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The Chair of the Special Session of the WTO Committee on Agriculturetold members at an informal meeting Monday that despite variousconsultations, he has not seen any 'material progress' in the agriculture negotiations since the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference in December.

The World Trade Organisation's Doha round of trade negotiations is billed as a development round, reflecting the fact that developing countries were reluctant to start another one unless structural imbalances in trade were addressed as a priority.

Link to the collective request on Mode 3.

Developing countries risk losing their present flexibility to decide on the standards for granting patents if developed countries' proposals for a new WIPO treaty on patents are adopted.

A link to a report issued by the Chair of the NAMA negotiations on his recent consultations.

After the Hong Kong ministerial meet of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) last December, not much progress seems to have been made in key areas of the ongoing negotiations. The recent meeting of the G-6 countries, including India, was not very productive.

Activists over the weekend launched a campaign against a planned bilateral free trade deal with the US, saying it could undermine job and food security and the nation's economy.

A link to the least developed country (LDC) Group submission on food aid. Please note in particular the reference to the possibility for monetisation 'under exceptional circumstances, to fund activities that are directly related to the delivery of the food aid to, or facilitating procurement of agriculture inputs, where necessary by the final recipients.'

Links to the NAMA 11 Statement on ensuring a fair, balanced and development friendly outcome on NAMA and a paper by Argentina on how to implement paragraph 24 of the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration which aims to achieve a balanced outcome between agriculture and NAMA market access.

WTO farm talks, a central part of global free trade negotiations, have made some progress ahead of an April deadline but a breakthrough will come only when key political issues are resolved, officials said on Friday.