Archive - 2006

The stage is set for a week or more of intense negotiations at the WTO as Ministers of some 40 to 50 countries are expected to arrive in Geneva in an effort to boost the flagging Doha negotiations.

In a letter sent today to Trade Ministers at the WTO, more than 100 civil society groups from around the world denounced the legitimacy of an exclusive Ministerial meeting in Geneva this week, and urged trade ministers to develop a new approach to the multilateral trading system. The signatories represented civil society groups from more than 30 countries, including the big WTO players - US, EU, Japan, Canada, Australia and India - as well as smaller countries like, Senegal, Uganda, Nigeria and Bolivia.

The Dance of the Seven Veils appears pedestrian when compared with the strip-tease currently being performed by the world's trade negotiators in Geneva. They are slowly and finally revealing their concessions to open global trade - just in time.

The Draft Modalities on Agriculture and NAMA are now available on the WTO website.

The draft texts released today by the WTO on trade rules for agriculture and industrial products reflect the broad divergences that remain between WTO Members over the Doha Round, according to the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. The possibility for concluding the Doha Round this year is becoming increasingly remote.

On the eve of the issuance of a draft modalities paper on agriculture by the Chair of the WTO's agriculture negotiations, the ACP Group has submitted a paper updating its position on various issues in agriculture modalities.

New proposals on global trade rules on agriculture and industrial goods (Non Agricultural Market Access or NAMA) released today show a deadlock in negotiations that could spell failure for the Doha round of trade talks.

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Several developing countries have argued that they should not be obliged to undertake significant tariff reductions in agriculture, and advocated that the rates of cuts in the formula should be lower than those proposed by the Group of 20.

Global civil society should not be lulled into complacency by gloomy media reports about the deadlock in the Doha Round negotiations.