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Tariff Conversion Main Sticking Point Of Agriculture Week
WTO delegates convened for the first ‘agriculture week’ of the year from 7-11 February. The meeting ended in an impasse over the conversion of tariffs based on quantities into ‘ad valorem’ equivalents (AVEs), i.e., tariffs based on the price of the product. Wrapping up the agriculture week in a formal meeting of the Committee on…
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WTO Members Aim For July 'Approximations,' Hong Kong Deal
WTO Members must aim to agree by the December WTO summit in Hong Kong on the outlines of an agreement that would allow them to finalise the Doha Round of trade liberalisation talks in 2006, said senior trade diplomats and WTO officials at the 14 February meeting of the Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC). At the…
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WTO General Council Appoints Chairs For 2005
At its 15 February meeting, the WTO General Council formally approved the list of committee chair appointments for 2005. Ambassador Amina Chawahir Mohamed of Kenya became the chair of the General Council, making her the first woman (and second African) to head the WTO’s highest-level decision-making body outside the biennial Ministerial Conferences. Challenging year ahead for…
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Mercosur '4+1' Proposal Meets Cool Response In US, Canada
Attempts by the members of South America’s largest trade bloc to individually engage the US and Canada in separate market access negotiations met with a lukewarm response in both Washington and Ottawa earlier this month. Both North American countries told representatives from the Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR, comprised of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and…
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EU To Implement New GSP Three Months Early
The EU has announced that its new system of trade preferences for poor countries will enter into effect three months early. On 10 February, the European Commission (EC), the EU’s executive body, announced that its expanded ‘Generalised System of Preferences’ (GSP) would enter into force on 1 April instead of 1 July as originally planned.…
- In Brief
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African, World Leaders Discuss Southern Perspectives On Agriculture Trade
EUROPE LOOKING BEYOND KYOTO AS PROTOCOL ENTERS INTO FORCE On 16 February, the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change entered into force following Russia’s ratification in November 2004 (see BRIDGES Trade BioRes, 19 November 2004). The event was celebrated around the world both by…
- WTO in Brief
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WTO In Brief
CAIRNS GROUP SLAMS EU EXPORT SUPPORT FOR WHEAT The Cairns group of exporters of agricultural products — including Australia, Argentina and Canada — issued a joint statement on 9 February condemning new EU export subsidies. The EU reinstated export subsidies for wheat on 3 February in a move it…
- 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 us. Coming Up: 17 - 23 February 21 February, Geneva, Switzerland: UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR EUROPE (UNECE) SPRING SEMINAR 2005. The Economic Analysis Division Spring Seminar takes place…
- Resources
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Resources
ECONOMIC GROWTH IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN: STYLISED FACTS, EXPLANATIONS, AND FORCASTS. By Norman Loayza, Pablo Fajnzylber, and Cesar Calderon. World Bank, March 2005. This book analyses whether economic reforms have been beneficial to growth in Latin American and the Caribbean. It also recognises that growth is driven by a variety of factors; in…