Archive - 2006

The WTO has ruled that the EU broke international trade rules by stopping imports of genetically modified foods.

The World Trade Organization ruled against the European Union in a dispute over genetically engineered crops from companies such as Monsanto Co., people familiar with the ruling said, aiding U.S. efforts to limit worldwide regulation of the technology.

When scores of activists dressed as turtles appeared on the streets of Seattle during the disastrous World Trade Organisation meeting in 1999, it became clear that the WTO had inadvertently backed into the gunsights of environmental campaigners.

The World Trade Organisation, in a closely watched ruling, decreed on Tuesday that the European Union and six member states had broken trade rules by barring entry to genetically modified crops and foods.

The 6th World Social Forum held in Caracas, Venezuela, provided the shot in the arm needed by this annual gathering of global civil society.

President Bush formally notifies Congress today that the United States and South Korea will embark on free-trade agreement negotiations

Link to an EU Response to the recent USTR Paper examining the implications of the EU offer on agriculture market access

Links to proposals on Domestic Support and the Treatment of Sensitive Products.

At a Group-of-Six informal meeting last Friday, India and Japan pressed World Trade Organization Director General Pascal Lamy to prepare a 'final text' in preparation for wrapping up the four-year-old Doha Development Agenda negotiations.

Ministers have promised to start making the vital trade-offs that will enable the stuttering Doha round of global trade talks to reach its target of an outline deal by the end of April.