Archive - Nov 2005

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

^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.

Agriculture, nonagricultural market access and Special and Differential Treatment for developing countries will be the most difficult issues for trade ministers to tackle at the upcoming Hong Kong ministerial, said World Trade Organization Director General Pascal Lamy

Although there is this categorization into three states of convergence

a set of tables setting out data on how tariff lines will be affected by different coefficients under the Swiss formula in the NAMA negotiations.

preliminary comments by the author mainly on agriculture

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