Archive - Jul 2005

WTO authorities played down the significance of the new stalemate in the Doha Round of talks and the threat hanging over the sixth ministerial conference in Hong Kong. But civil society organisations see the multilateral trade system's latest fiasco in a much more serious light.

Reports of the state of thenegotiations were given by the chairpersons of negotiations on agriculture,NAMA, special and differential treatment, trade facilitation, services, etc.

The WTO General Council meeting ended today without any of the original anticipated results of additional agreements (or 'first approximations') on agriculture,non-agricultural market access, services and 'development issues.'

Congressional approval of a trade pact with six small Central American countries nudged forward the Bush administration's free-trade agenda. But the close vote and bitter fight underscored anxiety about the pace of globalization and clouded prospects for approval of future deals.

At 12:03 am on July 28th, the House of Representatives approved the Central America-Dominican Republic-United States Free Trade Agreement, CAFTA. CAFTA, which would expand NAFTA to Central America and the Dominican Republic, would devastate farmers, privatize essential public services, and accelerate the race to the bottom on wages in the US and all over Central America.

General Council Chair Amina Mohamad will announce a 'rigorous and regimented' work program leading to an ambitious outcome at the World Trade Organization Hong Kong ministerial conference this December

Key members of the World Trade Organization yesterday vowed to launch a make-or-break next phase of Doha Development Agenda consultations starting in September to arrive at full modalities in agriculture, market access for industrial products and services

The highlight of yesterday's one-year assessment of the Doha Development Agenda farm negotiations focused mostly on the evaluation by agriculture negotiations chairman Tim Groser

The European Commission's DG Trade has finally replied to questions raised by Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) about the privileged access and influence of industry lobby groups like the Trans-Atlantic Business Dialogue (TABD) and the European Services Forum (ESF).

Following the World Trade Organization (WTO) Mini-Ministerial Meeting in Dalian, China earlier this month, Ambassador Alejandro Jara, Chairman of the WTO Council for Trade in Services Special Session, issued a report on the state of play in the Doha Round services negotiations.