the House of Savoy and later the Bernese/Swiss, and inspiration to many artists and writers including Delacroix and Lord Byron.  We had a guided tour, where we learned about the structure and history of the castle, then explored the castle on our own.

Chateau de Chillon

ground floor of Chillon Castle - gothic arches support the entire structure. Ground floor used for food storage and prison.

Chillon and Lake Geneva

outside Chillon

We split up after the tour; some walked the gorgeous lakeside path from Chillon to Montreux, a few went into the mountains above Montreux, and others took the train back to take full advantage of the jazz festival.  I was up in the mountains, and below are just a few photos of the views.  As no hiking experience in Switzerland is complete without trekking through a group of cows with bells on their collars, we did just that!

So many hiking options - in the mountains above Montreux

Mountains above Montreux

 

Danielle bonding with happy Swiss cows

We made our way back to Montreux, meandered through the crowds and admired the myriad of food and craft vendors, and finally settled on a grassy hill with others to listen to some of the free outdoor concerts.  The festival attracts incredible musicians, and that night B.B. King and Carlos Santana were playing in the auditorium (where you pay for tickets), but the outdoor concerts and atmosphere were fantastic.

wandering through crowds of vendors and festival-goers at Montreux

enjoying the free music at Montreux

Trade’s Economic, Legal, IP, and Development Dimensions

Tuesday through Friday classes have become one blog post!  Somehow the postings got away from me, as there has been so much going on.  Tuesday we heard from Patrick Low, the head of economic research and statistics at the WTO, and he presented an economic framework with which to analyze the trading system.  On Wednesday we heard Joost Pauwelyn of the Graduate Institute discuss the WTO’s dispute settlement mechanism.  The WTO has power for many reasons, but one important one if that it has a legal way to settle trade disputes among members, and the results have teeth, so to speak.  Thursday Prof. Singh discussed Trade and Intellectual Property, bringing a very CCT focus on technology to the discussion, and on Friday Jean Louis Arcand talked about trade, economic growth and development – how development has been taken into account at the WTO and what has been left out.

We always take a short coffee break during the morning lectures, and given the splendid weather this week, we’ve taken our coffee and pastries outside on the patio.  The breaks are a great time to speak with the presenters, which many of our students did, as well as enjoy the lakeside views!

enjoying a coffee break during the morning lecture

Afternoon sessions included simulations with Jon Worth, one of the leading EU technology and politics bloggers; a discussion with Philippe Borel of the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) in Switzerland about perspectives from developing countries,  and discussions with Jayashree Watal, a counsellor in the Intellectual Property Division of the WTO and formerly on India’s negotiating team for the TRIPS agreement, and Sergio Balibrea of the director general’s office of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).  Friday afternoon, we walked up to WIPO for a visit, which included a great discussion with Cathy Jewell of WIPO’s workings and role with respect to other international organizations that deal with IP issues.

at WIPO briefing

WIPO lobby

Prof. Singh went over the research paper expectations after the WIPO meeting, then we met for our Friday evening wine and cheese picnic on the lake shore and watched the sunset behind the mountains.  We had a full and exciting first week with a trip to Montreux to follow on Saturday!

Friday evening wine and cheese picnic at lakeside

Politics of the WTO and WTO Visit

We started Monday off with a welcome breakfast, during which we met the other 40 or so program participants.  Participants are here from various governments, private sector companies, other degree programs, NGOs — you name it.  In just ten minutes, and with coffee and croissant in hand, I spoke with two people from different branches of the Indian government, a woman from Australia who teaches and researches global health policy and patents, two Ph.D. students from Germany, a man from Korea doing a MA in Public Affairs in Paris, and a woman from Burkina Faso who works in banking.  And that’s only a small sampling — truly an interesting and diverse group of people.

Manfred Elsig's Lecture in Auditorium AJF

Monday morning’s lecture by Manfred Elsig dealt with the politics of the World Trade Organization.  Any organization has internal politics, and understanding the organizational structure and culture of the WTO is essential to learning how and why things work – or sometimes don’t work.  We covered main international relations theories and how they relate to the role and function of international organizations.  We then looked at the creation, operation and effects of the multilateral organization and challenges from a political perspective.

Key points were the following:

• looking at the WTO as a case study in how an international organization works
• why multilateralism (as opposed to bilateralism, unilateralism, or other)
• how decision-making works
• the performance of the organization
• Input and Output legitimacy

In the afternoon, we gathered in our business attire (required for all IO visits) with our passports (also required) and walked next door to the WTO for a lecture on the structure of the WTO and how negotiations actually take place.  We sat in the main assembly room, the second largest one at the WTO for negotiations, and a negotiation had in fact just concluded that morning. We talked about why country representatives sit in certain places or have more delegates than other countries, how chairs of negotiation committees are chosen and maintain the proceedings, how the dispute settlement mechanism works, how the delegates’ personalities affect negotiations, translation, and much more.  This is room is not often open to people outside of negotiations, so the setting gave even more context to the discussion.

