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WTO Market Access Paper Gives Members Food For Thought
On 16 May, Pierre-Louis Girard, Chair of the WTO’s Negotiating Group on non-Agricultural Market Access, issued a first draft ‘modalities’ paper that offers a series of formulas for reducing tariff and non-tariff barriers in industrial goods as part of the Doha round of trade negotiations launched in November 2001.…
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WTO General Council Tackles Implementation And Development
The WTO General Council (GC) met from 15-16 May, where Members used the opportunity to address implementation concerns and development-related issues of the Doha Work Programme. The meeting followed a gathering of heads-of-delegation with WTO Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi on 14 May to focus and inject momentum into negotiations. Implementation-related issues…
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Services: Zambia Tables Formal Proposal On LDC Modalities
At a negotiating session of the Council for Trade in Services (CTS) on 19 May, Zambia, on behalf of the group of least-developed countries (LDCs), tabled a formal proposal (TN/S/W/13, not yet derestricted) on modalities for the special treatment of LDCs in the current services negotiations. Complementing points made in an earlier informal submission (JOB (02)/205)…
- In Brief
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In Brief
WAKE-UP CALL TO FISHERIES MANAGERS WORLDWIDE On 14 May German and Canadian scientists released the findings of a long-term study, which concludes that ninety percent of all large fish in the world’s ocean have been depleted over the past 50 years. The study, which was conducted over a ten year period, is based on data from…
- WTO in Brief
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If Steering Committee Adopts Funding TOR
SUPACHAI TO UNDERTAKE CONSULTATIONS ON GIS At an informal heads of delegation meeting on 14 May, WTO Members agreed to a proposal put forward by WTO Director-General Supachai Panitchpadki that he would undertake informal consultations on geographical indications (GIs) and in particular on the contentious question of whether the higher level of protection awarded to wines…
- Events
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Events
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. ICTSD 26 May, Geneva, Switzerland: DIALOGUE ON TRADE, AID AND INVESTMENT: HOW DEVELOPMENT-FRIENDLY ARE RICH COUNTRY POLICIES? The International Centre for Trade…
- Resources
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Resources
STOLEN FRUIT: THE TROPICAL COMMODOTIES DISASTER. By Peter Robbins (Zed Books May 2003). The authors argues that over the past half century it has become abundantly clear that encouraging developing countries to grow coffee, sugar, cotton and other crops has been a disaster. He stresses that: small farmers get only a tiny share of the…