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Agriculture Modalities: Deadlines Missed, Eyes Now on Cancun
During a 31 March wrap-up meeting of the WTO Committee on Agriculture (CoA), Chair Stuart Harbinson formally declared that Members’ efforts to agree on agricultural modalities by the end-March deadline had failed. The meeting concluded the last special (negotiating) session of the CoA within the official modalities phase of the Doha round negotiations. Nevertheless, Harbinson…
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Only Few Services Offers Trickle In By End-March Deadline
A few countries have recently submitted their initial offers of services liberalisation, adhering to an end-March deadline. According to the negotiating mandate on services that WTO Members agreed at Doha in 2001, "participants shall submit initial requests for specific commitments by 30 June 2002 and initial offers by 31 March 2003". The countries presenting their…
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Dispute Settlement: Panel Rules Against US Steel Tariffs; Panel Established On US Upland Cotton
On 26 March, the interim panel report in the "US - Definitive Measures on Imports of Steel" was issued at the WTO, ruling against US steel tariffs. Early last year, the US imposed tariffs on most types of steel imported from, inter alia, the EU, and a number of countries in Latin America and Asia.…
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Position Vacancy
WWF is seeking to recruit a Project Manager on Sustainability Assessment of Trade. This is a half-time position, based in Gland, Switzerland. The main focus of the work is to manage project activities on sustainability assessment in different locations (US, Europe, Philippines, Brazil), including international level advocacy. The candidate should possess a first degree in…
- In Brief
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New Expert Group On Singapore Issues
US-MOROCCO FREE TRADE TALKS WOBBLE ALONG Talks aiming at a bilateral free trade agreement between the US and Morocco experienced difficulties last week due to the war in Iraq. The second round of talks, scheduled to take place on 24 March in Rabat, Morocco, were delayed by a day and moved to Geneva, Switzerland. The…
- WTO in Brief
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WTO in Brief
GI NEGOTIATIONS PROGRESS IN INFORMAL MODE The Ambassador Eui-yong Chung (Korea), Chair of the Council for Trade- related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) special session, has produced a document containing "possible elements" and "options" for a multilateral register for geographical indications (GIs) for wines and spirits. The paper was based on consultations with…
- 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. If you would like to submit an event, please email events@ictsd.ch. Coming Up This Week: 3 - 10 April 3-4 April, Brussels, Belgium: FIFTH BLUEPRINT WORKSHOP: "FORESIGHT AND INTEGRATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND INNOVATION POLICY". This event seeks to assess…
- Resources
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Resources
TRADE PREFERENCES AND ENVIRONMENTAL GOODS. By Scott Vaughan, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP). Trade, Equity, and Development Series Issue no. 5. According to the author, for the WTO, the most important development in a decade related to trade-environment linkages is the agreement to liberalise commerce in environmental goods and services. If properly executed, the…