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Waiting To Start Modalities Push, WTO Members Seek Clarity On Scope Of Discussions
As WTO Members kick off another push to conclude an accord in the troubled Doha Round talks, they face an unavoidable conundrum: how to strike a framework ‘modalities’ deal on agriculture and industrial goods trade (which they now aim to do by March or April), while other issues in the negotiations remain unresolved. Can Japan, for…
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Rough Sailing For Fisheries Subsidy Talks
Divisions among WTO Members marked discussions last week on a set of potential multilateral disciplines on fisheries subsidy spending. The talks marked the first formal meeting of the Doha Round negotiating group on rules to discuss the draft consolidated text on fisheries subsidies tabled by Chair Ambassador Guillermo Valles Games (Uruguay) last November. Particularly contentious were proposed…
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General Council Paves Way For Ukraine To Join WTO
WTO Members rubber stamped Ukraine’s bid to become the 152nd Member of the global trade body on 5 February, approving the former Soviet state’s terms of accession after 14 years of negotiations. Ukraine’s parliament will have until 4 July to ratify the agreement, although this could be extended. Ukraine would formally become a WTO Member 30…
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WTO general council approves committee chairs for 2008
The WTO General Council on 6 February formally approved the list of chair appointments to the thirteen regular WTO committees for 2008. Ambassador Bruce Gosper (Australia) replaces Muhamad Noor Yacob (Malaysia) at the head of the General Council, the organisation’s top permanent decision-making body. His foremost task in that role will be to work with Director-General…
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In Brief
EU-KOREA FREE TRADE NEGOTIATIONS ‘70 PERCENT COMPLETE’ The EU and South Korea announced that they made great strides during free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations last week, agreeing to provisions on anti-dumping, dispute settlement, intellectual property and subsidies. The week-long discussions, marking the sixth round of meetings between the two, ended on 1 February. The bilateral…
- WTO in Brief
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WTO In Brief - Energy, services holding back Algeria's WTO accession talks
Algeria must pick up the pace of economic reforms to hasten its accession to the WTO, said EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson this week. Speaking at a press conference in Algiers, Mandelson praised the country’s economic growth, suggesting it had been bolstered by reforms undertaken by the Algerian government. Nevertheless, he called on Algeria to "go…
- 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: 7-13 February 7-8 February, Geneva, Switzerland: COMMISSION ON TRADE IN GOODS AND SERVICES - 12th SESSION ORGANIZED BY THE UN CONFERENCE ON TRADE AND…
- Resources
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Resources
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES AND ENFORCEMENT OF TRADE AGREEMENTS: WHY DISPUTE SETTLEMENT IS NOT ENOUGH. By Chad Brown and Bernard Hoekman. The World Bank, 2007. This paper describes how poor countries are rarely challenged in formal World Trade Organization trade disputes for failing to live up to commitments, thus reducing the benefits of their participation in international…