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WTO Market Access Talks Progressing Slowly, Members Still Optimistic
Common ground continues to elude WTO Members in talks on non-agricultural market access (NAMA). At the end of a week of informal-mode meetings from 31 January - 4 February, countries seemed little closer than before to agreement on any of the major issues being discussed. Nonetheless, Members did not dissent at session’s close when NAMA…
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WTO Members Move Forward On S&D Negotiations
At the WTO Committee on Trade and Development Special Session (CTD-SS) meeting on 8 February, Members decided to move forward with negotiations on agreement-specific special and differential treatment (S&D) proposals, while keeping Chair Faizel Ismail’s recently-proposed approach to S&D as a "reference point". Ismail’s "situational flexibility" methodology,…
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Substantive Discussions On Trade Facilitation Begin
At the Negotiating Group on Trade Facilitation (TF) held its third meeting from 7-9 February, Members had preliminary discussions on the first crop of substantive submissions on the issue. The WTO Secretariat, the World Bank, the World Customs Organisation and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) also made presentations at the meeting. As…
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G7 Inch Forward On Debt Relief, Aid And Trade For Africa
Finance ministers from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the US — the Group of Seven (G7) — met in London from 4-6 February to discuss plans for more aid, debt relief and fairer trade for Africa. British treasury sources reported an emerging consensus on the need for debt relief as well as…
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US Quietly Promotes Patent Harmonisation At Developed Country Meeting
Trade analysts are concerned that a number of industrialised countries, led by the US, are trying to move negotiations on patent harmonisation outside the ambit of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), according to Intellectual Property (IP) Watch, a Geneva-based reporting service on IP issues. They believe that this would risk undermining the multilateral process…
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Services 'Cluster' Underway At WTO
A three-week ‘cluster’ of services talks is underway at the WTO; it is scheduled to run from 7-25 February. GATS Rules Working Party discusses subsidies, govt procurement The 7 February meeting of the Working Party on General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) Rules discussed services subsidies, government procurement of services, and an emergency safeguard mechanism (ESM)…
- In Brief
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In Brief
INDONESIA TO RECEIVE EU TRADE ASSISTANCE IN WAKE OF TSUNAMI The EU is set to implement new preferential market access arrangements for Indonesia from 1 April, according to a 2 February statement by French Foreign Trade Minister Francois Loos after a meeting with his Indonesian counterpart Mari E. Pangestu. The new trade preferences, intended to help…
- WTO in Brief
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WTO In Brief
AGRICULTURE WEEK KICKS OFF WITH HEATED DISCUSSIONS ON PREFERENCES The first ‘agriculture week’ of 2005, consisting of both informal and formal meetings of the Committee on Agriculture (CoA) special (negotiating) session, began on 7 February. During the first two days of the informal meetings, Members clashed over the issue…
- 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. ICTSD Event 18 February, Geneva, Switzerland: CAFÉ & CROISSANTS DIALOGUE ON "FINDING COMMON GROUND IN THE WTO FISHERIES SUBSIDIES NEGOTIATIONS." Organised by ICTSD. Speakers will include David…
- Resources
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Resources
ICTSD Resource NEW SECTION ON TRADE-ENVIRONMENT.ORG. A new section featuring a collection of submissions by WTO Members on trade and environment has been added to ICTSD’s web portal trade-environment.org. The section includes submissions to the Committee on Trade and Environment under its 10-point work plan as well as submissions related to the current negotiating mandate agreed…