Archive - Jul 2006 - Article

Shed no tears for the recent collapse of the trade talks, widely portrayed as a big setback for the trading system and developing nations. The suspension opens the door to a more realistic agenda.

The WTO General Council which met on 27 July did not take a formal decision on the suspension of the Doha negotiations, with the Chairperson merely "taking note" of the statements on the issue that were made by the Director-General and by the delegations.

During July 27-29, 2006, FTA Watch, GRAIN and Bilaterals.org organized the first ever international workshop to make a strategic analysis of the struggles against FTA in Bangkok, Thailand.

In the wake of this week

In Geneva, on Thursday, at the request of WTO Director General Pascal Lamy, the ambassadors of the 149 WTO member nations, meeting in General Council, officially agreed to suspend Doha Round talks indefinitely after the stalled meeting on 24 July when the major G-6 trading powers (EU, United States, Brazil, India, Australia and Japan) were unable to reach a compromise on the modalities (figures and other provisions) for trade liberalisation in agricultural products and non-agricultural manufactured articles (NAMA).

A few days after the collapse of negotiations at the WTO, delegates of many developing countries are pondering over several issues that have emerged over the proposal, mooted by WTO director general Pascal Lamy and supported by the Ministers of the G6 members, to suspend the Doha negotiations across the board.

It was a very quiet day at the WTO today, as few diplomats turned up at the building following the breakdown of the Doha negotiations on Monday.

tralian Trade Minister Vaile is mistaken to put his faith in bilateral deals following the collapse of the WTO negotiations. This is not a time to retreat into bilateral deals, which are even more unfair to developing countries and medium sized economies like Australia.

This op ed was carried in the main NZ newspaper, along with two others urging the government to refine its bilateral strategy and get moving.

According to various reports, the 14 hour meeting on 23rd amongst the G6 ministers ended in the early hours of the morning of the 24th. Ministers did not even get around to discussing NAMA.