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Agriculture Week: Members Focus On Lagging Market Access Talks
WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy identified market access as the most divisive area of the agriculture negotiations in his 13 October report to the Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC). Despite a flurry of new proposals on tariff reduction (see BRIDGES Weekly, 12 October 2005), Members remain deeply divided in this area, and the current ‘agriculture week,’ which…
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TNC: Lamy Outlines Doha Round Roadmap For Hong Kong And Beyond
Outlining the steps necessary to bring the Doha Round to conclusion by the end of 2006, WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy cautioned Members on 13 October that even an agreement at the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference in December would leave them with a great deal of work to do. Speaking to the WTO Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC),…
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Members Largely Favourable To New Approach On Small Economies' Problems
Most WTO Members responded positively to a two-track approach for considering the problems faced by small, vulnerable economies in the multilateral trading system, at a 17 October meeting of the Committee on Trade and Development Dedicated Session — Small Economies (CTD-DS). A group of 21 Members*, most of them sponsors of earlier proposals on the…
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CTE Remains Divided On How To Define Environmental Goods
WTO Members remain divided on how to define ‘environmental goods’ so as to liberalise trade in them under Paragraph 31 (iii) of the Doha Declaration. Discussions in the Committee on Trade and Environment Special (negotiating) Session (CTE-SS) on 14 October once again looked at the two main approaches for defining such goods: the multilateral identification…
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Lamy Meets With Asian Civil Society Organisations In Hong Kong
In Hong Kong to examine preparations for the WTO’s upcoming Ministerial Conference there, Director-General Pascal Lamy exchanged views on 16 October with representatives from dozens of civil society organisations, many of them sceptical about the developmental effects of trade liberalisation. At a forum hosted by the University of Hong Kong, Lamy was joined as keynote speaker…
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Lamy Meets With Asian Civil Society Organisations In Hong Kong
In Hong Kong to examine preparations for the WTO’s upcoming Ministerial Conference there, Director-General Pascal Lamy exchanged views on 16 October with representatives from dozens of civil society organisations, many of them sceptical about the developmental effects of trade liberalisation. At a forum hosted by the University of Hong Kong, Lamy was joined as keynote speaker…
- In Brief
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In Brief
VENEZUELA TO FULLY JOIN MERCOSUR, ABANDON ANDEAN BLOC? Venezuela is set to become the fifth full member of the Common Market of the South (Mercosur). However, before its membership in the South American trade bloc can be formalised in December, Caracas will have to reform customs duties to meet Mercosur requirements. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez broke the…
- WTO in Brief
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US Seeks Arbitration In Cotton Dispute With Brazil
On 17 October the US formally asked the WTO Dispute Settlement Body for arbitration (WT/DS267/27) in its dispute with Brazil over cotton subsidies, arguing that both the type and amount of retaliation that the latter was seeking were inappropriate. This was an expected step after Brazil asked for permission to cross-retaliate against US intellectual property rights…
- 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 : 20 October - 26 October 24-26 October, Geneva, Switzerland: EXPERT MEETING ON DYNAMIC AND NEW SECTORS OF WORLD…
- Resources
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Resources
EXPANDING NATIONAL POLICY SPACE FOR DEPARTMENT: WHY THE MULTILATERAL TRADING SYSTEM MUST CHANGE. By Robert M. Hamwey. South Centre TRADE Working Paper 25, September 2005. This paper examines the concept of "policy space" by illustrating how a developing country’s development policy options may be limited by, for example, the WTO agreements. It demonstrates that trade…