Archive - May 2006

Date

May 3rd

Spurt of NAMA talks planned till mid-June

2 May, 2006
Negotiations on non-agricultural market access (NAMA) will intensify with almost continuous meetings from 1 May to 16 June.

Major differences over special products, special safeguard

2 May, 2006
Major differences on the issues of Special Products (SPs) and the Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM) were evident at the negotiations on agriculture at the WTO on 26-28 April.

FAO Expresses Concern Over Livestock Globalization

2 May, 2006
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has expressed concern over the globalization of livestock markets. The growth of international trade in livestock production can bring benefits to producers and consumers but can also be perilous for small producers in particular.

FAO Uncertain About Livestock Globalization

2 May, 2006
The advance toward global livestock markets is not coming without potential risks to livelihoods, human health and the environment, warns the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

May 2nd

April wheat stocks at twice the buffer norms

1 May, 2006
The government decision to import 3.5 million tonne wheat for maintaining the buffer stock may soon prove to have been needlessly hasty as the stock in the central pool is already more than double the norm set for April.

Lamy calls for shared sense of urgency in the trade negotiations

1 May, 2006
Director-General Pascal Lamy, in his introductory statement to the Trade Negotiations Committee on 1 May 2006, said that finding consensus in the negotiations 'remains doable, but only if a sense of urgency-which I feel is not always shared by all-starts appearing in each and every delegation' 'We must now focus our efforts on working intensively, continuously and in an effective manner on a text-based negotiating process, which is solidly anchored in Geneva', he added.

Quick Analysis of US Proposal on SSM

1 May, 2006
A quick critique on recent US proposal on SSM developed by ActionAid in the light of their recent research project on import surges; also attached is US proposal in this regard.

May 1st

Wheat imports: sacrificing farmers for WTO

30 April, 2006
India is unilaterally opening up its doors for imports of wheat at a time when the issues of special products (SPs), special safeguard mechanism (SSM), farm tariffs and bound rates and the role of state trading enterprises are not yet settled in the WTO.

Status of WTO negotiations, Portman criticizes Lamy WTO Negotiators Seek to Rescue Global Accord With New Deadline

30 April, 2006
World Trade Organization negotiators are seeking to rescue a global accord by setting a six-week timetable to cut import duties on commodities and industrial goods ranging from corn and computers to cars.