BRIDGES TRADE BIORES - TRADE AND BIOLOGICAL RESOURCES NEWS DIGEST. By the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) and IUCN - The World Conservation Union. How can trade impact on the environment? Can trade rules be made more supportive of biodiversity protection? Bridges Trade BioRes is a bi-weekly electronic publication providing news reporting on a range of relevant issues at the intersection of biodiversity and international trade. These include biotechnology, forestry, fisheries, endangered species, chemicals, standards, agriculture and intellectual property rights, with a particular focus on how these issues intersect with multilateral trade rules and policies. It covers both WTO and MEA negotiations along with regional and national developments and initiatives related to sustainable development, biodiversity and trade. This publication seeks to help the often separate trade and conservation communities identify areas in the respective policy fields where their work may potentially be affected by each others’ objectives. To subscribe for free to Bridges Trade BioRes, email biores@ictsd.ch. To access past stories online visit http://www.ictsd.org/biores.
SOME REASONS NOT TO NEGOTIATE EXPORT TAXES AND RESTRICTIONS IN THE WTO NAMA NEGOTIATIONS. By the South Centre, May 2006. This analysis briefly examines some of the economic and policy reasons behind the application of export taxes and export restrictions in developing countries. It suggests that further restrictions on the use of these trade policy tools, as is currently being proposed by developed countries in the WTO negotiations on non-agricultural market access (NAMA), may not be in the best interest of developing countries. To access this publication visit http://www.southcentre.org/info/Analysis/ExportTaxesAndRestrictions.pdf
OPTIONS FOR THE WTO MODALITIES FOR AGRICULTURE. By David Blandford and Tim Josling. International Food and Agricultural Trade Policy Council, May 2006. The WTO’s Doha Round negotiations are at a crucial stage. Though there has been some progress towards convergence of different views, many of the key elements of an agricultural agreement are still to be decided. The 30 April deadline for modalities established by ministers in Hong Kong has been missed, and such an agreement may not come for several weeks. Without the agricultural modalities in place it will be impossible to move ahead with the other discussions that are necessary to bring the round to a conclusion. This discussion paper focuses on the key operational issues that remain to be addressed in the agricultural modalities. To access this paper visit http://www.agritrade.org/Publications/DiscussionPapers/WTO%20Modalities.pdf
GLOBAL MONITORING REPORT, 2006: STRENGTHENING MUTUAL ACCOUNTABILITY - AID, TRADE, AND GOVERNANCE. World Bank/International Monetary Fund, May 2006. This third edition of the Global Monitoring Report examines the commitments and actions of donors, international financial institutions, and developing countries to implement the Millennium Declaration, signed by 189 countries in 2000. Many countries are off track to meet the Millennium Development Goals, particularly in Africa and South Asia, but new evidence is emerging that higher-quality aid and a better policy environment are accelerating progress in some countries, and that the benefits of this progress are reaching poor families. This report takes a closer look at the donors’ 2005 commitments to aid and debt relief, and argues that rigorous, sustained monitoring is needed -to ensure that commitments are met, that aid delivers results, and to prevent the cycle of accumulating unsustainable debt from repeating itself. International financial institutions need to focus on development outcomes rather than inputs, and strengthen their capacity to manage for results in developing countries. To access this report visit http://www.imf.org/External/Pubs/FT/GMR/2006/eng/gmr.pdf
NEGOTIATING TRADE: DEVELOPING COUNTRIES IN THE WTO AND NAFTA. Edited by John S. Odell. Cambridge University Press, 2006. Negotiations between governments shape the world political economy and in turn the lives of people everywhere. Developing economies have become far more influential in WTO talks, including at the infamous stalemates in Seattle in 1999 and Cancún in 2003, as well as bilateral and regional negotiations such as those that created the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Yet social science does not understand well enough the process of negotiation, and least of all the roles of developing countries, in these situations. This innovative book sheds fresh light on three aspects of this otherwise opaque process — which strategies developing countries use, coalition formation, and how they learn and influence counterparts’ beliefs. Some chapters show how different institutional settings enable different tactics. New evidence comes from nine recent case studies mostly in negotiation, international political economy, trade, development, global governance, or international law. For more information visit http://www.cambridge.org/uk/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=0521679788.