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WTO: Informal Talks Keep Geneva-Based Delegates Busy
During the past week, WTO General Council (GC) Chair Carlos Perez del Castillo kept negotiators busy with a tight schedule of meetings in various small group formats, focussing mainly on industrial market access, the Singapore issues (investment, competition, transparency in government procurement and trade facilitation) and cotton. Reportedly, the talks led to scant progress at…
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Singapore Issues: Convergence Emerging On Trade Facilitation
At an informal consultation on the so called Singapore issues (investment, competition, government procurement and trade facilitation) on Wednesday 3 December, most developing countries reportedly indicated a willingness to discuss trade facilitation. However, they still differed on whether the clarification of modalities should continue in a working group, or whether negotiations could go ahead directly.…
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CTD Considers Development Aspects Of Services Negotiations
The WTO Committee on Trade and Development (CTD) held its final meeting for 2003 from 27-28 November. At the meeting, the Secretariat presented delegates with a bibliography on the declining terms of trade for primary commodities, and its implications for trade and development of countries exporting primary commodities (WT/COMTD/W/121, available at http://docsonline.wto.org). Members said they…
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EC Outlines Approach For Getting Round Back On Track
On 2 December, EU trade ministers and the European Parliament met to discuss and approve a new European Commission strategy paper for the trade negotiations entitled "Reviving the DDA Negotiations — the EU Perspective" (see http://trade- info.cec.eu.int/doclib/docs/2003/november/tradoc_114259.pdf). The paper was released by the Commission on 26 November (see BRIDGES Weekly, 26 November…
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DSB Update: US Loses On Steel, Wins On Apples
US preparing to withdraw steel tariffs? According to US officials, the Bush administration is likely to repeal 20-month-old tariffs on imported steel this week in order to avoid massive retaliation by its trading partners. The final report by a dispute settlement panel that had ruled against US steel tariffs will be adopted on 10 December, after…
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ACP Council Of Ministers Meeting Discusses Post-Cancun World
The ACP (African, Caribbean and Pacific) Council of Ministers met from the 27-28 November in Brussels for its 78th session. Delegates to the meeting discussed, inter alia, post-Cancun positions on WTO issues, the review of the EU-ACP Cotonou Agreement, and agriculture. Links to the WTO process At the meeting, ministers affirmed the relevance and validity of the…
- In Brief
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In Brief
PUTIN AIDE PUTS KYOTO PROTOCOL INTO QUESTION Andrei Illarionov, Russian President Putin’s advisor on economic issues, said on 2 December that Russia cannot ratify the Kyoto Protocol "in its current format". The statement, made at a Russian-EU business forum in Moscow, came just as negotiators from around the world were in their first days of…
- WTO in Brief
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Goods Council Reviews China's Implementation Of WTO Requirements
The WTO Council for Trade in Goods met on 26 November to conduct its second review of China under the transitional review mechanism. The EC, Japan and US had previously expressed concerns over transparency issues in China, and during the meeting, China stressed it was meeting its obligations in this regard and said public…
- 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: 4-10 December 1-4 December, Berlin, Germany: MEETING ON THE SUSTAINABLE USE AND CONSERVATION OF BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY: A CHALLENGE FOR SOCIETY. This meeting is…
- Resources
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Resources
CLIMATE PROTECTION STRATEGIES FOR THE 21ST CENTURY: KYOTO AND BEYOND. By the German Advisory Council on Global Change (December 2003). In their report, the Council’s scientists underscore that dangerous climate change can now only be prevented if climate protection targets are set at substantially higher levels than those agreed internationally until now. In particular, anthropogenic…