UGA Dean Rusk Center to host conference on international trade

Abstract

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

WRITER/CONTACT: André B. Barbic, 706/254-2540, abarbic@uga.edu

UGA Dean Rusk Center to host conference on international trade

ATHENS, Ga. - The University of Georgia Dean Rusk Center -- International, Comparative and Graduate Legal Studies will host the International Trade Under the Rule of Law Conference March 23 and 24 in Athens.

Designated an American Society of International Law Centennial Regional Meeting, this conference will focus on the dispute settlement system of the World Trade Organization (WTO) with a view toward exploring the need for a superstructure of international law governing trade and economic cooperation between countries.

From the time the dispute settlement system was established pursuant to the WTO Uruguay Round negotiations, questions have continued to challenge practitioners and scholars alike, according to Dean Rusk Center Director and conference organizer C. Donald Johnson. "Matters of concern are the reform of enforcement measures and the system as a whole, the role of Appellate Body decisions in global governance and the issue of who benefits most from the system," he said.

“Last year marked the 10th anniversary of the WTO and the establishment of the dispute settlement system. In order to ensure the WTO continues to meet the needs of member states, it is important to look back and to take stock of how the system and its members have fared over the past decade and to address questions related to reform and modification,” Johnson said.

Assembling for the conference will be a distinguished group of international panelists, comprised of diplomats, academics, legal practitioners and government officials, who will address and explore these and other questions relating to international trade under the rule of law.

For more information regarding conference speakers and schedules, please visit: www.uga.edu/ruskcenter/intltrade.html.

The Dean Rusk Center was established in 1977 and merged with International and Graduate Legal Studies in 1999 to bring research, teaching and service at the University of Georgia School of Law into the evolving international dimensions of law. A former secretary of state, the late Dean Rusk was the inspiration behind the center’s creation. It was Rusk’s profound belief that through education, international cooperation could be a conduit of maintaining peace, building democratic institutions and raising standards of living throughout the world.

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