WTO Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi reiterated May 19 the need to step up efforts in advancing the Doha Round of trade talks, despite an agreement among WTO members earlier this month resolving a long-standing feud over the conversion of agricultural tariffs.
Peter Mandelson, Europe's trade commissioner, is seeking to persuade Tony Blair to revise Britain's pro-poor country stance on trade liberalisation, a centrepiece of the government's development agenda for 2005.
The United States May 17 conceded that the long-standing request-offer' approach to negotiating greater openness in world services trade has failed to sufficiently advance the current round of talks and suggested 'supplementing' the approach with a new initiative designed to bring other countries up to U.S. standards.
Even though President Bush is trying to kick-start his campaign to win passage of the stalled Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR), he faces an uphill battle.
The article looks at the politics of consensus that continues to determine the path of the ongoing trade negotiations. It exposes serious implications for the developing countries.
Former European Union Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy has been selected to head the World Trade Organization, according to his rival for the job, the Uruguayan candidate Carlos Perez del Castillo.
