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WTO Ag Chair announces revised text imminent
The chair of the WTO agriculture negotiations has told Members that he would circulate a revised blueprint deal by 16 May, or early the following week. The long-awaited draft setting out formulae and figures for subsidy and tariff cuts would not be “the final text”, Ambassador Crawford Falconer New Zealand) warned delegates at a 9 May…
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WIPO members choose Francis Gurry to be next Director-General
Francis Gurry has been nominated to be the next director-general of the World Intellectual Property Organization. WIPO members on 13 May voted by the narrowest of margins for the Australian national to succeed current Director-General Kamil Idris (Sudan) in October. Idris, who has held the position since 1998, agreed to step down a year early after…
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Rwanda Should Receive Cut-Price HIV / Aids Drugs In September, Five Years After 30 August Decision
In July 2007, Rwanda became the first country to announce its intention to use WTO procedures to import a cheap generic version of a patented HIV/AIDS medicine from Canada. Nearly ten months have passed since then, but not a single tablet of the lifesaving drug has yet been delivered to the African country.The delay appears…
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Vacancy
The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), a Canadian-based not-for-profit organisation with personnel in more than 30 countries, is seeking an experienced Senior Economist (Climate Change, Energy and Trade) to participate in research and projects within IISD, and to provide advice to the Swiss government on the links between climate change, trade, finance and economic…
- In Brief
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EU, South Korea Hold Seventh Round Of FTA Negotiations
The seventh round of free trade talks between South Korea and the EU commenced early this week in Brussels. During this round, from 12-15 May, negotiators will aim to address topics such as rules of origin, non-tariff barriers, services, trade and intellectual property protections. So far Brussels has indicated it will revise its proposal…
- WTO in Brief
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Senior officials discuss services with Lamy
Senior officials from some 30 countries met with WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy on 9 May to discuss the way forward in the Doha Round negotiations on services trade. The invitation-only ‘green room’ meeting focused primarily on the two-track approach being followed in the talks. The first involves the organisation of a ’signalling conference’ at which…
- Events
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Events
Coming up: 15-21 May20 May. New York. ECOSOC SPECIAL MEETING ON GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS. Leo Merores, the president of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), Léo Mérorès, is convening this meeting on the global food crisis in an attempt to identify short-term emergency measures that can be taken at national and international levels to…
- Resources
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Resources
RESPONSIBLE ENTERPRISE, FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT AND INVESTMENT PROMOTION. By Annie Dufey, Maryanne Grieg-Gran, Halina Ward. International Institute for Environment and Development, April 2008. Foreign direct investment (FDI) is widely considered to be a key factor in economic development in middle and low income countries. Positively, it can be associated with the introduction of new technologies,…