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NAMA Divisions Come To The Fore As New Modalities Push Begins In Earnest
WTO Members appear set to make their most concerted attempt yet to reach an agreement in the troubled Doha Round negotiations. Although differences on farm trade have hogged the limelight since the talks began in 2001, negotiators say that it has now become apparent that divisions on industrial tariffs are no less serious. In fact, while…
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G-20, G-33 Ministers Underline Priorities Before "Decisive Phase" In Doha Talks
Ministers and top officials from a wide range of developing countries came to Geneva on 11 June to express solidarity and call for action on their countries’ concerns, as the troubled Doha round talks enter what they described as a "decisive phase." They reiterated calls for rich countries, especially the US, to offer deeper farm…
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US Trade Policy Stuck In Neutral As TPA Mandate Winds Down
One month after the Bush administration and leading Democrats struck a much-touted compromise on trade, the immediate future of US trade policy remains murky. Persistent scepticism in sections of Congress about the benefits of economic globalisation means that support for some bilateral trade deals is far from clear. So…
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TRIPS: Members Still Divided On Biodiversity, GIs, And Enforcement
WTO Members continue to broadly disagree on how best to achieve the objectives of biodiversity conservation and intellectual property protection. The issue, along with the enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPRs), featured prominently in discussions during a 5 June meeting of the TRIPS Council. Separate informal consultations on another contentious intellectual property issue — the…
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Trade Facilitation Talks Aim To Move Towards Draft Agreement Text
The chair of the WTO talks on trade facilitation (TF) told Members during a 7-8 June meeting that there is no time to waste if they want to be able to start negotiating the text of a future agreement on cutting red tape and other obstacles to the trade and transit of goods by July. Urgency…
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SVEs and ACP Group Weigh In On Fish Subsidies Debate
Different blocs of WTO Members have moved to protect their interests in the Doha Round fisheries subsidies negotiations, circulating separate communications around an early-June deadline for submitting proposals for discussion at a meeting of the Negotiating Group on Rules later this week. The group of African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP)…
- In Brief
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In Brief
WIPO DEVELOPMENT AGENDA COMMITTEE GETS TO GRIPS WITH TRICKY ISSUES A World Intellectual Property Organization committee charged with examining over 100 proposals to entrench development concerns throughout the global body’s functions kicked off a week-long meeting on 11 June. The fourth session of the Provisional Committee on Proposals Related to a WIPO Development Agenda (PCDA)…
- WTO in Brief
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WTO In Brief
CANADA REQUESTS PANEL IN US FARM SUBSIDY DISPUTE Canada on 8 June requested the creation of a WTO dispute panel to examine its claim that the US government has in recent years paid out farm subsidies in excess of its legal spending limits. Ottawa initiated the case in January, requesting consultations with the US on the issue…
- 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 at: http://www.ictsd.org/cal/index.htm. If you would like to submit an event, please email events@ictsd.ch. Coming Up: 14-20 June 3-15 June, The Hague, Netherlands. FOURTEENTH MEETING OF THE CONFERENCE OF THE PARTIES TO CITES. Parties to the Convention on International Trade…
- Resources
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Resources
2007 WORLD ECONOMIC SITUATION AND PROSPECTS (MID-YEAR UPDATE). By the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, June 2007. This mid-year update emphasizes that the world economy is still strongly tied to US fortunes and, for current world economic growth rates to continue, it is crucial to keep the US dollar from falling rapidly while…