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In First TNC Address, Lamy Announces "New Phase" in Talks
In his first address to the WTO Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC) on 14 September, new Director-General Pascal Lamy called on Members to focus all of their efforts towards reaching an ambitious and coherent agreement at the organisation’s Hong Kong Ministerial Conference in December. That agreement, he said, should take Members two-thirds of the way towards…
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Andean Negotiators Call For Flexibility On AG, IPRs In FTA Talks With US
Trade negotiators from three Andean countries have called on the US to show more flexibility in their ongoing free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations, saying that its intransigence on agriculture and intellectual property rights was preventing a final agreement. In a 8 September speech at the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington-based policy research centre, negotiators from Colombia…
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First Public WTO dispute Settlement Hearing Under Way
For the first time in its ten-year history, the WTO this week opened up the proceedings of a dispute settlement meeting to the public. The 12-13 September proceedings in the long-standing beef hormones dispute among the EU, the US and Canada were broadcast through closed-circuit television to an audience consisting mainly of trade negotiators, non-governmental…
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G-20 Calls on Rich Countries to Respond Constructively to Ag Proposals
Ministers and senior trade officials from the developing countries that make up the G-20 bloc in WTO negotiations ended a 9-10 September summit in Bhurban, Pakistan with a joint statement calling on rich countries to engage in negotiations aimed at reforming their agricultural policies. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss strategy in the…
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Saudi Arabia, US Conclude Bilateral, Paving Way For Saudi Accession At Hong Kong
On 9 September, Saudi Arabia and the US concluded a bilateral deal on Saudi Arabia’s accession to the WTO. This sets the stage for the world’s largest oil producer to join the WTO at the global trade body’s December Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong. WTO accession rules require prospective members to negotiate bilateral market access deals…
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Vacancies
Oxfam is currently recruiting a Policy Researcher. Successful candidates will be responsible for commissioning and conducting both quantitative and qualitative research that would occasionally involve working with staff in developing countries. The Policy Researcher will also be required to disseminate their results by preparing high-impact briefing papers, campaign reports and, occasionally, media…
- In Brief
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In Brief
UN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT HIGHLIGHTS CONCERN OVER AGRICULTURAL TRADE On 7 September, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) released the 2005 Human Development Report (HDR). The HDR is well known for its ‘human development index,’ a ranking of 177 countries on the basis of their performance on health and education, in addition to per capita income. The…
- WTO in Brief
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WTO In Brief
EU’S REVISED BANANA TARIFF PROPOSAL MEETS COLD RECEPTION In the latest development in its longstanding dispute with a number of Latin American banana producers, the EU proposed on 12 September a new most-favoured nation (MFN) banana tariff rate of 187 euros per tonne to replace the 230 euros per tonne level that was deemed to be…
- 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 us. Coming Up: 15 September - 21 September 15-16 September 2005, Vienna, Austria: SEMINAR ON LINKING THE KYOTO PROTOCOL PROJECT-BASED MECHANISMS…
- Resources
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Resources
"NGOs at the World Trade Organization: The ‘Democratic’ Dimension" by Jayati Srivastava in ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY, 7 May 2005. This article analyses the role of NGOs at the WTO in order ascertain the ability of NGOs to act as an instrument of democratisation at WTO ministerial conferences. In practice, interaction with the WTO is…