Archive - Feb 21, 2007

Indonesia will remain firm in its stance favoring “special product exemptions” during the Doha Development Round negotiations, says a minister, brushing aside concerns that the country might compromise on its position in the light of the visit of WTO Director General Pascal Lamy.

Pascal Lamy is a man with a mission. Since assuming the post of Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in September 2005, the former Trade Commissioner of the European Union has taken to heart his role as the captain of global trade, hoping to steer the 148 Member countries of the WTO into concluding a new multilateral trade agreement under the Doha Round the soonest possible time.

The relationship between the TRIPS Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity and the issue of enforcement of TRIPS provisions dominated the discussions at a meeting of the TRIPS Council on Tuesday 13 February.

The Doha Round was launched on false pretences, including calling it a development round, and the ability of developed countries to make it a development round is “absent”, according to former United States Trade Representative, Charlene Barshefsky.