Free Trade Agreements: Trade and environment related capacity building Nina C. Rør, Deputy Director General

2 Norwegian Ministry of the Environment, Tokyo, June 19th 2007 What is capacity building? Why should capacity building be included in FTAs? How should capacity building be conducted?

3 Norwegian Ministry of the Environment, Tokyo, June 19th 2007 What is capacity building? Capacity building versus cooperation Purely environmental versus trade and environment related

4 Norwegian Ministry of the Environment, Tokyo, June 19th 2007 Why should we have capacity building? Economic growth that stems from from liberalisation needs to be sustainable managed Mitigate potential negative environmental impacts Develop common understanding Meet environmental requirements of the trading partner Need for level playing field

5 Norwegian Ministry of the Environment, Tokyo, June 19th 2007 How should capacity building be conducted? Demand driven Scoping exercises: identify areas where work is needed Compare the need with where the donor country has expertise Capacity building could be technical assistance aiming at: –Improving environmental law, policies and institutions Examples of areas of cooperation could be: –Strengthen environmental management systems –Reinforce institutional and legal frameworks –Develop, implement, administer, and enforce environmental laws, regulation, standards and policies –Increasing transparency and access to remedies

6 Norwegian Ministry of the Environment, Tokyo, June 19th 2007 Trade and environment areas: –Implementation of MEAs relevant to trade –Liberalisation of environmental goods and services –Environmental requirements and standards Coordination with existing programs of CB Institutional arrangement: separate body on trade and environment? The role could be: identify and discuss areas for CB, establish a work programme, implement, monitor and evaluate Financing: –Long-term commitment and sizeable investment of resources –Co-financing with multilateral institution and private sector?

7 Norwegian Ministry of the Environment, Tokyo, June 19th 2007 Need for capacity building among trade and environment officials as well??