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Brazil: WTO Cotton Victory Against US Reaffirmed; Pressures EU On Sugar
The WTO Appellate Body has upheld all major findings of an earlier WTO panel that ruled that US cotton subsidies were in violation of WTO rules on agriculture and subsidies (see BRIDGES Weekly, 15 September 2004). In its 3 March report, the Appellate Body confirmed that certain US payments to farmers, such as ‘product flexibility contracts’…
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Ministers Report Progress At Kenya Mini-Ministerial
Ministers and senior trade officials from about 30 influential WTO Member countries are saying that the 2-4 March ‘mini-ministerial’ meeting in Kenya has helped speed up the ongoing Doha Round trade negotiations. Although the three days of talks saw continuing differences among Members, particularly over the priority of agricultural subsidy reform within the overall discussions,…
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Southern African Countries Reject 'Trips-Plus' Demands In FTA Negotiation
Southern African countries have rejected the European Free Trade Association’s (EFTA; comprised of Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein) proposal on intellectual property rights (IPRs) in the free-trade agreement (FTA) negotiations between the two trading blocs. In an 18 February letter to the Treatment Action Campaign, a South Africa-based grassroots public health group, South African…
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Brazil, US Pursue FTA Rapprochement; Mercosur Cosies Up To Central America
Senior trade officials from Brazil and the US met on 22-23 February in an attempt to set out common ground to put negotiations for the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) back on track. While sources described the meeting as "constructive" and "showing positive movement," differences persisted over agriculture and intellectual property rights issues.…
- In Brief
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In Brief
DEVELOPING COUNTRY GROUP OFFICIALLY REJECTS INFORMAL WIPO MEETING OUTCOME A group of developing countries has rejected the outcome of a recent meeting during which selected members of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) discussed the continuation of the global patent harmonisation process. The meeting, held in Casablanca, Morocco, had been…
- WTO in Brief
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WTO In Brief
AGRICULTURE: PROGRESS MADE ON AVEs AT MOMBASA ‘MINI-MINISTERIAL’ Participants at a mini-ministerial meeting in Mombasa, Kenya from 2-4 March (see related story, this issue) reported some headway on the tricky issue of how to convert ’specific’ agricultural tariffs based on quantities into ‘ad valorem’ equivalents (AVEs), i.e., tariffs based…
- 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: 10 - 16 March 11-13 March 2005, Stresa, Italy: THE WTO AT 10: THE ROLE OF THE DISPUTE SETTLEMENT SYSTEM. Organised by the Research Centre on…
- Resources
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Resources
DEVELOPING COUNTRY PROPOSALS FOR THE LIBERALIZATION OF MOVEMENTS OF NATURAL SERVICE SUPPLIERS. By L. Alan Winters. Development Research Centre on Migration, Globalisation and Poverty, January 2005. This paper is about developing countries’ proposals on the liberalisation of the movement of natural persons to provide services in the GATS negotiations (Mode 4). The paper considers the…