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WTO Members To Miss April Deadline For Modalities
The WTO’s beleaguered Doha Round negotiations suffered another blow this week, when trade diplomats had to acknowledge that they would fail to meet a key end-April deadline for a framework deal on cutting agricultural tariffs, farm subsidies, and duties on industrial goods. Participants at an informal heads of delegation meeting on 24 April broadly agreed with…
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AG: Modalities Deadline Will Be Missed; Six Weeks Of Continuous Negotiations Launched
WTO Members will not meet the month-end deadline for agreeing ‘full modalities’ for farm subsidy and tariff cuts, the chair of the Doha Round agriculture negotiations finally acknowledged on 21 April. "We have not achieved full modalities… clear and simple" Ambassador Crawford Falconer of New Zealand said at the end of an ‘agriculture week,’ adding…
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AG Week Makes Incremental Progress On Export Competition, Domestic Support
Although WTO Members did not made enough progress during a recent week of agriculture talks to put an agreement on tariff and subsidy cuts within their grasp by the end of April (see related story, this issue), the negotiations did move forward slowly on technical issues related to export competition and domestic support. Trade delegates…
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NAMA: Chair Calls For Non-Stop Negotiations To Bring Modalities Within Reach
WTO Members have acknowledged that they will fail to meet a key end-April deadline for agreeing on Doha Round modalities for cutting industrial tariffs. At the end of an 18-21 April week of non-agricultural market access (NAMA) discussions, they remained profoundly divided on the central issues in the talks — so much so that many…
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Portman To Leave USTR; Some See Reshuffle As Blow To Doha Round
US Trade Representative Robert Portman will step down to become the next White House budget director, President George W. Bush announced on 18 April. Deputy USTR Susan Schwab has been nominated to replace Portman, whose imminent departure is viewed by some as yet another blow to the precarious Doha Round negotiations. The move comes as part…
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WIPO Patent Harmonisation Talks Adrift After Meeting Collapses
World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) talks on whether countries should harmonise their distinct national patent systems are adrift, after a key negotiating committee was unable to agree on how to proceed with future discussions on the issue. Negotiators were so divided — broadly along North-South lines — that the committee’s next gathering was cancelled altogether. The…
- In Brief
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In Brief
IMF TO SEEK TO REDRESS GLOBAL ECONOMIC IMBALANCES The International Monetary Fund is to dramatically expand its "multilateral surveillance" of how countries’ economic policies including exchange rates affect each others’ fiscal and trade imbalances, and take the new role of mediating among states in an attempt to resolve problems that threaten global financial stability. The…
- WTO in Brief
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Members Want To Know Scope Of WTO’s Aid For Trade Work
At a short meeting of the WTO Aid for Trade Task Force on 18 April, Chair Ambassador Mia Horn Af Rantzien of Sweden suggested that Members are seeking clarity on the scope of the task force’s work, and in particular want to know how the WTO can add to existing initiatives on aid for trade. Drawing…
- 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 : 27 April - 3 May 27-29 April, Accra, Ghana: FORUM ON AFRICAN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. The African Regional Centre for Technology and Ghana’s Ministry of Environment and…
- Resources
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Resources
COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS REFERENCES TO TRADE. By 3D -> Trade -> Human Rights -> Equitable Economy. April 2006. References to trade and trade-related issues in the work of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights are compiled by 3D in this publication. It should provide a useful resource to…