10th Ministerial, Nairobi 2015

Nairobi WTO meeting to test India’s resolve on agriculture

13 October, 2015
India unlikely to secure credible gains for its millions of poor farmers unless the govt stands firm against the US over its opposition to New Delhi’s demands in agriculture

Africa and the WTO - the Perils of Weakening the Development Agenda

9 October, 2015
Biraj Patnaik and Timothy A. Wise in this article underline perils of Weakening the Development Agenda for Africa in the run up to 10th WTO Ministerial at Nairobi.

Africa needs substantial cuts in domestic subsidies of North, US told

5 October, 2015
The African Group on Monday (September 28) has told the United States that they will need substantial reduction commitments in the domestic support pillar of agriculture based on the 2008 revised draft modalities to conclude the Doha Round, African trade envoys told the SUNS.

US will deny S&D for China and India, no DDA after Nairobi

5 October, 2015
The United States intends to pursue, after the Nairobi WTO Ministerial Conference, an aggressive trade strategy by forcing "differentiation" to deny special and differential treatment for China and India at the World Trade Organization (WTO), several people familiar with the development told the SUNS.

Uruguay abandons TiSA

10 September, 2015
On 5 September 2015 a very large majority of the Frente Amplio, the governing political coalition in Uruguay voted against continuing to be part of the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) negotiations taking place in Geneva. These plurilateral negotiations are taking part outside the framework of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and its General Agreement on Services (GATS) and have generated concerns over the adverse impacts of the type of services liberalization pushed for by developed countries led by the United States, the European Union and Australia.

Post-Bali work programme not doable by end-July, says DG Azevedo

14 July, 2015
Several developing countries on Wednesday (July 8) expressed their frustration with the World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Roberto Azevedo's announcement that the work program with precise modalities for concluding the Doha Development Round (DDR) trade negotiations will not be delivered by end-July.

Huge International Coalition Calls for a Big Change to WTO Agenda

10 July, 2015
Negotiations in the WTO are heating up – and they are going badly. In November last year, WTO members agreed to come up with a “Work Program” for resurrecting the Doha Round by July 31. In this article Deborah James of OWINFS network articulates civil society position on recent developments in WTO negotiations.

Canadian move for new landing zones spurned

10 July, 2015
Major developing countries - China, India, Brazil, and South Africa - unambiguously rejected on Friday (July 3), a proposal from Canada to set "new landing zones" in the Doha agriculture package without adhering to the existing mandates that were negotiated since 2001, trade envoys told the SUNS.

Nairobi MC10 must deliver on development, say CSOs

9 July, 2015
Some 341 global civil society organisations (CSOs) on Wednesday underlined that if the upcoming tenth ministerial conference (MC10) of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to be held in Nairobi, Kenya is to be a "success", it must deliver on development and turn around the WTO.

341 groups from 100+ countries call on WTO Members to Abandon Liberalization Push and Turnaround WTO Agenda

8 July, 2015
Today, 341 global civil society organizations – including development advocates, trade unions, farmers’ organizations, consumer and environmental groups from over 100 countries – sent a letter to WTO members today urging them to abandon the WTO expansion talks and instead focus on an urgent agenda to fix existing damaging rules in the WTO.

US-EU block permanent solution for food security public stockholding

2 July, 2015
Major developed countries, particularly the United States and the European Union, have vehemently opposed a proposal from the G-33 coalition for a permanent solution for public stockholding programmes for food security in the developing countries, several trade envoys told SUNS.

Azevedo ideas in agriculture surface as Australia-Canada non-paper

29 June, 2015
A proposal floated by the World Trade Organization Director-General Roberto Azevedo during his meetings with seven major developed and developing countries to bring about convergence on the domestic support pillar of the Doha agriculture package has now surfaced in a non-paper issued by Australia and Canada, several trade envoys told the SUNS.

DG report to HOD raises more questions than answers

25 June, 2015
A report presented by the World Trade Organization Director-General Roberto Azevedo on Wednesday (June 17) about his consultations with select trade envoys in different configurations raised more questions than answers over the continued attempts to rescue one major developed country which remains opposed to a developmental outcome in the domestic support pillar of the agriculture package for concluding the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) trade negotiations by the end of the year.

Agriculture: Rev. 4 text must be basis, insist majority of South nations

22 June, 2015
A majority of developing countries, at an informal meeting of the Special Session of the WTO Agriculture Committee on Tuesday (16 June), underlined that the Rev. 4 draft agriculture modalities text should remain the basis for moving forward the negotiations in agriculture.

Strong support for LDC pharmaceuticals exemption request

17 June, 2015
A large majority of Members, mainly developing countries, have voiced strong support at the meeting of the TRIPS Council (9-10 June) for the request by the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) for an extension of the transitional period with regard to the intellectual property protection of pharmaceutical products, which is set to expire on 1 January 2016.