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GC Chair Issues Note To Accompany Draft Ministerial Text As Members Prepare For Cancun Meeting
With only few days to go before ministers meet for the fifth WTO Ministerial from 10-14 September, participants and civil society organisations are already convening in Cancun, Mexico, for a number of workshops, teach-ins, meetings and informal talks between Members. Meanwhile, WTO General Council Chair Carlos Perez del Castillo, with Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi, issued a…
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Industrial Market Access: North-South Split Persists Leading Into Cancun
During informal meetings at the WTO last week, an annex on industrial market access attached to the 24 August draft Ministerial text continued to elicit reactions from dissatisfied countries. While the Chair of the Negotiating Group on Non-agricultural Market Access (NAMA), Pierre-Louis Girard, had submitted a revised modalities paper on 19 August, persistent lack of…
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S&D 'Early Harvest': The 'Development' Agenda In Action?
While official word was that the Geneva process was over, Chair Pérez del Castillo tried to call an informal Heads of Delegations session on Wednesday, 3 September to discuss the most divisive proposals put on the table by developing countries in the review to strengthen and operationalise special and differential treatment (S&D) provisions. A combination…
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DSB Update: Lumber, Quarantine Laws, Biotech And Sugar
Both the US and Canada recently claimed victory in a dispute over US import duties on Canadian softwood lumber. In the latest of series of rulings under the WTO dispute settlement body (DSB), a panel ruled that logging fees set by Canadian provincial governments constituted a "financial contribution" to…
- In Brief
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Landlocked LDCs Make Gains At Almaty Conference
AFRICAN COUNTRIES HOLD PRE-CANCUN MEETING The Global Coalition for Africa held a two-day meeting on 28 August to discuss trade issues ahead of the fifth WTO Ministerial meeting in Mexico from 10-14 September. Bringing together ministers of trade, parliamentarians, private sector players, representatives of regional and international organisations and of Africa’s bilateral partners, the…
- WTO in Brief
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Members Agree On Special Treatment For LDCs In Services Talks
WTO MEMBERS REACH LAST-MINUTE DEAL ON TRIPS & HEALTH After a flurry of eleventh hour negotiations, WTO Members on 30 August adopted the 16 December Decision on paragraph 6 of the Doha Declaration on the TRIPs (Trade- related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) Agreement and Public Health together with a statement by the TRIPs Council Chair,…
- Events
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Events
For a more comprehensive list of events in trade and sustainable development, please refer to ICTSD’s web calendar. If you would like to submit an event, please email events@ictsd.ch. ICTSD Events 5-7 September, Cancun, Mexico: 18TH GLOBAL BIODIVERSITY FORUM - BIODIVERSITY, TRADE AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. This session of the GBF is jointly organised by ICTSD, IUCN, SEMARNAT,…
- Resources
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Resources
ICTSD Resources BRIDGES DAILY UPDATES on the negotiations at the fifth WTO Ministerial in Cancun will be produced in English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Chinese and Russian from 9 to 14 September 2003. They will be sent to BRIDGES Weekly readers, and also be accessible at http://www.ictsd.org/ministerial. CANCUN WEBPAGE. ICTSD maintains information online on the latest news,…