Archive

This weekend

The illegitimate Mini Ministerial which the WTO

News that the major powers are trying to bypass negotiations in order to force through a trade deal at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has met with an angry response from trade justice campaigners.

World Trade Organization chief Pascal Lamy

The first day of the WTO 'mini-Ministerial' turned out to be a kind of 'Waiting for America' process as delegations and media in one meeting after another waited for the United States to proclaim on whether it was willing to improve its offer to cut agricultural domestic support.

France, Ireland, Italy and Portugal yesterday strongly opposed any move by the European Union

Within a day of starting their negotiations, ministers today (June 30) raised significant doubts about how much progress they could make on developing modalities for agriculture and non-agricultural market access this week.

As various WTO groupings held their own meetings on Thursday to plan ahead of the mini-Ministerial Green Room the next day, and as some Ministers gave their previews to the media, the question being asked by delegates and observers alike is “Who will move first, or will no one move at all?”

Poor countries want new rules for the WTO's intellectual property agreement that would protect their biological resources and traditional knowledge

New US Trade Representative Susan Schwab crossed swords with her European Union counterpart over Brussels