Archive

February 20th, 2006

Sensitive products are key

19 February, 2006
A DEAL on 'sensitive products' is one of the keys to unlocking progress in World Trade Organization talks on market access, Canada's lead agricultural negotiator Steve Verheul said recently.

February 17th

Ways and means chair says US should drop lagging FTA partners

16 February, 2006
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas (R-CA) this week said the U.S. should drop partners in free trade agreement negotiations if talks on those agreements are not progressing.

ACP Group wants development focus at WTO's trade facilitation talks

16 February, 2006
In the context of the current negotiations on trade facilitation, development must be the main objective and focus, said the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of developing countries in a proposal submitted to the WTO's Negotiating Group on Trade Facilitation.

UNCTAD raises development concerns on services liberalization

16 February, 2006
Trade liberalization alone does not automatically lead to services growth and development in developing countries, and there is a need to establish necessary preconditions such as flanking policies and regulatory frameworks for liberalization to yield development-oriented results, according to a new UNCTAD paper.

February 15th

US Congress Keeps Its Hands Untied on Agriculture Subsidies

14 February, 2006
A revised one-page factsheet on US Congressional resistance to agriculture policy reform

February 14th

Agriculture and NAMA simulations from Davos

13 February, 2006
Two papers from the Davos mini-Ministerial: simulations for agriculture and NAMA, and Sensitive products

February 13th

UNCTAD commission debates the crisis in committees

12 February, 2006
The commodities crisis continues to plague developing countries and international action, particularly by UNCTAD, has to be urgently taken to address it, according to several participants at the UNCTAD Commission on Trade in Goods and Services and Commodities which is meeting here this week.

Imbalances in the Hong Kong Ministerial outcome

12 February, 2006
Doha opened the door in 2001 for correcting the iniquities and imbalances in the WTO agreements and Hong Kong provided an opportunity in December 2005 to take concrete steps towards this end. But the opportunity has been totally lost. The WTO appears to be set on the usual path of developed countries' pressure tactics and developing countries' weak submission.

February 12th

Brazil says seeks new summit on WTO trade talks

11 February, 2006
Brazil has asked wealthy Western nations to call a special summit to try to ensure a global agreement on trade is met before an end-April deadline, Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said on Sunday.

February 11th

Concerns about 'timelines' paper at TNC meeting

10 February, 2006
The Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC) of the WTO met for the first time since the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference on 7 February, with its Chair Pascal Lamy urging WTO members to intensify negotiations if agreement is to conclude on schedule.