• Rifts Deepen On AG Market Access Flexibilities For Developing Countries
    WTO farm trade negotiators met in Geneva from 26-28 April to discuss key market access flexibilities for developing countries, as delegations kicked off six weeks of continuous negotiations aiming to result in an agreement on modalities for Doha Round tariff and subsidy cuts. However, positions remained far apart, as the rift persisted between the most…
  • Lamy To TNC: Members Must Step Up Intensity Of Negotiations
    Referring to WTO Members’ failure to meet a key end-April deadline as a "disappointment… but not a disaster," Director-General Pascal Lamy exhorted trade negotiators on 1 May to step up efforts to agree on modalities for subsidy and tariff cuts as soon as possible in order to conclude the Doha Round trade negotiations by the…
  • NAMA: Chair Sets Out Work Plan Aiming At Modalities By Mid-June
    With WTO Members far from consensus on the central issues in the ongoing talks on non-agricultural market access (NAMA), the chair of the negotiating group last week laid out a timetable for "intensive and continuous" work through 16 June aiming to culminate in full modalities - an agreement with specific figures for tariff cuts and…
  • Small Economies Seek New Rules, Better Response From Other Members
    The proponents of the Doha Round work programme on small and vulnerable economies (SVEs) want the committee overseeing their concerns to encourage other WTO bodies to respond to their needs. At a 26 April meeting of the WTO Committee on Trade and Development Dedicated Session (CTD-DS), they also indicated that they were in the process…
  • WIPO Committee On Traditional Knowledge, Genetic Resources Suspends Discussions Until December
    World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) members were unable to agree on how best to protect genetic resources, traditional knowledge (TK), and folklore, as a five-day meeting of the committee dedicated to addressing these issues ended on an inconclusive note on 28 April. The ninth session of WIPO’s Intergovernmental Committee (IGC) on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources,…
  • EU Food Aid Paper Proposes Strict Disciplines To Prevent Commercial Displacement
    On 24 April, the EU tabled an informal paper setting out far stricter disciplines for in-kind food aid than those proposed earlier by the US (see BRIDGES Weekly, 26 April 2006). WTO Members are currently developing rules to protect flows of bona fide food aid during emergencies — the…
  • In Brief
  • In Brief
    BOLIVIA JOINS CUBA, VENEZUELA IN ‘ALTERNATIVE’ TRADE PACT BEFORE MOVING TO NATIONALISE NATURAL GAS SECTOR Bolivian President Evo Morales on 29 April joined Cuba and Venezuela in a trade agreement whose stated purpose is to combat US leadership in the region by promoting a socialist version of integration. Morales’ support for the so-called "Boliviarian Alternatives for the…
  • WTO in Brief
  • New Tropical Products Proposal Angers EU, ACP
    Eight Latin American WTO Members have put forward a new proposal seeking the elimination of all duties and quotas on tropical agricultural products. The proposal quickly drew fire from the EU, as well as from several countries that currently benefit from preferential access to the EU market. According to the July 2004 Framework Agreement (WT/L/579), the…
  • Events
  • 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 : 4-10 May 1-12 May, New York, USA: FOURTEENTH SESSION OF THE UN COMMISSION ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. The fourteenth session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development…
  • Resources
  • Resources
    ASSESSING WORLD BANK SUPPORT FOR TRADE 1987-2004: AN IEG EVALUATION. By the World Bank Independent Evaluation Group (IEG), 2006. A new assessment by the Banks Independent Evaluation Group finds that the USD 38 billion in Bank financing for trade programmes since 1987 helped poor countries open markets, but was not as effective as anticipated in…