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WTO Agriculture Negotiations: Members To Agree On ‘Pre-Modalities’ By August 2005
On 17 December, delegates wrapped up their final "agriculture week" of the year, with Chair Tim Groser of New Zealand calling for agreement on "pre-modalities" by mid-2005, so that Members can strike a deal at the sixth WTO Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong in December 2005. The agriculture week was the third set of agriculture…
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Feud Over Textiles Technical Assistance Ends
A disagreement among developing countries that had prevented them from approving the WTO technical assistance and training plan (TATP) for 2005 was resolved at a meeting of the WTO’s Committee on Trade and Development (CTD) on 10 December. The TATP had been blocked due to resistance from China, India, Pakistan and Hong Kong. These countries…
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Vietnam's Accession Progresses; Civil Society Concerns Raised
After finishing the ninth round of its WTO membership talks at the 15 December meeting of the Working Party on its accession, Vietnam is looking to complete the negotiations in time for the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference in December 2005. Entry talks have been underway for ten years. The 63 Members that are negotiating a membership…
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Rules Group Discusses Fisheries Subsidies, Anti-Dumping
The WTO Negotiating Group on Rules held a formal meeting on 16 December to talk about fisheries subsidies and anti-dumping measures. This was preceded by three days of informal meetings during which Members discussed issues including regional trade agreements in addition to anti-dumping. Disagreement on approach to fisheries subsidies disciplines At the 16 December meeting, the US…
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Vacancies ICTSD
ICTSD is seeking an intern for the Trade and Natural Resources cluster. The intern will be responsible for supporting the agriculture, environment and natural resources team at ICTSD. The main tasks will comprise assisting in organising meetings on agriculture, biotechnology, fisheries and environment; maintaining the ICTSD trade & environment and agriculture trade web portals; writing…
- In Brief
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In Brief
CLIMATE CHANGE MEETING TAKES CAUTIOUS LOOK AT POST-KYOTO ERA On 18 December climate change negotiators wrapped up two weeks of discussions by agreeing to engage in further talks on what might come after the Kyoto Protocol. The tenth Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) convened on a high…
- WTO in Brief
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Kituyi Drops Out Of DG Race; Four Candidates Remain
CONSULTATIONS ON GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS UNDERWAY Members met on 16 December for the first session of technical consultations on whether or not to extend to other products the additional protection for geographical indications (GI) that the WTO Agreement on Trade-related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) currently accords to wines and spirits.…
- Events
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Events
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. ICTSD Event 17-19 January 2005, Paris, France: TRADE IN CULTURAL GOODS, TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY. ICTSD session at the Third Global Forum on Human Development (see below).…
- Resources
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Resources
A MODEL INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT AGREEMENT FOR THE PROMOTION OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. By Konrad von Moltke, International Institute for Sustainable Development, November 2004. The current model for international investment agreements (including many failed attempts, such as the OECD’s MAI) is too narrowly focused on investor rights. This paper asks what an investment agreement would look like…