Archive - 2005 - Article

Theme: 'The Hong Kong Ministerial Text: a failure for development'

The draft Ministerial text put forward on 26 November by the WTO Director-General and the General Council chair received, at the informal heads of delegation meeting on Monday, some pleasantries over the so-called 'bottom up' approach on how the text was put together, with several developing countries however highlighting the fact that many parts of the current draft did not enjoy the agreement of all members.

^Nairobi

(WTO) Ministerial Conference to be held in Hong Kong on 13-18th December was issued on Saturday 26th November. The text was presented by the WTO Director General Pascal Lamy and the General Council chair.

A group of ASEAN countries - Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam, Thailand and the Philippines - has officially submitted their substantive amendments to the Services annex of the Draft Ministerial Text to the WTO.

European Union Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said yesterday the EU wasn't prepared to accept 'extravagant demands' from trade partners who want further tariff reductions before a world trade summit next month

A group of South Korean farmers plan to stage peaceful protests at next month's ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization's (WTO) to be held in Hong Kong, an official for the group said Tuesday.

Key members of the World Trade Organization decided yesterday that trade ministers meeting in Hong Kong in mid-December should not be required to make decisions related to formula 'numbers' in either the agriculture or nonagricultural market access texts and instead focus on some questions on how the negotiations should proceed

EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson met with Central African Ministers on the 25th November in Brussels to agree on the next phase of the Economic Partnership Agreement negotiations between the two regions.

The Appellate Body issued its Report regarding the complaint of the United States against Mexico

A group of developing countries led by Argentina, Brazil, India and South Africa yesterday launched a major campaign for 'reclaiming development' in the Doha Development Agenda negotiations, arguing that industrialized countries have failed to live up to their promises made when the talks were launched four years ago