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Key Developing Countries Cry Foul As Textiles Stumbles At WTO
A continuing rift between developed and developing countries at the WTO over textiles liberalisation widened considerably at a 31 July meeting of the General Council, leaving developing countries asking where the ‘development’ aspect had gone from the so-called ‘Doha Development Agenda’ and dampening hopes on progress in other WTO negotiating areas. The meeting was a…
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With Little Movement Since Doha, S&D Review Extended To End-2002
Officially adopted at the 31 July General Council meeting (see related story, this issue), WTO Members agreed on 24 July to a report that, inter alia, extends a review of special and differential treatment for developing countries (S&D) until 31 December 2002 (TN/CTD/3, searchable at http://docsonline.wto.org). Despite having found ‘consensus’ on the key issue of…
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Doha Round Receives Boost As US Congress Approves Fast-Track; Groups Question Environmental Impact
US trade negotiators received a strengthened mandate on 1 August as the US Senate approved by a vote of 64-34 legislation granting the White House so-called fast-track authority (now called Trade Promotion Authority, or TPA) to negotiate trade pacts for the first time since 1994. The Senate’s approval came just days after the measure edged…
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Differing Viewpoints Over Modalities Characterise WTO Market Access Talks
At the first of four remaining meetings for 2002 of the WTO Negotiating Group on Market Access, Members addressed different approaches to how market access talks on industrial goods could be structured, including ways to tackle tariffs, non-tariff barriers, developing country concerns and environmental goods. The EC, Japan, New Zealand, S. Korea and the US…
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US Agriculture Proposal Receives Mixed Reviews - Sets The Stage For Market Access Discussions
On 25 July, the US released its proposal for the ongoing agricultural negotiations at the WTO. Coming just a day before a 26-27 July meeting in Japan of agriculture ministers from the ‘Quint’ groups of countries (US, EU, Canada, Japan and Australia), this led to preliminary discussions on the proposal by some of the world’s…
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'Businesslike' TRIPS Council Considers Options For Improving Access To Medicines
WTO Members met for an informal session of the Council for Trade- Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) on 24-25 July to continue their discussions on paragraph 6 of the Doha Declaration on TRIPs and Public Health (see BRIDGES Weekly, 3 July 2002). Countries mainly elaborated on previously-made proposals, with major shifts in positions…
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Need For Trade Facilitation Negotiations Questioned Despite Some Convergence
The WTO Council for Trade in Goods met on 22-23 July, where Members exchanged views on trade facilitation took up the outstanding ‘implementation’ issue of textiles (for a review of the latter, see related story, this issue). Discussions on trade facilitation at the CTG focused on GATT Article VIII "Fees and formalities connected with importation…
- In Brief
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In Brief
GENETICALLY MODIFIED WHEAT GIVEN TWO THUMBS DOWN Speaking at a 29 July Board of Directors meeting for the US Wheat Associates, Antonio Costato, CEO of Italy’s largest milling company Grandi Molini Italiana, said that “[we] will not only avoid buying genetically modified [GM] wheat, but we will probably be forced to completely avoid importing from…
- WTO in Brief
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Canadian LDC Initiative To Free Up Entry Of Goods From World's Poorest
N. ZEALAND NOTIFIES GMO LAW TO WTO On 2 August, the government of New Zealand notified the WTO Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Measures of its new legislation on restrictions of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The document (G/SPS/N/NZL/161/Add.1, available at http://docsonline.wto.org) outlines New Zealand’s recently-passed legislation that restricts consideration and…
- 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. WTO Events An updated list of forthcoming WTO meetings is posted at: http://www.wto.org/english/news_e/meets.pdf. Please bear in mind that dates and times of WTO meetings are often changed,…
- Resources
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Resources
If you have a relevant resource (books, papers, bulletins, etc.) you would like to see announced in this section, please forward a copy for review by the BRIDGES staff to Hugo Cameron, hcameron@ictsd.ch. Submissions of publications to ICTSD’s documentation centre (resources@ictsd.ch) would also be welcome. New ICTSD Web…