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WTO: DOHA ROUND GOING INTO HIBERNATION?
WTO: DOHA ROUND GOING INTO HIBERNATION? Key diplomats at the WTO have proposed new compromise texts as a last-ditch effort to salvage the flagging Doha Round. These texts, written in the personal capacity of the chairs of the negotiating groups on agriculture and industrial tariffs, were put forth after Members failed to bridge the gaps in…
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CODEX ADOPTS NEW FOOD SAFETY STANDARDS
CODEX ADOPTS NEW FOOD SAFETY STANDARDS The annual meeting of the Codex Alimentarius Commission — the UN body charged with setting international standards related to food safety — took place for the thirtieth time from 2-7 July in Rome, Italy. Delegates adopted 44 new and amended food standards, agreeing, among other things, to undertake new work…
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WIPO COMMITTEE ON GENETIC RESOURCES, TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE KEEPS TALKING
WIPO COMMITTEE ON GENETIC RESOURCES, TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE KEEPS TALKING After over six years of discussions, members of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) remain divided on whether to create a new binding international treaty to protect genetic resources, traditional knowledge, and folklore against misappropriation, agreeing only to keep talking. The eleventh session of the WIPO…
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NO AGREEMENT ON FISHERIES SUBSIDIES BEFORE SUMMER BREAK
NO AGREEMENT ON FISHERIES SUBSIDIES BEFORE SUMMER BREAK Convergence on fisheries subsidy disciplines continued to elude delegates to the WTO Negotiating Group on Rules at the committee’s last gathering before the global trade body’s annual August break. Discussions at the 10 July meeting focused on two new proposals on special and differential treatment (S&DT) for developing countries,…
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CTE: No Movement Until Progress on AG, Industrial Market Access
The special (negotiating) session of the Committee on Trade and Environment (CTE) met for a two-hour session on 18 July. Participants described the meeting as low-key, with delegates more focused on any potential outcome related to new compromise draft texts on agriculture and industrial market access (see related story, this issue). The meeting was the first…
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China Calls on Companies to Practise Sustainable Forestry
The Chinese government on 10 July unveiled a draft of a forestry handbook that calls on its logging companies to practise sustainable forestry at home and overseas. The new manual “positively guides and standardises Chinese companies’ sustainable forestry activities overseas, promotes the sustainable development of forestry in those countries, [and] protects the international image of our…
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Biodiversity Meeting Announces New Programme, Partnership
Delegates to a major international biodiversity conference last week announced the launch of a programme to monitor the status of the world’s plant and animal species and agreed to cooperate more closely with an international association of agricultural producers. The 12th meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical, and Technological Advice (SBSTTA-12), a working group…
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WTO Review: Illegal Logging Continues to Plague Indonesia
A ban on log exports has done little to stem forest over-exploitation and illegal logging in Indonesia, according to the trade policy review conducted at the WTO in late June this year. Trade policy reviews (TPR) take place on a regular basis for all WTO Members. The government in question, as well as the WTO secretariat,…
- 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, http://www.trade-environment.org/page/calendar.htm. Coming up in the next two weeks 26-29 July, Ravello, Italy: 11TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON AGRICULTURAL BIOTECHNOLOGIES: NEW FRONTIERS AND PRODUCTS - ECONOMICS, POLICIES AND SCIENCE. The International Consortium on Agricultural…
- 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 for review by the Bridges staff to Malena Sell at msell@ictsd.ch. MARKET MECHANISMS FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: HOW DO THEY FIT IN THE VARIOUS POST-2012 SCENARIOS? By Aaron Cosbey, Deborah Murphy, and John Drexhage.…