Archive for the ‘WTO’ Category

Bruce Einhorn and Mehul Srivastava
Business Week
Trade talks broke down July 29 as India and China refused to bow to U.S. demands on agricultural subsidies
It’s not often that China and India find themselves on the same side. They’re the world’s most populous countries and have two of the fastest-growing economies, but one is ruled by a [...]

SUNS
Geneva, 23 July (Kanaga Raja) — A successful Doha Development Agenda outcome has to address the need to ensure that the outcome results in healthy economies in developing countries, as well as correct the structural flaws in subsidies (in developed countries) so that it stimulates investment in agriculture in the developing countries, Indian Commerce and [...]

SUNS
Geneva, 23 July (Martin Khor) — The WTO negotiations shifted gear and format today when a new group of 7 WTO members was convened and started meeting from 3.00 pm, replacing the Green Room of 30-40 delegations as the principal forum of negotiations.
The decision to suspend the Green Room after two days was taken [...]

Carin Smaller and Anne-Laure Constantin, TIP/IATP
The Geneva Update
I. MR. LAMY’S GAMBLE: what are the chances of a Doha deal?
WTO Director General Pascal Lamy will convene a mini-ministerial meeting in Geneva starting July 21, 2008. Lamy has invited around 30 trade ministers for an intensive phase of negotiations expected to last for up to one week. [...]

Marianne V. Go
Philippine Star
The government is being urged to reject the latest trade proposals in the Non-Agriculture Market Access (NAMA) negotiations in the World Trade Organization (WTO).
A fishery non-organization said the proposals do not only result in low tariffs, it also makes the Philippines lose its policy options to protect the local fisheries sector, whose [...]

SUNS
Geneva, 24 Jun (Martin Khor) — Informal talks among 12 countries (dubbed the G12) on non agricultural market access (NAMA) organized by the United States continued on Sunday and Monday, with some progress on discussion of the request by Mercosur countries to have an extra flexibility for members of customs unions in relation to applying [...]

Marianne V. Go
Philippine Star
Rice Watch and Action Network (R1) is urging the country’s negotiators in the World Trade Organization (WTO) to reject the proposals put forward by countries led by the United States that would severely limit the Special Products (SP) and Special Safeguard Measures (SSM) coverage.
R1, a coalition of non-government organizations monitoring the ongoing [...]

Manila Times
President Arroyo renewed her call for the Social Security System (SSS) to widen its coverage and capture overseas land and sea-based workers to be part of the SSS membership.
“I encourage your strategic plans to expand your membership through mandatory coverage of all OFWs, especially seafarers,” the President told SSS officials during their 50th anniversary [...]

Ronnel Domingo
Inquirer
A fisheries advocacy group has asked the government to reject proposals on non-agricultural market access (NAMA) under the World Trade Organization’s Doha negotiations, saying this would deepen the crisis of “de-industrialization.”
The NAMA negotiations cover all industrial and manufactured products as well as other products not included in the agriculture negotiations, such as fishery, forestry [...]