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Mandelson Steps Down as EU Trade Rep
Two months after the collapse of world trade talks at the WTO, EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson, a key player in those negotiations, announced he would step down from his post as Europe’s chief trade official to join the cabinet of embattled British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Some trade delegates indicated that Mandelson’s departure spelled doom…
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World Bank Chief Calls for a 'New Multilateralism'
World Bank President Robert Zoellick called for the break-up of the G-7 and the creation of “a new multilateral framework” on Monday, saying that the global financial crisis has shown that world leaders need to adopt a more flexible and inclusive approach to managing the global economy. “The G-7 is not working,” Zoellick said, referring to…
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WTO Members Revive Ag Talks through Chair's 'Walk in the Woods'
The chair of the WTO’s committee on agriculture, Crawford Falconer of New Zealand, outlined a strategy to work on outstanding issues in the agriculture negotiations at an informal meeting on 1 October open to all of the organisation’s Members. The meeting was the committee’s first since world trade talks collapsed in Geneva at the end…
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Secretive ACTA Negotiations under Scrutiny
Have you ever downloaded music off the internet for free? If so, do you feel like a criminal? Digital rights activists are concerned that an intellectual property rights enforcement treaty being negotiated in secretive talks by a handful of mostly industrialised countries could criminalise file sharing over the internet even if it was not done for…
- In Brief
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US Congress May Put Trade Deals on Hold for 2008
Despite efforts by the Colombian and Panamanian governments to gain US approval of their respective Trade Promotion Agreements (TPAs), it appears that any discussion on the trade deals will be further delayed as US lawmakers turn their attention to the upcoming presidential and congressional elections, now less than four weeks away. Three trade agreements -…
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US House, Senate Vote to Extend Andean Preferences
The US Senate approved on 2 October an extension of existing trade preferences to Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, making only small changes to the bill that was passed by the House of Representatives four days earlier. Under the Senate’s version of the update to the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act (ATPDEA), Colombia and…
- WTO in Brief
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WTO Panel Rules against US on EU 'Zeroing' Complaint
A WTO dispute settlement panel has found largely in favour of the EU in a dispute over how the US calculates anti-dumping duties that affect a wide range of European goods. The WTO panel ruled against the US’ use of ‘zeroing’ in administrative reviews, upholding earlier rulings of the WTO’s Appellate Body. The dispute settlement panel…
- Events
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Events
Coming up: 9 - 15 October 13-14 October, Portland, Oregon, US. NGWA INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON NON-RENEWABLE GROUNDWATER RESOURCES. This Conference is convened by the National Ground Water Association (NGWA), in association with the Institute for Water and Watersheds at Oregon State University, the UNs Education and Cultural Organisation’s International Hydrological Programme (UNESCO-IHP) and…
- Resources
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Resources
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA 2008. UNCTAD, September 2008. This report, published by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), indicates that, despite of removal of trade barriers and two decades of trade liberalisation, Africa’s market share has fallen from 6 percent of world exports in 1980 to about 3 percent in 2007. The report…