Archive - Feb 7, 2007

A number of G33 ministers present at Davos had issued a statement on behalf of the grouping emphasizing that any convergence on Special Products (SPs) and Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM) must not 'subvert the development goals and aspirations of the vast bulk of small, poor and vulnerable producers of developing countries.'

The WTO Negotiating Group on Market Access for Non-agricultural Products (NAMA) concluded on Thursday 25 January four days of consultations in different formats to advance the technical work in the negotiations. The consultations to advance technical work covered areas such as Ad Valorem Equivalents, Non-Tariff Barriers, Recently Acceded Members and sectorals.

As Malaysia and the US engaged in another round of bilateral talks to finalise a free trade agreement (FTA), a group of citizens staged a peaceful protest outside the US embassy in Kuala Lumpur.

The Group of 20 developing country alliance has criticized the Bush administration's proposal for reforming U.S. farm subsidy programs, arguing that the changes would not lead to any real cuts in actual spending.