Archive - Nov 2, 2005

The Group of 33 developing countries in the WTO agriculture negotiations has submitted to the WTO a proposal on a special safeguard mechanism(SSM) for developing countries.

Initial reactions to the European Union's 28 October proposal on agriculture have been mainly unfavourable, with some countries calling it disappointing and others finding it unacceptable, for various reasons.

The Special Session of the Committee on Trade and Development of the WTO met on 27 October to further consider in particular five Least Developed Country Agreement-specific proposals on Special and Differential Treatment, on which no consensus has been reached by Members so far.

The latest set of proposals by the European Union at the World Trade Organisation which seeks to impose extreme levels of liberalisation on the developing countries is in stark contradiction to a recent speech made by the Trade Minister of the United Kingdom, which presently holds the Presidency of the European Union. This begs the question: Who really speaks for Europe?

A group of over sixty civil society organizations and trade unions in an open letter Tuesday to Pascal Lamy, in his capacity as WTO Director-General and Chair of the Trade Negotiations Committee, has slammed 'the highly undemocratic and deceptive process used to manufacture' the services section of the draft Ministerial Declaration for Hong Kong.