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Developing Countries Close to Deal to Boost South-South Trade
A group of developing countries has tentatively agreed on a deal to cut tariffs and other barriers to each others’ exports in an attempt to boost South-South trade at a time when multilateral liberalisation efforts are languishing. Trade officials report that negotiators from 22 nations on Wednesday reached an outline agreement on a new round of…
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Banana Agreement Nearly Ripe: Delegates
The long-running dispute over trade in bananas is close to being settled, say delegates familiar with intensive talks held recently on the controversial issue. However, negotiators warn that a final banana accord may only be inked when a deal is also struck on other key products in the WTO’s Doha Round - such as sugar,…
- Special Section
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Copenhagen Countdown: Technology and Finance
Each week leading up to the UNFCCC’s 15th Conference of the Parties, Bridges Weekly will be providing readers with background and analysis on key issues facing negotiators as they prepare for December’s meeting in Copenhagen. This week’s article, the last in the series, highlights the discussions on climate technologies and financing. Governments around the world will…
- In Brief
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Ashton to Step Down as EU Trade Commissioner on 1 Dec
The European Union will be getting a new trade commissioner fewer than 14 months after Catherine Ashton was appointed to the post. Lord Baronness Catherine Ashton of Upholland, formerly head of the UK’s House of Lords, has grabbed headlines around the world since it was announced on 19 November that she has been chosen to become…
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Committee Sees Some Progress on Implementing WIPO Development Agenda
The fourth session of the Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP), which met from 16 to 20 November, witnessed some progress on the implementation of a number of WIPO Development Agenda recommendations. The World Intellectual Property Organization’s Development Agenda, which was adopted in 2007 and consists of a total of 45 specific recommendations, aims to…
- WTO in Brief
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5,000 Protestors Expected in Geneva for WTO Ministerial
Roughly five thousand protesters are planning peaceful rallies to demonstrate their opposition to the WTO, which will hold its seventh ministerial conference in Geneva next week. Protest organisers vow that there will be no violence and no attempts to block access to the conference venue, but local police have mobilised hundreds of officers from Geneva and…
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Services Talks Question Status of ‘Signals’ Sent in 2008
Another round of ‘enchilada talks’ was organised on Tuesday night by the chair of the WTO negotiating group on services trade, Ambassador Fernando de Mateo of Mexico, who brought together a number of senior officials who are in town for the organisation’s ministerial conference next week. The meeting aimed to resolve several key issues, including questions…
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Chair Urges Rules Group to Take up RTAs
The chair of the WTO’s Negotiating Group on Rules convened a meeting of senior capital- and Geneva-based officials on 25 November to offer a run-down of the state of play in the talks and try to build some momentum for the group’s negotiations. The one-day meeting marked the first such high-level gathering devoted to the…
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WTO Calls for ‘Exit Strategies’ from Crisis Measures
Countries should begin planning their ‘exit strategies’ from crisis-triggered measures to restrict or distort trade, according to a new report from the WTO. Global trade volumes suffered their steepest drop in 60 years in the wake of last year’s meltdown on Wall Street. More than a year later, the world economy is showing some signs of…
- Events
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Events
30 November - 2 December, Geneva, Switzerland. SEVENTH WTO MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE. This three-day meeting will be a regular gathering of ministers to engage in a broad evaluation of the functioning of the multilateral trading system. It is not intended to serve as a Doha Round negotiating session. The general theme for the discussions will be…
- Resources
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Resources
STRENGTHENING MULTILATERALISM: A MAPPING OF PROPOSALS ON WTO REFORM AND GLOBAL TRADE GOVERNANCE. By Carolyn Deere-Birkbeck and Catherine Monagle, International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development, November 2009. This mapping study starts from the premise that the WTO is a valuable and indispensible multilateral institution. However, after an eighty-year history, the multilateral trading system…