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WTO TALKS ON FISHERIES INCH TOWARDS MIDDLE GROUND
WTO TALKS ON FISHERIES INCH TOWARDS MIDDLE GROUND WTO Members signalled a slight narrowing of their differences on fisheries subsidies during meetings of the Negotiating Group on Rules from 12-16 June. The debate focused on key questions such as which kinds of grants contribute to overcapacity and overfishing and how to provide special and differential treatment…
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CONSERVATIONISTS HOLD WHALERS AT BAY
CONSERVATIONISTS HOLD WHALERS AT BAY Although pro-whaling countries were able to get a declaration approved calling the international moratorium on whaling "no longer necessary", pro-moratorium countries held the day on all substantive issues at the 58th annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting on 16-20 June. During the meeting, held in St. Kitts and…
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MODEL AGREEMENT ADOPTED FOR ACCESS & BENEFIT-SHARING OF GENETIC RESOURCES
MODEL AGREEMENT ADOPTED FOR ACCESS & BENEFIT-SHARING OF GENETIC RESOURCES After two years of negotiations, a model contract to facilitate access and benefit sharing of genetic resources was agreed to at the first session of the governing body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) on 12-16 June. The…
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TRADE MINISTERS MEET FOR LAST-DITCH SHOT AT WTO DEAL
TRADE MINISTERS MEET FOR LAST-DITCH SHOT AT WTO DEAL Ministers meeting in Geneva from 29 June to 3 July will have to overcome substantial disagreements if they are to finalise an elusive WTO trade deal this year. Negotiations are likely to focus on US farm subsidies, EU agricultural tariffs and developing country industrial tariffs. WTO Director-General…
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CODEX ADOPTS STANDARDS ON TRACEABILITY AND IMPORTED FOOD INSPECTION
CODEX ADOPTS STANDARDS ON TRACEABILITY AND IMPORTED FOOD INSPECTION The Codex Alimentarius Commission — the UN body charged with setting international standards related to food safety — at its meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, on 3-7 July, approved principles for tracing food through production and distribution processes, as well as guidelines for ensuring that imported food is…
- In Brief
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EU Trade Chief Proposes New WTO Round on Energy
EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson on 23 June called for a new round of WTO negotiations that would address the energy sector and seek to treat oil and gas like other traded goods. In an interview, he described how he envisioned how a new set of negotiations, could follow the completion of the Doha Round…
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ACP Countries Ask EU to Protect Preferences for Fish at WTO
A resolution adopted by Ministers and delegates at the African, Caribbean and Pacific Countries (ACP) and EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly on 22 June in Vienna, Austria calls on the European Commission to consider carving out canned tuna products from WTO tariff reduction obligations to protect ACP exports to EU markets. The reference to tuna reflects…
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EU Novel Foods Regulation Examined at WTO
A group of developing countries suggested at a meeting of the WTO Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures on 28-29 June that the EU Novel Foods Regulation was too restrictive on their exports of traditional and biodiversity-related products and urged the trading block to take into account their concerns in its revision of the text.…
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UNICPOLOS Encourages Cooperation, Ecosystem Approach
The seventh meeting of the United Nations Open-Ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea (UNICPOLOS) took place from 12-16 June in New York and, while more controversial issues were avoided, incremental progress was made in reaching consensus on effective ecosystem-based oceans management practices. Disagreement continued along familiar country and regional…
- Events
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Events
For a more comprehensive list of events in trade and sustainable development, please refer to ICTSD’s web calendar. Please bear in mind that dates and times of WTO meetings are often changed, and that the WTO does not always announce the important informal meetings of the different bodies. Coming Up In the Next Two Weeks 3 -…
- Resources
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Resources
If you have a relevant resource (books, papers, bulletins, etc.) you would like to see announced in this section, please forward a copy or review by the BRIDGES staff to smohan@ictsd.ch. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS: DESIGNING REGIMES TO SUPPORT PLANT BREEDING IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES. By Rob Tripp, Derek Eaton and Niels Louwaars. (World Bank, June 2006). According…