Archive

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.

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.

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.

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.

Developing countries put forward their positions and requests on a wide range of trade development issues at the start of this week's meeting of UNCTAD's Commission on Trade in Goods and Services and Commodities

The WTO General Council on 8 February appointed Ambassador Eirik Glenne of Norway as its Chairperson for this year, replacing Ambassador Amina Mohamed of Kenya.

Irregularities in the decision-making process at the WTO's Hong Kong Ministerial Conference were criticized by Venezuela and Cuba at the WTO's General Council meeting held here Wednesday 8 February.

The main ingredients of an international agreement on access and benefit sharing (ABS) under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) have been set out in a document at the end of a week-long meeting of the CBD's working group on access and benefit sharing held in Granada on 30 Jan to 3 Feb.

Protesters disrupted Pascal Lamy's lecture this morning at the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) on East Campus.

a link to documents for the next agriculture week 13-17 February 2006.