Archive

A Joint Manifesto or the G33, Africa Group, ACP, and LDC Groups, representing the majority of the members of the 150-member WTO declaring their full support for SP and SSM mandated by the Hong Kong Declaration, and that no deal is possible that treats SP and SSM from a purely market access or commercial perspective, or that detracts or derogates the developmental value and dimension of SP and SSM in this DDA Round to the millions or resource-poor farmers all around the world who will be dependent on SPs and the SSM to assure their food security, livelihood security and rural development concerns.

G33 Comments on the Chairman's Reference Paper on Special Products, that details concerns regarding the paper's lack of elucidation of the G33 and developmental perspective, and introduction of non-mandated criteria for the self-designation of SPs and the determination of the appropriate number of tariff lines.

The United States 'along with the European Union, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore and Switzerland' yesterday proposed a tariff-free sectoral initiative in the Doha Development Agenda industrials negotiations on environmental goods (WTD, 5/9/06).

The United States yesterday slapped down a recent ruling by the World Trade Organization Appellate Body over the US use of 'zeroing' in making antidumping judgements - declaring the implications of the ruling as well as the analytical route adopted by the appeals panel were very 'troubling' (WTD, 4/19/06).

WTO negotiations in agriculture have reached a near-crisis over the issues of Special Products (SP) and Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM), with developing countries that have championed these concepts being in a state of fury at what they see as attempts by the United States and some other exporting countries to undermine agreement on and use of these two instruments.

Links to the recent communications on domestic regulation in the GATS negotiations.

The United States has called for a senior officials meeting of the Group-of-12 countries next week to review the state of progress in faltering Doha modalities negotiations, WTD was told (WTD, 5/5/06).

Links to several documents that have been distributed in the recent agriculture negotiations.

Several developing countries and their groupings presented their assessments of the state of the Doha negotiations as the WTO's Trade Negotiations Committee met on Monday 1 May.

The WTO's Trade Negotiations Committee meeting on 1 May and statements made by some Trade Ministers visiting the WTO have further clarified positions of some key members and groupings and some of the major differences among them that need to be resolved if the Doha talks are to progress fast enough.