Gender and Trade Bimonthly Newsletter (October, December Combined Issue)

We are once again pleased to present before you the combined September- December issue of our gender and trade newsletter. Apologies to our readers for the delay on account of administrative reasons. This issue seeks to present a fresh perspective on the impact of trade liberalisation and related forces of increasing integration in African countries on gender. We carry a detailed interview with Peter Jacobs, an expert on economic issues especially with reference to rural development and agriculture related issues on a diverse set of issues and concerns in Africa. We also present before you select facts concerning the increasing trade integration of countries in the Commonwealth region. A more detailed work which brings together diverse data sources available on gender in each country of the Commonwealth is under fi nalisation and would be released in the coming weeks soon.

Given the context of the Economic Partnership Agreements under negotiation between the EU and 75 different countries spread across the African, Caribbean and the Pacific region, the Commonwealth Secretariat is set to launch a major exercise on integrating gender concerns in to the EPAs. The newsletter highlights more details of this new and important initiative. There are other useful pieces and information including a piece on the impact of FDI on gendered wages in China.