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Bangkok Climate Talks See Little Progress as December Deadline Nears
The most recent round of multilateral negotiations on climate change concluded last week in Bangkok, Thailand. A stone’s throw away, tropical storm Ketsana hit the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos; a tsunami rocked the foundations of Samoa; a 7.6 magnitude earthquake shook Indonesia; and a second typhoon collided into Parma, in the Philippines. Tens of thousands…
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Ag Chair Consults on Market Access; Banana Deal Reportedly Closer
Agriculture negotiators in Geneva met in small group consultations convened by the chair of the farm trade talks, Ambassador David Walker of New Zealand, amid reports of gradual convergence on the controversial issue of bananas. Walker’s small-group consultations are focusing this week on a set of market access issues, several of which were inter-related. These include…
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Services Talks Gear Up for November Sessions
While some negotiators in last week’s services talks at the WTO showed a degree of enthusiasm for re-energising the process, in particular the negotiations on market access, others were more sceptical. Ultimately, however, the week-long talks resulted in little forward movement, sources said, as members largely repeated their long-standing positions. But the latest cluster of services…
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Chirac, African Leaders Call for Action on Fake Drugs
Former French President Jacques Chirac and six African heads of state signed a declaration, titled “Call of Cotonou,” on 12 October calling for an international convention to crack down on trade in fake medicines. The convention would impose harsher penalties for counterfeiting and strengthen manufacturing and distribution controls. “Informal co-operation is not enough,” said…
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CTE: Chair Calls for Members to Submit Specific ‘Environmental Goods’
Trade officials made slow progress toward liberalising trade in ‘environmental goods’ at the most recent meeting of the WTO’s Committee on Trade and Environment (CTE). At the informal special (negotiating) sessions of the CTE, which took place on 24 and 25 September, the Committee chair, Ambassador Manuel Teehankee of the Philippines, invited WTO members to table…
- In Brief
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Large Informal Sectors Limit Trade Benefits in Some Developing Nations: ILO, WTO
Developing countries with relatively high levels of ‘informal employment’ - below-the-radar jobs that are not subject to government laws or regulations - tend to experience fewer benefits from trade liberalisation, according to a new report from the World Trade Organization and the International Labour Organization (ILO). Informal employment creates poverty traps for workers in between…
- WTO in Brief
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US Challenges EU Restrictions on Poultry Imports
The United States has asked the WTO to set up a panel to determine whether European restrictions on imports of US poultry products violate the EU’s commitments at the global trade body, the office of the US Trade Representative announced last week. Brussels - citing food safety concerns - has long refused to accept shipments…
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Tech Transfer Group Talks Food Production
Delegates participating in the WTO’s Working Group on Technology Transfer focused on agricultural productivity at a morning meeting on Tuesday. The session featured a presentation from Andrea Sonnino of the UN Food and Agricultural Organization on the links between technology transfer and agricultural productivity. The ‘Green Revolution’ of the late twentieth century improved the livelihoods…
- Events
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Events
16 October, London, United Kingdom. THE NEW POLITICS OF NORTH AFRICA-EU ENERGY TRADE. As EU countries try to diversify their imports of gas and oil away from Russia, North Africa has become an attractive strategic partner. Yet the terms, potential and limits of this partnership remain fluid as complex political ties with individual EU states…
- Resources
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Resources
AGRICULTURAL SUBSIDIES IN THE WTO GREEN BOX: ENSURING COHERENCE WITH SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS. The International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development, October 2009. Current WTO requirements set no ceiling on the amount of green box subsidies that governments can provide, on the basis that these payments cause only minimal trade distortion. Governments are thus increasingly…