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Ag Subsidies on Negotiating Table, Haggling Underway
Back-and-forth number-based negotiations are well and truly underway in the WTO agriculture talks, with the US and the EU making offers and counter-offers for cuts to subsidies and tariffs, first at a 10 October ‘mini-ministerial’ meting in Zurich and then in a series of meetings in Geneva. Ministers from the ‘five interested parties’ (FIPS: the EU,…
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US, EU Divided on Agricultural Market Access
The US and the EU are sharply divided on the extent to which they want farm tariffs reduced in the Doha Round WTO negotiations, following three days of high-level meetings in Zurich and Geneva that saw the two economic heavyweights exchange new and revised proposals on agricultural market access. The G-20 added to the discussions on…
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Brazil Asks For Cross-Retaliation Under TRIPS, Gats In Cotton Dispute With US
Alleging that the US has missed the 21 September deadline to comply with a March WTO ruling on its cotton subsidy programme, Brazil has formally requested the right to retaliate against US patents, copyrights, and services providers. On 6 October, Brazil asked the WTO Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) for permission to suspend obligations under WTO…
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Trade Facilitation: Some Divergence On Technical Assistance, Scope And Extent of Commitments
At a 5-6 October informal session, the WTO Negotiating Group on Trade Facilitation discussed the content of a possible report that it could submit to the December Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong. Exchanges at the meeting were described as being more opinionated than in the past, with the scope and extent of commitments emerging as…
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ASEAN Summit Draws Attention To Slow Pace Of Regional Trade Liberalisation
Economic ministers from the ten members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) concluded their recent meeting with a message that rang overwhelmingly clear: economic liberalisation within ASEAN must proceed at a faster pace if the economic bloc hopes to compete with regional powerhouses China and India. Ministers at the proceedings, held in the…
- In Brief
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In Brief
AREA AROUND HONG KONG WTO MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE ORDERED CLOSED TO PUBLIC The Hong Kong government has issued a decree restricting public access to the area around the venue for the WTO’s December Ministerial Conference. The restricted zone includes both land and sea and will extend approximately one square kilometre around the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition…
- WTO in Brief
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Sidestepping Hong Kong, GMO Ruling Delayed Until January 2006
The WTO dispute panel adjudicating the case brought by the US, Canada, and Argentina against EU regulations on genetically-modified products has once again pushed back the date for issuing its preliminary ruling, this time to January 2006. Panel Chair Christian Haberli informed the parties to the dispute on 3 October that the panel would 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. Upcoming : 13 October - 19 October 16 October, Hong Kong, China: NGOs ROUNDTABLE FORUM ON THE SIXTH WTO MINISTERIAL…
- Resources
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Resources
DOHA SCENARIOS, TRADE REFORMS, AND POVERTY IN THE PHILIPPINES: A COMPUTABLE GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM ANALYIS. By Caesar B. Cororaton, John Cockburn and Erwin Corong. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper, October 2005. Since the early 1980s the Philippines has undertaken substantial trade reform. The authors of this paper expect that the current Doha Round of WTO…