Articles

Draft Modalities on Agriculture and NAMA

21 June, 2006
TIP-IATP
The Draft Modalities on Agriculture and NAMA are now available on the WTO website.

Uphill battles for South in WTO's end-June process

20 June, 2006
By Martin Khor, TWN Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues
The 'end of June' process at the WTO is expected to start in earnest on Wednesday (21 June) with the issuance of two papers - the draft modalities on agriculture and on non-agricultural market access (NAMA).

Differences remain as NAMA Chair prepares his modalities text

20 June, 2006
By Kanaga Raja, TWN Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues
The Chair of the negotiations on Non-Agriculture Market Access (NAMA) at the WTO has reported that he would be working on a text that would reflect members' positions on modalities for the consideration of Ministers at a meeting expected to take place later this month in Geneva.

Beware of NAMA's slippery slope to de-industrialisation

20 June, 2006
By Mehdi Shafaeddin, TWN Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues
Following the failure of the WTO to finalise modalities for agriculture and non-agriculture market access (NAMA) at the scheduled deadline of the end of April, the WTO's Director-General Mr. Pascal Lamy warned that the price of 'failure' would be high. A new deadline of the end of June has now been set, for a mini-Ministerial meeting to finalise the modalities.

Crunch Time in Geneva: pressure tactics in the GATS negotiations

20 June, 2006
by Scott Sinclair, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
Global civil society should not be lulled into complacency by gloomy media reports about the deadlock in the Doha Round negotiations.

Developing countries submit texts for NAMA modalities

20 June, 2006
By Goh Chien Yen, TWN Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues
Several WTO members submitted draft texts last week to the Chair of the Negotiating Group on NAMA for his preparation of the draft modalities paper, which is to be issued this week. Among them were the NAMA-11 and the small and vulnerable economies.

On the right path to development: African Countries Pave the Way

16 June, 2006
By Carin Smaller and Sophia Murphy, IATP
The June 7 proposal by the African Group (an alliance of 41 African countries) to the WTO on managing trade in agricultural commodities is a refreshing way forward for addressing poverty and improving living standards in rural areas in the context of the Doha Agenda.

New papers on Agriculture from Canada and Australia

7 June, 2006
Carin Smaller
Links to three new submission in relation to agriculture market access.

Deadlines and the DDA Ag Talks

6 June, 2006
Washington Trade Daily
A senior US agricultural trade negotiator in the Doha Development Agenda commented yesterday that he has not seen so much 'negotiating enthusiasm' in Geneva for months - but not enough to create a 'level of ambition' that would lead the way to an eventual conclusion (WTD, 6/6/06).

'Traditional Knowledge' and Biodiversity

6 June, 2006
Washington Trade Daily
The United States yesterday sharply opposed the idea of commencing text-based negotiations on disclosing the origin of biological resources and 'traditional knowledge' in patent applications (WTD, 5/26/06).

South American Ministers vow to avoid TRIPS-plus measures

31 May, 2006
Martin Khor (TWN), Geneva, 24 May 2006
The Ministers of Health of ten South American countries have issued ajoint declaration on intellectual property committing themselves toavoid 'TRIPS plus' provisions in bilateral and regional trade agreements, to facilitate the use of compulsory licensing and parallel importing and to avoid broadening the scope of patentability and the extension of patentable areas.

EU outlines farm moves to U.S. to unblock WTO talks

23 May, 2006
By William Schomberg
The European Union outlined to the United States on Tuesday how it might improve its agricultural offer in a long-delayed global trade round and said the next move must be Washington's, an EU official said.

Debate on policy space dominates UNCTAD Review

12 May, 2006
Martin Khor, TWN, Geneva, 9 May 2006
'Policy space', an issue that featured most prominently at the UNCTAD eleventh session in Sao Paulo in 2004, has re-emerged as a burning issue at the UNCTAD Mid-Term Review (MTR) meeting held here this week.

UNCTAD Mid-Term Review starts debate on its role, mandate

11 May, 2006
Martin Khor (TWN), Geneva 8 May 2006
A week-long meeting of the 2006 Mid-Term Review (MTR) of UNCTAD XI started Monday with key delegations and groupings giving their initial positions on the mandate and future role of UNCTAD, including in light of the current United Nations reform process.

Services Domestic Regulation: Developing countries insist on right to regulate services

11 May, 2006
Martin Khor (TWN), Geneva, 9 May 2006
Many developing countries and their groupings have declared at a WTO services meeting on new disciplines on domestic regulation that there is no need to establish rules based on a 'necessity test', and that the rules should adequately recognize the developing countries' right to regulate their services.

Agriculture talks at boiling point over Special Products

8 May, 2006
Martin Khor (TWN), Geneva, 5 May 2006
WTO negotiations in agriculture have reached a near-crisis over the issues of Special Products (SP) and Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM), with developing countries that have championed these concepts being in a state of fury at what they see as attempts by the United States and some other exporting countries to undermine agreement on and use of these two instruments.

More Agriculture Papers from the WTO

7 May, 2006
Carin Smaller
Links to several documents that have been distributed in the recent agriculture negotiations.

Recent Communications on Domestic Regulation in GATS

7 May, 2006
Carin Smaller
Links to the recent communications on domestic regulation in the GATS negotiations.

No WTO deal better than a bad deal, says Indian Minister

4 May, 2006
Kanaga Raja, Geneva, 25 April 2006
India's Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath stressed on 25 April in Geneva that the current WTO talks must not violate cardinal development principles.

Chair's Reference Paper on Special Products

4 May, 2006
Carin Smaller
Link to the Chair's reference paper on Special Products.