Janeace sitting in for a US Delegate to the WTO

Inside the WTO main assembly room

We ended the evening with a lakeside dinner at the school.  They cafe had drinks, great salads and lots of grilled meat and sausages for us, so combined with the great weather, it gave us lots of time to meet more people, talk about the first day, debate the viewpoints we’d thus far encountered (is the Doha Round a failure, is it salvageable, do we conduct an early harvest, etc.) and just enjoy the Geneva sunset – with views of Mt. Blanc and the French Alps in the distance!

Mt. Blanc and French Alps in distance

Geneva Day 1 + 2 – Intro, Orientation, Fondue and Sun!

The sun and blue skies greeted us early on Friday for our first day of class and orientation.  We were welcomed by Ms. Benedicte Gilbert and Dr. Jasmine Champenois of the Graduate Institute, then Prof. Singh began the first day of class – an introduction to trade, technology and development.  Our classroom is in the Villa Barton, a beautiful pink villa on the shores of Lake Geneva (or Lac Leman in French), and as you can see from the photos of our picnic lunch outside the villa, the setting is truly spectacular.

Picnic lunch outside Villa Barton

Our picnic lunch and view of the lake, with Villa Barton behind us - not bad, eh?

Picnic lunch outside Villa Barton

In the afternoon, we walked next door to the World Trade Organization (yes, the WTO is just a few steps from Villa Barton!), saw the main large negotiation room (which is actually outside the WTO building), then strolled up the Avenue de la Paix where many of the international organizations are located.  On our short stroll to the UN Office in Geneva, we passed UNICEF, WMO, the UN Office in Geneva, WIPO, and ITU – the latter two should of course be quite familiar to CCT students.

Geneva students, Heather and Prof. Singh by WTO and lake

CCT Geneva students in front of the UN Office in Geneva

After our walking tour of international Geneva, we then walked a bit more to the Mont Blanc dock, and took a one hour boat tour of Geneva and the surrounding areas.  Meeting interesting people in Geneva is incredibly easy as so many are here for various kinds of travel and business with international organizations.  The boat was no exception, and we met others on the boat who were traveling around the world and visiting friends who work at the WTO and other UN agencies.  The great weather continued, and we had fantastic views of the jet d’eau , the water jet that is characteristic of Geneva, and Mt. Saleve, the mountain that sits closest to the city but is actually in France!

on boat tour - Janeace, Ani, Prof. Singh and Ashley

Farrah, Ashley, Stephanie, and Kathleen on boat

CCT Geneva women and Jet d'Eau - yes, we even are attempting to spell CCT with our arms!

As the heat of the day faded a bit, we gathered for a wine and cheese tasting by the lake.  Geneva is a fantastic wine growing region and produces excellent wines that win international competitions.  In fact, you can bicycle to vineyards just outside the city.  However they don’t export their wines, so it’s a great chance to sample otherwise hard-to-get bottles.  Cheese along with other agricultural goods is heavily subsidized, and while that may have trade implications, which we will study, it means that good cheese is inexpensive.

On Saturday, we met our fantastic guide and toured old town on foot for two hours.  Geneva was essentially a city state for a very long time, and we discussed the Roman settlements here, the Protestant Reformation (Geneva was the center of the movement), and modern Geneva and the founding of international organizations.  People were surprised to learn that Geneva was the home to Jean Jacques Rousseau, whose writing on equal rights helped inspire the French and American revolutions, as well as home to the inventors of meteorology and modern linguistics.

Walking tour of old town Geneva, led by your wonderful tour guide Ariel Haemmerle

We ended the evening with a welcome fondue dinner at Auberge des Saviese in the Paquis area of Geneva.  We feasted on antipasti, salad, fondue, perch (small fish found in Lake Geneva), and, of course, caramel creme and coffee for dessert.

Fondue dinner

Weekly View of Classes, A Medieval Chateau, Marmots and Lord Byron

This morning I finalized one of our program’s excursions to the city of Montreux.  Montreux is an hour from Geneva by train, and to get there, the train winds its way through vineyards along the shores of Lake Geneva, with views of terraced mountains on the Swiss side of Lake Geneva and snow covered mountains across the lake on the French side.  Montreux hosts the world famous jazz festival each year, so food and music (both free and paid) abound.  If you take the cog train up into the mountains above Montreux, you’ll pass through green forests and streams before reaching the top, where they have a cafe, hiking trails, cows, and oddly enough – marmots!

above Montreux

Before the students are free to explore Montreux, though, we’re going to the Chateau de Chillon for a guided visit.  The Chateau is just a few kilometers away from the center of Montreux.  They’re not exactly sure when it was built, but it has been occupied since 1150, at least according to the first written document mentioning the Chateau.  The chateau sits on a rocky outcropping on the lakeshore, which combined with the fortifications surrounding the castle, gave the chateau natural protection and strategic position to control the passage between northern and southern Europe.  During the Romantic Age, Lord Byron invested “Chillon with a mythical dimension, when in 1816, whilst on a pilgrimage to the places described by Rousseau (who just happens to be Swiss), he wrote his famous poem The prisoner of Chillon. This account magnifies the sufferings of François Bonivard (1493-1570), prior of Saint-Victor in Geneva, who was held captive in Chillon because of his opposition to the Savoyards and was subsequently liberated by the Bernese. The historical figure becomes a symbol of liberty and his prison is invested with a sacred dimension.” (from the Chateau’s website).

