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WTO: July Framework Agreed At Eleventh Hour
After long and arduous negotiations over the past two weeks, WTO Members on 31 July agreed on a framework package to keep the Doha Round trade negotiations alive. After almost a year of stalled negotiations following the breakdown of talks at the last Ministerial meeting in Cancun (see BRIDGES Daily Update, 15 September 2003), Members…
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Agriculture: 'Remarkable Turn-Around' From Cancun
Annex A of the 31 July General Council Decision represented the consensus achieved in the agricultural talks after weeks and months of deadlock on the issue following the setback of the WTO ministerial conference at Cancun. While most, if not all WTO Members generally welcomed the text as a positive development, they acknowledged that the…
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Work On Development Sees Limited Progress At WTO
As part of the 31 July framework package (see related article, this issue), Members put the final touches on the development text, which deals with, inter alia, special and differential treatment (S&D), implementation-issues, and technical assistance. On S&D and implementation-issues — core elements of the development text, the language undertakes little in the way of…
- In Brief
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In Brief
PRO- AND ANTI-WHALING CAMPS CLASH AT IWC MEET The 56th annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in Sorrento, Italy, from 19-22 July witnessed heated exchanges between supporters and opponents of commercial whale hunting. Divisions at the IWC meeting were particularly deep with regard to a proposal for the adoption of a "Revised Management Scheme"…
- WTO in Brief
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Trade Unions Say WTO Talks Fail To Tackle Social Issues
LIBYA INITIATES WTO ACCESSION PROCESS During the WTO General Council (GC) meeting on 27 July, Members agreed to set up a Working Party on the accession of Libya, while the US again blocked Iran’s request for beginning the accession process. In a statement to the GC, Libya’s ambassador in Geneva, Najat Medhi Al-Hajjaji emphasised her country’s…
- 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: 2 August to 1 September 6 August, Washington D.C., USA: BRUCE WILSON REVIEWS THE WTO’S DISPUTE SETTLEMENT UNDERSTANDING. Organised by the Washington International Trade Association (WITA),…
- Resources
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Resources
RESOURCES ASSESSING REGIONAL INTEGRATION IN AFRICA. UN Economic Commission for Africa (July 2004). This report provides a comprehensive evaluation of the state of Africa’s integration process, showing where efforts have succeeded or failed including why intra African trade remains low; and how lack of macro-economic policy convergence and insufficient infrastructures hamper integration. The…