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FTAA Ministerial Sets Negotiating Schedule Despite Differences On Agriculture
During a meeting of the trade ministers of the 34 member states of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) in Quito, Ecuador on 1 November, the US, Canada, and Latin American countries established a timeline in which to negotiate the Western Hemispheric free trade zone by 2005. Despite disputes — over agricultural subsidies,…
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WTO: Development, Environment Concerns Emerge In Market Access Talks
At a 4-5 November meeting of the WTO Negotiating Group on Market Access, Members considered proposals on non-agricultural market access, in which both development and environment issues emerged as occasional themes. Background At negotiations launched last November in Doha, Qatar, WTO Members agreed to negotiations to reduce or eliminate tariffs — including non- tariff barriers, tariff peaks,…
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Mini-Ministerial To Focus On Tough Doha Questions
An informal ‘mini-ministerial’ meeting of 25 ministers from key trading nations is set to take place next week on 14-15 November in Sydney, Australia. According to sources, ministers will discuss a range of issues, focusing on contentious areas on the WTO’s Doha mandate — such as intellectual property rights and access to medicines — that…
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Climate Change: US Sides With Developing Countries In Resisting Additional Climate Commitments
A continuing division between developing and most developed countries’ positions on greenhouse gas reductions became more contentious at the Eighth Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change held in New Delhi, India, on 23 October to 1 November, as the US largely sided with many developing countries in resisting further…
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WTO Addresses Challenges Of Small Economies
Postponed so that it could be part of ‘Geneva Week’ activities — whereby Members and observers without permanent missions in Geneva attend a series of WTO meetings — the WTO held its third dedicated session on small economies (under the auspices of the Committee on Trade and Development) on 4 November. Members discussed, inter alia,…
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Harare Workshop Discusses NEPAD, AGOA, Other Trade Arrangements
On 29-30 October, more than thirty civil society representatives, researchers and academics gathered in Harare, Zimbabwe for a two-day regional workshop on "The Interface Between Trade and Regional Partnership Agreements - Cotonou, AGOA, WTO and NEPAD". The workshop was organised by the Consumer Unity and Trust Society-Africa (CUTS- ARC), Mwengo (Zimbabwe) and the Institute of…
- In Brief
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EC Plans Funding To Offset Lost Jobs In Fishing Industry
CHINA AND ASEAN TO WORK ON WORLD’S LARGEST FTA On 4 November, at the conclusion of last week’s ASEAN summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, members of the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China signed a framework agreement to begin negotiations next year that will create the world’s largest free trade agreement (FTA)…
- WTO in Brief
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Supachai Stresses Trade-Development Linkage
EU PROPOSAL WOULD BOOST ACCESS TO MEDICINES FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES; PROTECT MANUFACTURES The EU Commission on 29 October adopted a proposal to help boost developing countries’ access to critical medicines by providing them at largely reduced prices. The program would allow producers to significantly increase supplies shipped to 72 countries that are considered developing or…
- 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.. If you would like to submit an event, please email events@ictsd.ch . Coming Up This Week: 6-13 November 3-15 November, Santiago, Chile: CITES COP-12. A total of 54 proposals for amendment of Appendices I and II were…