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Services: Demandeurs, Requested Members Both Content With Initial Plurilaterals
The recently-concluded ‘cluster’ of services meetings at the WTO, which featured the start of ‘plurilateral’ market access negotiations among groups of countries, was hailed as "extremely positive" by Hamid Abdel-Mamdouh, the director of the WTO’s services division. The cluster, which ran from 27 March - 7 April, saw negotiations on the more than 20 plurilateral…
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Trade Facilitation: More New Proposals, Talks Still Not 'Text-Based'
Developing and developed country WTO Members made several submissions during the informal meeting of the Negotiating Group on Trade Facilitation from 5-6 April, some new but most building on previous ideas. According to a developing country trade delegate, the fact that a number of delegations submitted ‘one-pagers,’ that is, short, concise proposals on substantive issues,…
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WTO Members ‘Open’ To Talks On S&D Monitoring Mechanism
At a 7 April meeting of the WTO Committee on Trade and Development - Special Session (CTD-SS), delegations said they were open to relaunching talks on a monitoring mechanism for special and differential treatment (S&D). This marked the first time in some three years that the committee has substantively engaged with ‘cross-cutting’ rather than agreement-specific…
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G-6 AG Officials Unable To Overcome Divisions On Market Access Flexibilities
Two days of meetings among senior officials from six influential WTO Members yielded no substantial progress in the troubled Doha Round farm trade negotiations, as divisions persisted with regard to flexibilities in tariff treatment for both developed and developing countries. Representatives from the so-called G-6 countries — the US, the EU, Australia, Brazil, India, and Japan…
- In Brief
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In Brief
ADB REPORT WARNS AGAINST TRADE BILATERALISM IN ASIA As multilateral trade negotiations remain deadlocked at the WTO, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has issued a new report warning that the proliferation of bilateral accords among Asia’s emerging economies could hinder growth in the region. The ADB’s latest ‘Annual Development Outlook,’ released on 6 April, drew attention…
- WTO in Brief
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CTE-SS Examines Environmental Merits Of Renewable Energy, Air Pollution Goods
At an informal meeting of the WTO Committee on Trade and Environment Special Session (CTE-SS) on 4-5 April, Members evaluated proposals seeking expedited liberalisation for certain renewable energy and air pollution control products as ‘environmental goods’ under Article 31(iii) of the Doha Declaration. The technical discussion focused on lists of such products that had been…
- Events
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Events
EVENTS For a more comprehensive list of events in trade and sustainable development, please refer to ICTSD’s web calendar. If you would like to submit an event, please email us. Upcoming : 13 -19 April 10-14 April, Paris, France: CODEX COMMITTEE ON GENERAL PRINCIPLES (23rd SESSION). The committee deals with rules, principles, and procedures referred to by the…
- Resources
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Resources
THE IMPACT OF DISASTERS ON INTERNATIONAL TRADE. By Martin Gassebner, Alexander Keck, and Robert Teh. WTO, March 2006. This paper examines the impact of major natural disasters on international trade flows using a gravity model. It finds that the driving forces determining the impact of such events are the democracy level and, to a lesser…