Articles

Agriculture and NAMA simulations from Davos

13 February, 2006
Two papers from the Davos mini-Ministerial: simulations for agriculture and NAMA, and Sensitive products

UNCTAD commission debates the crisis in committees

12 February, 2006
The commodities crisis continues to plague developing countries and international action, particularly by UNCTAD, has to be urgently taken to address it, according to several participants at the UNCTAD Commission on Trade in Goods and Services and Commodities which is meeting here this week.

Imbalances in the Hong Kong Ministerial outcome

12 February, 2006
Doha opened the door in 2001 for correcting the iniquities and imbalances in the WTO agreements and Hong Kong provided an opportunity in December 2005 to take concrete steps towards this end. But the opportunity has been totally lost. The WTO appears to be set on the usual path of developed countries' pressure tactics and developing countries' weak submission.

CBD meeting ends with draft elements of Access and Benefit Sharing Regime

10 February, 2006
The main ingredients of an international agreement on access and benefit sharing (ABS) under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) have been set out in a document at the end of a week-long meeting of the CBD's working group on access and benefit sharing held in Granada on 30 Jan to 3 Feb.

UNCTAD Commission debates trade policy, commodities, services

10 February, 2006
Developing countries put forward their positions and requests on a wide range of trade development issues at the start of this week's meeting of UNCTAD's Commission on Trade in Goods and Services and Commodities

Tubo-charging investor sovereignty: investment agreements and corporate colonialism

9 February, 2006
For corporate investors, the body of project and financial law is a frontier against which they continually aim to advance. Reconstruction of a country

Starting to Write a Text on Agriculture

9 February, 2006
Doha Development Agenda agriculture trade negotiations Chairman Crawford Falconer yesterday began his first attempt to build a text for negotiating modalities by posing questions to members on the central elements of a final agreement trade-distorting domestic support, export competition and market access

List of Questions from the Chair on Agriculture for WTO negotiations

9 February, 2006
a link to documents for the next agriculture week 13-17 February 2006.

G-6 to Meet This Weekend

9 February, 2006
The United States will host a meeting this weekend of senior officials and envoys of the Group-of-Six countries the United States, the European Union, Brazil, India, Australia and Japan to discuss the most difficult issues remaining in the Doha Development Agenda agricultural trade negotiations.

WTO Ruling Backs Biotech Crops; European Ban, Challenged by U.S and Allies, Violates Trade Regulations, Panel Says

7 February, 2006
The World Trade Organization ruled yesterday that a six-year European ban on genetically engineered crops violates international trade rules, according to U.S. sources familiar with the ruling.

US may press Africa on GMOs

7 February, 2006
The U.S. may push Africa to accept gene-altered (GMO) food now that the World Trade Organization (WTO) has ruled the EU broke rules by barring GMO foods and seeds, but Africans vowed on Wednesday to resist.

Groups publish conclusions of WTO dispute: IATP, Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace: WTO secrecy an outrage

7 February, 2006
The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Friends of the Earth Europe and Greenpeace have made the conclusions of the WTO dispute on genetically modified organisms public in order to allow the whole world to engage in the debate on the future of our food.

US wins WTO backing in war with Europe over GM food

7 February, 2006
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Food ruling will keep WTO in activists? sights

6 February, 2006
When scores of activists dressed as turtles appeared on the streets of Seattle during the disastrous World Trade Organisation meeting in 1999, it became clear that the WTO had inadvertently backed into the gunsights of environmental campaigners.

WTO Rules Against EU's Biotech-Seed Rules, People Say (Update1)

6 February, 2006
The World Trade Organization ruled against the European Union in a dispute over genetically engineered crops from companies such as Monsanto Co., people familiar with the ruling said, aiding U.S. efforts to limit worldwide regulation of the technology.

UPDATE 2-WTO condemns EU over GMO moratorium - diplomats

6 February, 2006
The World Trade Organisation, in a closely watched ruling, decreed on Tuesday that the European Union and six member states had broken trade rules by barring entry to genetically modified crops and foods.

Biotech industry hails WTO ruling, greens annoyed

6 February, 2006
Biotech industry groups hailed a world trade ruling on Tuesday that condemned the European Union over its policy on genetically modified (GMO) crops and foods, while green groups blasted it as a direct attack on democracy.

Developing country group asks for policy space in NAMA talks

6 February, 2006
A group of ten developing countries at the NAMA (Non-Agricultural Market Access) negotiations has called for policy space for their national industrial development priorities.

US, Korea to Negotiate FTA

2 February, 2006
President Bush formally notifies Congress today that the United States and South Korea will embark on free-trade agreement negotiations

EU Response to USTR paper

31 January, 2006
Link to an EU Response to the recent USTR Paper examining the implications of the EU offer on agriculture market access