Agriculture: WTO Members still far from convergence on key issues, says Chair

30 April, 2015
TWN Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues (Apr15/10)
The Doha trade talks and efforts to reach an accord on a post-Bali work programme are stuck on agriculture issues of domestic support and market access, with members standing firm on their positions and are a "long way" to meet the July deadline, the Chair of the agriculture negotiations said on 24 April.

D-G must come clean on previous mandates on Doha

30 April, 2015
TWN Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues (Apr15/09)
In the background of informal meeting of the Trade Negotiations Committee convened for 27 April Chakravarthi Raghavan argues that the large majority of developing countries hope WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo will come clean on what he intends to do with the previous mandates on the Doha Round talks, and whether in fact he intends to dump them as the US wants, and drastically change the special and differential treatment provisions in agriculture for developing countries in order to open their markets to heavily subsidised agri-exports of the US.

Proposals put forward on services pillar of post-Bali work

24 April, 2015
TWN Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues (Apr15/08)
An informal meeting of the Special Session of the Council for Trade in Services on Monday (20 April), amongst others, heard proposals from some Members on defining the services component of the post-Bali work programme on the remaining Doha Development Agenda (DDA) issues. Members also agreed that the services component of the work programme should include market access and rule-making for services trade, with the market access negotiations needing to move in parallel with the rule- making part of the services agenda.

G-33 insist on SSM, reject developed-country demands to drop it

24 April, 2015
TWN Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues (Apr15/07)
Members of the G-33 farm coalition, seeking better terms for low-income and subsistence farmers in the developing countries, have severely criticised attempts to deny the special safeguard mechanism (SSM) for curbing the unforeseen surges in imports of agricultural products from heavily subsidised beneficiaries of the Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) under the Marrakesh Treaty negotiated during the Uruguay Round.

Our World is Not for Sale (OWINFS) network members' demonstration at WTO MC9 Bali 2013

Our World is Not for Sale (OWINFS) network members' demonstration at WTO MC9 Bali 2013.

Carta de la sociedad civil sobre el régimen de inversiones y la UNCTAD

15 October, 2014
Las organizaciones de la sociedad civil signatarias, en representación de sus bases de apoyo en diversas regiones del mundo, nos dirigimos a ustedes para expresarles nuestras inquietudes respecto de las consecuencias que acarrean los tratados de protección de inversiones para el futuro del desarrollo sustentable en nuestros países y regiones. Exhortamos a que el trabajo de las distintas divisiones de la UNCTAD sobre estas cuestiones exhiba un grado mayor de coherencia, alineando a tal efecto su trabajo con el enfoque de desarrollo establecido a lo largo de hace más de 30 años en el Informe sobre Comercio y Desarrollo de la UNCTAD.

TISA - Por qué este acuerdo de libre comercio de servicios es peligroso para la democracia, el desarrollo y el interés general y ¡Debemos Pararlo!

1 March, 2015
OWINFS Briefing Paper
¿Un Acuerdo Internacional sobre el Comercio de Servicios? (TISA) - Por qué este acuerdo de libre comercio de servicios es peligroso para la democracia, el desarrollo y el interés general y ¡Debemos Pararlo!

¿HACIA UN ACUERDO SECRETO INTERNACIONAL SOBRE LOS SERVICIOS FINANCIEROS?

1 October, 2014
OWINFS Briefing Paper
Informe de OWINFS: Este informe de la red OWINFS relativo al Acuerdo sobre el Comercio de Servicios (TISA) analiza cómo el TISA que se propone presiona a favor de políticas desregulatorias peligrosas en torno a los servicios financieros y pone en peligro la capacidad regulatoria financiera futura de los gobiernos

Sharp "asymmetries" in levels of ambition emerge in TiSA talks

20 April, 2015
TWN Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues (Apr15/04)
As the technical experts and negotiators engaged in the controversial plurilateral initiative on Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) prepare a report on their overall progress during the last three years, it has emerged that there will be sharp "asymmetries" in the levels of ambition in different services sectors, according to several members familiar with the negotiations. In this brief D Ravi Kanth provides an overview of levels of ambition in current TISA negotiations,