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Small Economies' Characteristics, Problems And Solutions Examined
The WTO Committee on Trade and Development Dedicated Session (CTD-DS) meeting on 21 February agreed on a process to move forward the work programme on small economies using an approach suggested by Chair Ambassador Trevor Clarke of Barbados. The ‘Dedicated Session’ of the CTD focuses exclusively on small economies. Although Members diverged on whether it was…
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Services: Members Discuss Mode 4, Domestic Regulation
The 7-25 February ‘cluster’ of services negotiations continued this week at the WTO. The bilateral process of requests and offers of market access remains well behind schedule, although Indonesia gave it a boost on 21 February by announcing its initial offer to liberalise certain services sectors. In spite of the slow pace of the request-offer…
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WTO Sub-Committee On Cotton Holds First Meeting
The WTO Sub-committee on Cotton held its first meeting on 16 February. The gathering focused mainly on organisational issues relating to the future work of the sub-committee. Members highlighted the importance of cotton for their economies, and their desire to see speedy and substantial results from their work programme. Regarding the scope of the work,…
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US, CAFTA-DR Sign FTA-Related Environmental Accords
On 18 February, the US, five Central American nations and the Dominican Republic signed the two environmental agreements associated with the free trade agreement (Central American Free Trade Agreement-Dominican Republic, CAFTA-DR) that the seven countries concluded in August 2004. The seven governments — Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala, in addition to the US…
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General Assembly Bypassed In Informal WIPO Talks On Patent Harmonisation
At the invitation of World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) Director-General Kamal Idris, selected WIPO members met in Casablanca, Morocco on 15-16 February to discuss the continuation of the global patent harmonisation process. Many developing countries — most of which were not invited — were heavily critical of the meeting. They noted that Brazil was the only…
- In Brief
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ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand FTA Talks Under Way
NEW FAO REPORT: OUTLOOK POOR FOR COMMODITY-DEPENDENT EXPORTERS The "long-term prospects for commodity-dependent farmers and countries in the developing world are not bright," says a new report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The first in what is to be a biennial series, "The State of Agricultural Commodity…
- WTO in Brief
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Brazil To Bring Soy Case To Dispute Settlement?
ZAMBIA TO LEAD LDC GROUP IN WTO WORK The Zambian government, represented by Commerce, Trade, and Industry Minister Dipak Patel, has been elected to chair and coordinate the work of the 50 least-developed country (LDC) Members of the WTO in 2005. In an interview in Lusaka, Patel pointed 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. Coming Up: 24 February - 2 March 28 February - 4 March, Cape Town, South Africa: CODEX COMMITTEE ON FISH AND FISHERY PRODUCTS (27TH SESSION). The session is…
- Resources
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Resources
ICTSD Resource RESOURCE BOOK ON TRIPS AND DEVELOPMENT. By the UNCTAD-ICTSD Project on Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) and Sustainable Development. Cambridge University Press, 2005. The Resource Book, conceived as a practical guide to the WTO Agreement on Trade-related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), provides detailed analysis of each of the provisions of the Agreement, aiming at a…