It’s not all excursions, though, as you can see from the weekly view of the program, which provides an overview of the 2.5 weeks in Geneva.  We have a number of visits to international organizations and fantastic lectures, discussions and simulations planned.  However whilst in Montreux, maybe some of the students will indeed choose to check out the marmots as well as the jazz, and Byron’s Chillon.

Weekly View of Classes

Geneva 2011 – Planning, Packing and … Particle Physics!

In less than two weeks, we’ll be in beautiful Geneva, Switzerland for the fifth(!) year of Georgetown’s Trade, Technology and Development study abroad program.  This year, 19 students are joining us for 2.5 weeks of immersion in some of the most pressing issues in international affairs, trade, technology and global governance.   We’ll visit the WTO, WIPO, UNCTAD and various other UN agencies.  Lectures and discussions will feature the topics of intellectual property; trade and services; the politics of the World Trade Organization; and trade, economic growth and development – among many others.  We’ll have excursions to places like Montreux, a picturesque town on the shores of Lake Geneva, where crystal clear Alpine water meets snow-capped mountains – oh and with a world-famous jazz festival taking place while we’re there.  Where does particle physics come in?  One of our visits is to CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, where Tim Berners-Lee, a CERN scientist, invented the World Wide Web in 1989.  We’ll hear a lecture from an actual particle physicist then visit one of the experiments along the particle collider.  Hence, this last week finds us planning the final components for a great Geneva program, packing for the trip and ….. thinking of particle physics at CERN!

Students will be posting to our blog, as well, so we encourage you to check for daily updates on our adventures in Geneva!

Stumbling across the Tour de France

I missed the group’s hike up Mont Saleve, but I didn’t want to leave Geneva without a trip up the telepherique to see the panoramic views of the city and surrounding French towns. So on Sunday I headed out for the French-Swiss border. The trip was everything I expected and more – a nice hike, amazing scenery and a chance to watch paragliders run off the mountain at full speed.

By it was at the bottom of the mountain that I had another “is this really happening?!” moment. A bunch of people had lined the streets before my journey up Saleve, but I didn’t give it much thought. When I made it back down, the streets were packed, so I decided to hang around to see what would happen. I thought a parade was in the works — until the Tour de France started passing through!

I don’t follow cycling or know much about it, but the crowd’s enthusiasm spoke for itself. I posted a short video to YouTube of the cyclists passing through. Perhaps Lance Armstrong is in the pack? This was the day he admitted that the Tour de France was “over” for him this year.

Fans get ready to cheer on Tour de France cyclists on July 11 at the base of Mont Saleve.

UN and WIPO visits, great lectures continue

On Monday we heard from Richard Baldwin, who spoke about the political economy of trade liberalization and the various kinds of trade agreements.  In the afternoon, an economist from the United Nations Committee on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) spoke to students, and we followed the talk by a visit to the United Nations Office in Geneva.

Mo and Kholoud in the General Assembly meeting room at the UN in Geneva

 

In the main UN building in Geneva

 

Human Rights and Alliance of Civilizations Room

 

UN Office in Geneva, looking toward Mt. Saleve

Tuesday, we had a great lecture by Patrick Low, Chief Economist at the World Trade Orgnization, on climate change and trade.  The afternoon session was an opportunity to hear from a NGO, Mark Halle from the Interntional Institute for Sustainable Development, regarding their approach to the same issue.  

Lauren, Jessica, Julie, and Cara during morning lecture coffee break

 

Wednesday was a lecture on trade and manufactures in  NAMA negotiations with Suja Rishkeh of the WTO.  We had an afternoon discussion for Georgetown students to go over the research paper topics followed by an opera lecture by Prof. Singh to prepare us for the opera excursion on Saturday to the Roman town of Avenches to see Lucia di Lammermoor.

We ended the day with a visit to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and the topics covered especially resonated with issues we deal with in CCT.  We heard the head of the media relations office as well as from the head of the office dealing with technology and innovation promotion.

The great weather continues, and in the afternoons, people are reading by the lake, swimming, jogging, or strolling the old town.  There are also vineyards all around the city which you can reach by public bus (which is free with our public transport pass!), and some have ventured out after class to visit small wine producers.  It’s hard to capture the beauty of this place in photos and words, but hopefully the blog gives you a sense of our experiences!