Archive - Mar 29, 2006

The proposals for cutting tariffs of industrial products in the WTO's negotiations will have significant adverse effects on developing countries' industrialization, according to a paper presented at the Group of 24 Technical Group meeting held in Geneva on 10 March.

The Chair of the Special Session of the WTO Committee on Agriculturetold members at an informal meeting Monday that despite variousconsultations, he has not seen any 'material progress' in the agriculture negotiations since the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference in December.

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.