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The Trade Round that Refuses to Die
Ministers failed to reach agreement on liberalising trade in farm and manufactured goods in July, but never say die: negotiators are gearing up for yet another attempt in September. Billed as the last chance to save the Doha Round, the Geneva ‘mini-ministerial’ veered from stalemate to near collapse, and then to a serious chance of breakthrough,…
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After the Collapse: Rethinking the Special Safeguard Mechanism for Developing Country Agriculture
in the current environment of high world prices on important food commodities – the FAO terms the situation a crisis – it is ironic that the latest attempt to keep afloat the good ship Doha Round finally foundered on the shoals of the dreaded Special Safeguard Mechanism. The fundamental idea of the SSM, an improved…
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Reflections in the Time of Cold Storage
The Doha Round negotiations have been put into cold storage, at least for a while. During this hiatus, it may be useful to reflect on the policy choices governments are likely to face if the most likely scenario foreshadowed in agriculture comes to pass. The collapse of the round has been described as ‘tragic’ by…
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ICTSD Analysis - Unpacking Lamy’s July 2008 Farm Trade Package
In July, WTO Members came close to accepting a compromise on the most divisive numbers in the farm negotiations proposed by Director-General Pascal Lamy. With the notable exception of the special safeguard mechanism, the ‘package’ might be resurrected when the talks pick up in September. It should be pointed out from the start that the figures…
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WTO News - July Fallout: Bananas, Tropical Products
Resolution of the long-running banana dispute between the European Union and Latin American exporters is among the key might-have-beens of the failed Geneva mini-ministerial. The broader context for the banana discussions was the 2004 mandate that the Doha Round farm negotiations must effectively address “the long-standing commitment to achieve the fullest liberalisation of trade in tropical…
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WTO News - ‘Substantial Convergence’ But No Consensus on NAMA
Contrary to some expectations, negotiations on industrial market access did not sink the July mini-ministerial, although serious gaps still loomed when the talks broke down. Unfortunately, they may have widened since. The ministerial meeting was rescued in extremis – temporarily, as it turned out – by a compromise package presented by WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy…
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WTO News - Ministers Upbeat About Signals of Services Liberalisation
Surprising, encouraging, positive and constructive were among the adjectives used by participants to describe the half-day ‘signalling conference’ on services held during the Geneva mini-ministerial in July. The event marked the first time that services liberalisation had been discussed at the ministerial level since the launch of the Doha Round in 2001. Together with agriculture and…
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WTO News - TRIPS Update
In the run-up to the July ministerial meeting, an unprecedented coalition of developed and developing countries proposed joint ‘draft modalities’ on three highly controversial intellectual property issues: a requirement to disclose the origin of any genetic resources involved in an invention in patent applications (disclosure); the extension of stronger protection for geographical indications to…
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WTO News - Russia’s Accession: A war Casualty?
Prompted by threats from some WTO Members, Russia announced in late August that it would withdraw certain commitments it had agreed to in the course its 15-year quest for WTO membership. The decision was made amidst deepening tensions over the Caucasian crisis, although Russian officials did not evoke the situation among the reasons for changing their…
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Dispute Settlement - Cotton Dispute Ends in Comprehensive Victory for Brazil
On 2 June, Brazil obtained a final confirmation that the Unites States had not eliminated cotton subsidies found to breach WTO rules. After nearly six years of litigation, the door is now open for Brazil to seek the right to apply trade sanctions on US goods, services and intellectual property rights. The last verdict in the…
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Dispute Settlement - All Sides Appeal Beef Hormones Ruling
Both substantive and procedural aspects of the latest WTO verdict in the long-running dispute over the EU’s import ban on hormone-treated beef have been challenged by the parties involved. At issue is a somewhat confusing panel ruling released in March (Bridges Year 12 No.2 page 8). On the one hand, the panel found that the EU still…
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Dispute Settlement - China Auto Parts
China lost its first ever WTO dispute on 18 July, when a panel on the WTO-compliance of its auto part tariffs found in favour of the complainants – Canada, the EU and the US – on all essential points. The main issue in the dispute was the 25-percent import tariff China imposed in 2005 on…
