Archive - Oct 2006

The UN Trade and Development Board's annual session started today with UNCTAD Secretary-General Dr Supachai Panitchpakdi giving his opening statement as scheduled.

The suspension of the World Trade Organisation's Doha negotiations should not lower the expectations for the development dimension of the Doha Round.

A brief outline of how he intends to undertake some internal reforms in UNCTAD was given by its Secretary-General Supachai Panitchpakdi at the policy dialogue of UNCTAD's Mid-Term Review on 4 October.

The World Trade Organisation's Doha negotiations should resume as soon as possible, and on the basis of the development mandate and principle so that the developing countries will really benefit, according to many developing countries individually or through their groupings.

Although there is a lot of talk about the need for completion of the World Trade Organisation's Doha Round, the content of the Round's outcome is just as important and there should be emphasis on this content instead as talk of a Development Round has been rhetorical so far, according to India's Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath.

An interesting debate took place at the Trade and Development Board (TDB) of UNCTAD on the question of "policy space", on the imbalances of existing multilateral rules in some areas and their absence in others, and the impact of this on developing countries' ability to formulate national development policies.

Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson is

U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab this week told members of the services industry that they are leaving too much of the lobbying for approval of trade agreements to agriculture groups, which are taking on that effort to an extent that is disproportionate to the importance of agriculture for the U.S. economy.

Though the General Council of the WTO did not take a formal decision on the talks, there is a de facto suspension. But the GATT/WTO system has given surprises in the past and it is more than likely that the negotiations may start once again in full steam soon. The developing countries will be well advised not to be complacent with the suspension but to be prepared for an early resumption. The following article gives reasons for this anticipation and also gives some suggestions what the developing countries should do.

U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab this week said the U.S. would not offer another unilateral proposal in the WTO to reduce its domestic agricultural support, as requested by other members.