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Five Ministers Aiming For Doha Round Road Map In Hong Kong
Ministers from five influential trading nations came away from a 22 November meeting in Geneva with the impression that a high-level summit in the first months of 2006 would be necessary in order for WTO Members to strike a far-reaching, detailed framework agreement for the Doha Round trade talks in time to conclude the negotiations…
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Agriculture: Chair Reports On Status Quo With A View To Hong Kong
Ambassador Crawford Falconer of New Zealand, the Chair of the WTO agriculture negotiations, presented Members with his draft report on the state of the agriculture negotiations on 22 November. In a brief meeting the same day, delegates provided their first reactions — generally positive — to the report. Delegations have scaled down their expectations for the…
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CTD-SS: members ask “has progress been made?”
At a 21 November informal meeting of the WTO Committee on Trade and Development Special Session (CTD-SS), Members agreed on draft Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration text concerning special and differential treatment (S&D) to send to the General Council. However, Members did differ in their opinions on how to reflect the progress, or lack thereof, on…
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Rules Chair Submits Draft Text To TNC, Divisions Remain
WTO delegates in the Negotiating Group on Rules discussed revised draft ministerial declaration text put forward by Chair Ambassador Guillermo Valles Galmes of Uruguay, during informal meetings on 18 and 21 November. Though Members broadly described it as an acceptable basis for actual negotiations at the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference in December, one that takes…
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Trade Facilitation: Consensus Reached On Draft Report For TNC
During the 18 November session of the WTO Negotiating Group on Trade Facilitation, Members were able to adopt their draft report to the Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC, TN/TF/W/72), overcoming differences that had caused their previous meeting to break down (see BRIDGES Weekly, 16 November 2005). They also reached consensus on the seven-line text for the…
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West Africans, EU Make Proposals For Hong Kong Deal On Cotton
At the 18 November meeting of the WTO Sub-Committee on Cotton, the EU and a group of four West African countries described plans for cutting subsidies and tariffs on cotton more quickly and deeply than other farm products, urging Members to adopt them at the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference in December. Notably, the EU offered…
- In Brief
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In Brief
EU POSTPONES VOTE ON NEW BANANA TARIFF AMIDST INTERNAL DIVISIONS The EU has postponed a vote on a reform to its banana import rules that would set the most-favoured nation tariff at 179 euros per tonne, after a group of EU member states attacked it as excessively high. No date has been fixed for the vote,…
- WTO in Brief
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Brazil Suspends Cross-Retaliation Request Against US In Cotton Case
Brazil has suspended its efforts to seek over USD 1 billion in annual retaliation against US goods, patents, and services providers after striking a bilateral deal to halt proceedings in its WTO dispute against US cotton subsidies. In October, Brazil formally asked WTO Members for the right to impose sanctions on the US for failing to…
- 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 : 24 November - 30 November 24 November, Geneva, Switzerland: UNCTAD AD HOC EXPERT MEETING ON INSURANCE SERVICES. This…
- Resources
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Resources
COMPETITION REGIMES IN THE WORLD: A CIVIL SOCIETY REPORT. By the Consumer Unity and Trust Society’s Centre for Competition, Investment and Economic Regulation (CUTS-CCIER), 2005. Released at the UN’s Fifth Review Conference on Competition in Atalya, Turkey, this CUTS-CCIER and International Network of Civil Society Organisations on Competition (INCSOC) book is a compilation of brief…