6th Ministerial, Hong Kong 2005

UNCTAD Review talks collapse without agreed text

15 May, 2006
The first session of the Mid-Term Review (MTR) of UNCTAD-XI broke up near midnight on Thursday 11 May without an agreed conclusion after acrimonious negotiations that centred on the issue of 'policy space.'

G33 criticises Chair's reference paper on special products

15 May, 2006
The Group of 33 has issued a paper on 11 May to the WTO's Committee on Agriculture (Special Session) making critical comments on a Reference Paper of the chair of the agriculture negotiations on the issue of 'special products' that he had circulated on 4 May.

Trade: G33, Africa, ACP, LDC Groups declare joint defence of SPs, SSM

15 May, 2006
Four major groupings of developing countries have issued a joint statement warning that the WTO's Doha negotiations are being threatened by attempts by some members to restrict the use of the instruments of special products and special safeguard mechanism that have been proposed during the agriculture talks for the use of developing countries.

COSATU memorandum on WTO handed to US Embassy

11 May, 2006
COSATU writes to bring to your attention the disaster awaiting ourcountry, South Africa, and the rest of the countries in the South or the developing nations. As you are aware the World Trade Organisation is negotiating a detailed agreement based on the very unfavourable and anti development framework negotiated in the Hong Kong WTO Ministerial Conference in December 2005.

US Offers Environmental Duty-Free Plan

9 May, 2006
The United States 'along with the European Union, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore and Switzerland' yesterday proposed a tariff-free sectoral initiative in the Doha Development Agenda industrials negotiations on environmental goods (WTD, 5/9/06).

US calls for SR Officials MTG for G-12, plus spec products

7 May, 2006
The United States has called for a senior officials meeting of the Group-of-12 countries next week to review the state of progress in faltering Doha modalities negotiations, WTD was told (WTD, 5/5/06).

Don't make bacon out of us, say developing countries at TNC meeting

4 May, 2006
Several developing countries and their groupings presented their assessments of the state of the Doha negotiations as the WTO's Trade Negotiations Committee met on Monday 1 May.

Delegates meet to push Doha round

23 April, 2006
Negotiators from leading trading nations and blocs are beginning a series of meetings this week in a bid to put the Doha round of world trade talks back on track after they admitted on Friday that a key April 30 deadline would be missed.

EU blames US for Doha deadlock

19 April, 2006
Peter MandelsonPeter Mandelson, trade commissioner for the European Union, on Friday labels the US the biggest single block to the faltering Doha round of trade negotiations.

Lamy takes the reigns of the Doha Round: when will he make his mark?

19 April, 2006
The WTO Director-General, Pascal Lamy, made a bold statement at the 28th March meeting of the Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC), in which he called on Trade Ministers to come to Geneva for the last week of April and early May to finalize modalities for the Doha Agenda.

Lamy Considers Imitating Predecessor's 'Nuclear Option' To Spur Doha Talks

17 April, 2006
Shortly before Arthur Dunkel, the world's top trade official for more than a decade, died last June, soon-to-be World Trade Organization chief Pascal Lamy went to visit him. Mr. Lamy wanted to ask about the nuclear option of world-trade diplomacy, known as a 'Dunkel draft.'

EU aims to curb export taxes in Doha talks

29 March, 2006
The European Union plans to press for curbs on controversial export taxes as part of the Doha global trade round, despite widespread opposition from the many developing countries that use them.

The rich are still cheating developing countries

28 March, 2006
The World Trade Organisation's Doha round of trade negotiations is billed as a development round, reflecting the fact that developing countries were reluctant to start another one unless structural imbalances in trade were addressed as a priority.

India Would Rather See Doha Round Fail Than Accept Bad Deal, Trade Official Says

21 March, 2006
As fundamental differences continue to stall progress in the World Trade Organization's Doha Development Round of trade talks, a senior official from the Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry said March 20 that India would rather see the talks fail than accept an agreement that went against its interests.

Poorest Nations Hit Hardest by WTO Agenda, Study Finds

15 March, 2006
According to 'Winners and Losers' by Sandra Polaski, a researcher with the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the so-called Doha Development Round, which launched the current trade World Trade Organisation talks, will not actually generate development benefits for poor nations as initially promised.