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Tokyo Mini-Ministerial Fails to Deliver Results
Trade ministers from 22 countries, meeting in Tokyo from 14-16 February for a second ‘mini-Ministerial’ since the launch of the Doha round of trade negotiations in November 2001, made little progress in resolving a number of ongoing deadlocks at the WTO. The threat of war in Iraq loomed over the meeting, and the rifts between…
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Agriculture: Harbinson's Modalities Draft Receives Mixed Reactions
Within the last week, key WTO Members, farmers associations and NGOs have been reacting strongly to Stuart Harbinson’s first draft proposal on modalities for the WTO agriculture negotiations. The modalities draft — setting out the scope of the negotiations, the methodology to be followed during the actual process, and the end-results expected — was first…
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No Compromise in Sight on TRIPS & Health
Discussions at the Tokyo ‘mini-Ministerial’ on 14-16 February and the Council for Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs), taking place on 18-20 February, failed to narrow the gap on paragraph 6 of the Doha Declaration on TRIPs and health. The TRIPs Council saw a repetition of the old debate with no mention of Council…
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WTO Environment Committee Allows Ad-Hoc Attendance To MEA Secretariats
Meeting from 12-13 February in the special (negotiating) session of the Committee on Trade and Environment (CTE), WTO Members agreed to allow secretariats of certain multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) to attend the CTE negotiations. The move effectively unblocked an impasse that had dogged the environment talks since the beginning of negotiations after the Doha Ministerial…
- In Brief
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US Announces Voluntary Greenhouse Gas Measures
UNDP RELEASES CONTROVERSIAL REPORT ON GLOBAL TRADE On 30 January UNDP launched the book ‘Making Global Trade Work For People’, the culmination of an independent review of the multilateral trading regime. The comprehensive 341-page study, while supporting the belief that trade can improve the lives of people, calls into question the automatic link between trade…
- WTO in Brief
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WTO In Brief
ARBITRATION PANEL ALLOWS BRAZIL TO IMPOSE SANCTIONS ON CANADA A WTO arbitration panel has issued a decision allowing Brazil to impose US$248 million in retaliatory sanctions against Canada in a dispute over aircraft subsidies. However, noting ongoing consultations, the arbitration panel gave the opinion that an agreement addressing the broader context would be the most appropriate…
- 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: 20-26 February 19-21 February, Geneva, Switzerland: FARMERS, FOOD AND TRADE - HEARING ON THE DRAFT REVIEW OF THE WTO AGRICULTURE AGREEMENT. This…
- Resources
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Resources
If you have a relevant resource (books, papers, bulletins, etc.) you would like to see announced in this section, please forward a copy for review by the BRIDGES staff to resources@ictsd.ch. Submissions of publications to ICTSD’s documentation centre would also be welcomed (see mailing address below). “The Kyoto Protocol and the WTO: Institutional Evolution and Adaptation,”…