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Members Debate Draft Ministerial Text At GC
At a 24-25 July meeting of the WTO General Council — the last session prior to a two-week WTO recess — Members discussed a draft Ministerial Declaration put forward by General Council Chair Carlos Perez del Castillo (Uruguay) on his own responsibility for adoption at the fifth WTO Ministerial meeting to be held in Cancun,…
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Civil Society Groups Criticise Negotiating Process, Members More Positive
In their reactions to the draft WTO Ministerial text released on 18 July (see related story, this issue), civil society groups criticised the "chair-driven" drafting process, which they say flouts rules of procedure guaranteeing an inclusive and consensus-based process. For their part, most Members cautiously welcomed the current process while also highlighting areas of particular…
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WTO Members Remain Divided Over Singapore Issues
The WTO working groups on the so-called ‘Singapore issues’ of investment, transparency in government procurement, competition policy and trade facilitation submitted their respective reports to the WTO General Council (GC) on 24-25 July. The reports contained procedural information on the working groups’ activities (sources and materials used, meetings held and cooperation with other…
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Cotton & Special Products Crop Up In WTO Agriculture Group
At an 18 July formal special (negotiating) session of the WTO Committee on Agriculture (CoA), Cairns Group member the Philippines — on behalf of a coalition of 16 developing countries — presented a Statement and Declaration emphasising that agreement on agricultural modalities was not possible if the concept of special products and a new special…
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Early Harvest On S&D May Have To Wait Until Cancun
On 17 July, General Council Chair Ambassador Pérez del Castillo (Uruguay) circulated an updated list of proposals aimed at strengthening special and differential treatment (S&D) provisions for developing countries. This updated list (available at http://www.ictsd.org/issarea/development/resources/16-07-03_S&D-text.pdf) deals with the first category of proposals offered by the General…
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Small States Cast For Fisheries Subsidies Exceptions In WTO Rules Talks
The WTO Negotiating Group on Rules met from 21-22 July, where it considered, inter alia, a submission by small island and coastal states on fisheries subsidies and two proposals on anti-dumping (AD), one jointly submitted by the EU and Canada and one by New Zealand. The fisheries proposal — the first of its kind in…
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EU Blocks Sugar Panel At DSB Meeting
At a meeting of the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) on 21 July, the EU blocked a request by Australia, Brazil and Thailand for the establishment of a panel to rule on complaints against its sugar regime (see BRIDGES Weekly, 17 July 2003). The challenge focuses on export subsidies provided by the EC to its…
- In Brief
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New UN Task Force On Gender And Trade
WIPO IPR/TK COMMITTEE CLOSES WITHOUT AGREEMENT ON MANDATE The WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore closed its 7-15 July meeting — the last session under the current mandate — without agreement on the future mandate of the Committee. The matter will now be…
- WTO in Brief
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New Deadline Set For DSU Negotiations
WTO Members have agreed on an end-May 2004 deadline for reforming the Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU). The special session of the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) missed its deadline on 31 May this year for completing the reform (see BRIDGES Weekly, 4 June 2003), and has been meeting informally since then. The new deadline was agreed…
- 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. Coming Up: 28 July - 20 August 27-30 July, Montreal, Canada: MOBILISATION AGAINST THE WTO MINI- MINISTERIAL IN MONTREAL. Civil society groups…
- Resources
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Resources
BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE WTO: THE REAL WORLD OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS. By Fatoumata Jawara and Aileen Kwa (Zed Books, August 2003). This book on the politics of the WTO seeks to take the lid off how the WTO really works, and what really happened before, at, and after the Fourth WTO Ministerial Conference…