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A long list of questions has been distributed by the Chairperson of the agriculture negotiations for members to use during the 'agriculture week' of negotiations being held at the WTO this week.

The start of substantive discussion on the Development Agenda was delayed at a WIPO meeting on Monday due to wrangling over who would be the Chair.

Developing countries taking part in an UNCTAD meeting have reiterated that they are entitled to exercise flexibility when deciding on liberalisation commitments in the WTO's services agreement (GATS).

Developing countries are projected to suffer significant 'adjustment costs' as a result of reduction commitments in industrial tariffs under the Doha agenda. The costs, which will vary among different countries, include loss of output and jobs in some industrial sectors and loss of government revenue.

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.

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.

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.

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.

A revised one-page factsheet on US Congressional resistance to agriculture policy reform

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