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A group of over 100 civil society organizations has denounced the mini-Ministerial meeting to be held in Geneva in the next days as not legitimate as it does not allow for the effective participation of all Ministers.

Press statement: Farmer leaders representing the international peasant movement La Via Campesina are in Geneva to express their rejection of the WTO Doha Round. The agreement currently negotiated in

This week's ministerial meetings in Geneva aimed at settling on negotiating modalities for agriculture and nonagricultural market access are 'make-or-break' for the World Trade Organization's Doha Development Agenda trade round, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said yesterday

Key members of the World Trade Organization yesterday sharply differed over what constitutes the level of political 'ambition' in the Doha Development Agenda modalities for agriculture and market-opening for industrials challenging whether 'real cuts' and 'new market access' are part of the overall mandate

Trade chiefs of the Group-of-Six nations will meet Thursday in a 'last-ditch' effort to resolve all the remaining issues in the trade-distorting domestic support and market access pillars of Doha Development Agenda farm trade negotiations

World Trade Organization Director General Pascal Lamy yesterday circulated a revised list of issues designed for discussion by the 30-plus trade ministers that arrive here this week in an attempt to conclude negotiating modalities for the Doha Development Agenda trade in agriculture and nonagricultural market access.

Affiliates of the International Metalworkers' Federation in Africa have just released a statement on the current proposals of the WTO arguing that they will have a negative impact on developing countries and undermine development, in particular in Africa and, in turn, will increase the pressure on workers in the more industrialised nations.

The Chairs of the Agriculture and NAMA (Non-Agricultural Market Access) negotiating committees, NZ Ambassador Crawford Falconer and Canada

WTO members met this morning after the release of the draft possible modalities prepared by Ambassador Crawford Falconer of New Zealand, Chair of the Committee on Agriculture (Special Session) the previous day.

The NAMA-11 group of developing countries has strongly criticised the paper relating to modalities for non-agricultural market access(NAMA) for its unhelpful structure, for omitting the views of members or not reflecting their views accurately in some areas, and for creating confusion as to whether the textual language provided on specific issues was supposed to enjoy agreement or were merely put forward by the Chair under his own responsibility.