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Year-End Climate Goal in Question as Bonn Meetings Begin
The annual mid-year negotiations of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) got underway in Bonn, Germany this week. Officials will spend eleven days and nights churning through issues with the ultimate aim of establishing new multilateral rules on climate change. Such an agreement was expected to come at the climate conference in Copenhagen…
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Bananas: Geneva Agreement Signed; Bilaterals Cut Tariffs Further
Trade negotiators opened bottles of champagne in Geneva on Monday as they formally signed the Geneva Agreement on Trade in Bananas, thus laying to rest one of the most protracted and bitter disputes in the multilateral trading system’s recent history. However, delegates also acknowledged that the EU’s tariff on bananas from Peru, Colombia and six…
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Ministers Review Doha Talks on OECD Sidelines
High-level trade officials met with WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy in Paris last week to assess progress toward concluding the beleaguered Doha Round of trade talks at the WTO. The meetings, which occurred on the sidelines of a major conference of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), brought together trade ministers and other high-ranking officials…
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China Receives Mixed Review from WTO, Draws EU and US Criticism
The World Trade Organization’s latest assessment of China’s national trade policies, known as a Trade Policy Review (TPR), was released on Monday. The WTO secretariat praised China for its “liberalisation of trade and FDI [foreign direct investment]” - a statement that drew criticism from both the US and EU. The secretariat also called for improved…
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Food Giant Nestlé Accused of Biopiracy
Nestlé, the world’s largest food company, is facing allegations of biopiracy after it applied for patents involving two plants found in South Africa without having negotiated permission to use them with the South African government. In what they have dubbed the “rooibos robbery,” the Berne Declaration, a Swiss advocacy organisation, and Natural Justice, a South African…
- In Brief
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Brazil Smarts at Threat of Argentine Trade Ban
Trade tensions are building between South America’s two largest economies in the wake of a recent threat from the Argentine commerce secretary to ban all imports of Brazilian food. Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner denied that such an embargo is in the works, assuring Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Friday that “there…
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EU-GCC Talks Stall, Despite German Support
The Gulf Cooperation Council - a six-member bloc made up of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates - suspended its free trade talks with the EU on Thursday, despite German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s public support for the partnership. It was not the first setback for the talks, which have progressed…
- Events
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Events
Coming up this week 3 June, Geneva, Switzerland. ECONOMIC SERIES SEMINAR: REASSESSING THE TRADE-ENVIRONMENT RELATIONSHIP. The WTO will be hosting an economics seminar on the trade-environment relationship, given by Professor Daniel Esty of Yale University. Professor Esty is the author of nine books and various articles on environmental policy issues and the relationship between the environment…
- Resources
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Resources
SOUTH-SOUTH COOPERATION - THE SAME OLD GAME OR A NEW PARADIGM? United Nations Development Programme, May 2010. This policy brief addresses the different aspects of the challenges and opportunities arising from the rapid increase in the number of emerging economies that have taken on a larger role in development cooperation to address the global challenges…