The Sustainable Development Goals can only be met by 2030 if we work together. SDG 17 is a vision for improved and more equitable trade, as well as coordinated investment initiatives to promote sustainable development across borders. Global partnership is essential in the achievement of the 17 SDGs and their targets.
This module will focus on discussing the targets of SDG 17, introducing experts who have worked to support global partnerships, and highlighting actions that the legal community can take to do so.
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Our introductory panel will host two senior lawyers in practice, who each will provide insights, on how through their practice, they have been able to contribute towards the achievement of the SDGs, and more specifically towards SDG 17 on building partnerships.
Please come prepared with your questions.
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Romana Bruderer-Schwab is the Global Inclusion & Diversity Manager of the world’s largest law firm, Dentons. A US-qualified lawyer and global citizen, Romana's day-to-day consists of implementing the Firm's Inclusion, Diversity & Equity strategy across 20,000+ people and 80+ countries and driving the visibility and advancement of women and people from other underrepresented groups at Dentons and beyond.
Curious, engaged, with a positive mindset and a penchant for learning and tilting the scales of justice in favor of the underrepresented, Romana is on a forever journey to amass new experiences and grow her networks around the world to drive impactful change.
Lizzette Robleto de Howarth is the Chief Programmes Officer at Advocates for International Development (A4ID) since April 2022. Prior to joining A4ID, for six and half years, she was International Programmes Manager at the Law Society of England & Wales, leading on their international rule of law programmes. Before joining the Law Society, she worked for over 16 years in the international development sector focusing on influencing changes in global policy.
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The World Trade Organisation has been instrumental in trade liberalisation and globalisation, but its critics highlight the disproportionate benefits that have flowed to rich, developed countries and the marginalisation of the least developed.
In this session we will focus on two aspects of the trade system and how it impacts on sustainable development. First, we will look at why the WTO has been so unequal in its effects on rich and poor states and how this inequality has impacted on the ability of the WTO to create new international regulations. Second, we will look at the WTO’s dispute settlement mechanism (DSM) – often called the “jewel in the crown” of the trade system. In particular we explore the extent to which the DSM has “levelled the playing field” for less powerful states, while highlighting some of the problems the WTO’s legal system has presented. Overall, this will provide a solid understanding of the nature of the multilateral trade system, the inequalities it has created and the legalisation of trade that the founding of the WTO engendered.
Dr. James Scott is Senior Lecturer in International Political Economy in the Department of Political Economy at King’s College London. He works on global governance, with a primary focus on trade, and mainly with regard to the relationship between trade governance and development. James has an MA in Development Studies and a PhD in International Political Economy from the University of Manchester. He has published widely across the fields of trade, global governance, International Political Economy and development. He co-edited the books Trade, Poverty, Development: Getting beyond the WTO’s Doha Deadlock (2013), and Expert Knowledge in Global Trade (2015), both published by Routledge.
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Tax revenue is the best way to reduce dependence on
foreign aid, with tax being the most sustainable source of finance for economic
and social development.
This session will explore why tax is fundamental
for development and will outline what is being done to implement effective
systems for tax collection and to close the mechanisms which enable tax
avoidance and evasion.
John Christensen is an
economist and former economic adviser to the UK and Jersey governments. He has
played a lead role in campaigning for tighter regulation and control of tax
havens and offshore finance centres.
John is the founder of the Tax Justice Network, an
independent international network dedicated to high-level research, analysis
and advocacy in the field of international tax and the international aspects of
financial regulation.
He is also a founder and member of the Governing Board of the OECD/UNDP Tax Inspectors Without Borders programme, which raises US$billions of tax revenue for developing countries.
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We will be joined by Eniye Ogbebor, Senior Legal Program Officer with the International Senior Lawyers Project (ISLP) and Mr Dapo Oduwole, the Director-General of the Public Private Partnerships (PPP) Office, Ogun State, Nigeria. They will discuss how their organisations have come together in partnership with the support of A4ID's ROLE UK programme, to deliver a programme of capacity building activities utilising pro bono legal expertise which have enhanced the legal context for the effective foreign direct investment (FDI) funds to develop the region contributing to the achievement of both SDGs 16 and 17.
