Archive - 2005 - Article

Agriculture is once again proving to be the determinant of results in the GATT/WTO negotiations. In December 1987, it caused the collapse of the Montreal Mid-term Review of the Uruguay Round negotiations. Then at the end of that round, the results could be consolidated only after the two major developed countries had an agreement in this area in what was called the Blair House accord.

European Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said on Thursday that 'almost all' of the summary documents drawn up by the WTO negotiating committees on each of the chapters discussed and published this week were 'unsatisfactory' and the one on services 'particularly disappointing'

Doha Development Agenda trade facilitation negotiations Chairman Muhamad Noor Yacob called for intensifying talks in the post-Hong Kong phase by pursuing text-based negotiations clarifying current rules relating to developing countries

The WTO's Hong Kong Ministerial Conference will be a negotiating meeting and not just a stock-taking exercise, the WTO Director- General Pascal Lamy said at the African Union Trade Ministers' conference

link to the revised draft ministerial text on services by the chairman

European Union trade commissioner Peter Mandelson yesterday issued a stern warning to 'some' trade partners to enter into real negotiations with Brussels instead of making unrealistic demands and hiding behind criticism of the EU

The European Union and the United States on Tuesday told Doha Development Agenda market access negotiations Chairman Stefan Haukur Johannesson that he should not have tabled figures for a tariff-cutting formula and 'paragraph eight' flexibilities for developing countries in his status report

Europe's top trade negotiator said on Thursday draft negotiating texts drawn up this week for a World Trade Organisation meeting in December were inadequate, a latest sign of the deep divisions plaguing the talks.

The chairman of Doha Development Agenda's trade-related intellectual property negotiations

Workers face growing joblessness, job insecurity and worsening labor conditions under the country