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The Importance of the WHO Global Strategy Public Health
One of the key negotiators in the talks that ultimately led to the newly adopted Global Strategy on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property recently wrote to tell me that his services were no longer required because the job was done. Can we agree on this statement? Undoutedly not. True, the negotiators of the intergovernmental working…
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Regional News - Colombia: Calls for Compulsory Licence
Local civil society organisations, backed by a coalition of international health advocacy groups, have requested the Colombian government to issue a compulsory licence for AIDS drug Kaletra. Kaletra is a best-selling HIV/AIDS cocktail manufactured by Chicago-based Abbot Laboratories. According to health activists, the treatment currently costs the Colombian public sector approximately US$1683 per…
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Regional News - Thai-US Update
Thai politicians are divided over the effects that a resumption of free trade negotiations with the United States could have on access to essential medicines. President Bush said in August that he intended to rekindle the FTA negotiations on ice since January 2006. While no date has been set for reviving the talks, opposition…
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Regional News - US GSP Update
The House of Representatives has approved an extension, without modifications, of the US Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) until end-2009. The Senate is yet to vote on the GSP, which is set to expire at the end of this year. However, Republican Senator Charles Grassley is seeking at least a promise of reforms to the…
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Regional News- ASEAN Strengthens Trade Ties
Just a month after the collapse of the Geneva ‘mini-ministerial’, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations concluded new free trade agreements with India, Australia and New Zealand. The 10-member ASEAN bloc and India announced on 28 August that they had wrapped up six years of negotiations on trade in goods, a first step toward a comprehensive…
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Regional News - Assessing the Sustainability of Biofuels
New reports have rung alarm bells over the net benefits of biofuels, particularly those produced in the Northern hemisphere from feedstocks that could also serve as food and are grown on agricultural land. Trade-related concerns are also becoming more prominent. A report by World Bank economist Don Mitchell shocked the world in July by its assertion…
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Regional News - Russia and Finland at Loggerheads Over Timber Taxation
Finland is counting on the European Commission to use Russia’s WTO accession negotiations to avoid an impending timber export tax hike of potentially disastrous consequences to its forestry industry, but chances of success appear slim. At issue is an export tax levied by Russia on non-processed logs, due to rise to at least –50 per cubic…
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The Unspeakable Economics of ABS
Economics is abstract but not unfathomable. The truth of that statement can be seen in the attempt to elaborate a multilateral regime for ‘access and benefit sharing’ – ABS for short – at the ninth conference of the parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity held in May. ‘Access’ refers to a piece of the action…
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ICTSD and Partner News - Climate Technology and Trade
ICTSD has recently launched an initiative aimed at filling some of the knowledge gaps that currently hamper progress in enhancing access to climate change mitigation technologies. Technological solutions are imperative to meet the challenges of climate change mitigation and adaptation. A critical factor in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, technology is also fundamental to enhancing existing…
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Resources
New from ICTSD Agriculture www.ictsd.net Jean, Sébastien; Josling, Tim and Laborde, David. June 2008. The Consequences for the European Union of the Revised Draft Modalities for Agriculture Blanford, David; Laborde, David and Martin, Will. June 2008. Implications of the May 2008 Draft Agricultural Modalities for the United States. Gopinath, Munisamy and Laborde, David. June 2008. Implications…
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Meeting Calendar
WTO Meetings Sept. 17-18 Committee on Agriculture – regular session Sept. 17-19 Policy Review Body – Barbados Sept. 18-19 Committee on Regional Trade Agreements Sept. 23 Dispute Settlement Body Sept. 24-25 WTO Public Forum: Trading into the Future Oct. 14-15 General Council ICTSD Events during the WTO Public Forum Sept. 25 Climate Change, Competitiveness and Trade Policy: Opportunities…
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Facts and Figures
• New purchasing parity data shows that 26 percent of the population in developing countries lived below the poverty line of US$1.25 a day in 2005, down from 52 percent of in 1981. However, due to popu-lation growth, the actual number of poor people had decreased by only 500 million. • China was the notable exception:…