-
Emerging Economies Push for Global Influence at First-Ever BRIC Summit
BRIC leaders signalled their interest in becoming major players in global economic policy at the group’s first summit meeting on Tuesday. Leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, and China called for a larger role in global financial infrastructure, but steered clear of addressing the future of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. “The emerging and developing…
-
Way Forward on IP Issues at the WTO Still Unclear
Last week’s WTO Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights saw very little, if any, progress towards resolving TRIPS issues in the context of the Doha negotiations. The Council, which met on 8 June, 2009 has yet to see substantial progress in the discussions on the three intellectual property issues that have dominated the talks…
- In Brief
-
G8 Finance Ministers Pledge Support for Doha, Business Reform
Finance ministers from the Group of Eight world economic powers meeting in Italy over the weekend renewed their commitment to resisting protectionism and pushing for a global trade deal, but sparred over whether it is too early to start winding down stimulus spending amid the ongoing economic turmoil. “Of course, the G8 meeting was a stormy…
-
Debate over GM Wheat Reignites
Farmers associations and environmental groups are rekindling the debate about whether to support research for genetically modified (GM) wheat. A group of nine wheat organisations in the US, Canada, and Australia - the world’s largest wheat exporters - issued a statement on 15 May calling for “the synchronized introduction of biotech wheat.” Two weeks later,…
-
ACTA Talks Set to Pick up Next Month
Negotiations toward the creation of an international agreement to combat counterfeiting and piracy will soon get a boost, as officials are set to meet in Morocco next month to work toward their stated goal of inking a deal by 2010, according to a joint statement released on Friday. The negotiating countries say that existing rules on…
- WTO in Brief
-
EU Says US Internet Gambling Laws Breach WTO Rules
WTO action against US internet gambling laws would be justified, according to an EU report that was made public last week. Brussels first made a public claim that Washington’s internet gambling laws were illegal back in March (see Bridges Weekly, 1 April 2009, http://ictsd.net/i/news/bridgesweekly/44507/), but it has now released the full text of the report that…
-
WTO Praises New Zealand’s Economic Policies, with Some Caveats
New Zealand has achieved one of the world’s most open economies due to its “prudent macroeconomic policies,” but the country should work to boost productivity and decrease its reliance on foreign borrowing, according to the WTO’s most recent Trade Policy Review (TPR) conducted on 10 and 12 June. As a result of its continued liberalisation…
- Vacancies
-
Vacancy: Editor, Trade Negotiations Insights
The International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD), an independent non-profit and non-governmental organization contributing to a better understanding of development and environment concerns in the context of international trade, seeks to recruit a pro-active professional to fill position of Trade Negotiations Insights (TNI) Editor. The post requires at least three years experience…
- Events
-
Events
18 June, Geneva, Switzerland. TRADE AND THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT. Jeffrey A. Frankel, Professor at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, will deliver a lecture on “Trade and the Global Environment.” He directs the program in International Finance and Macroeconomics at the National Bureau of Economic Research, where he is also a member of…
- Resources
-
Resources
THE PROMISE AND THE PERILS OF AGRICULTURAL TRADE LIBERALIZATION: LESSONS FROM LATIN AMERICA. Mamerto Pérez, Sergio Schlesinger, and Timothy A. Wise, with the Working Group on Development and Environment in the Americas, June 2008. Based on seven country studies examining both the promise of export agriculture and the perils of trade liberalisation for small-scale farmers…