Archive - jul 2006

The WTO General Council which met on 27 July did not take a formal decision on the suspension of the Doha negotiations, with the Chairperson merely "taking note" of the statements on the issue that were made by the Director-General and by the delegations.

Shed no tears for the recent collapse of the trade talks, widely portrayed as a big setback for the trading system and developing nations. The suspension opens the door to a more realistic agenda.

During July 27-29, 2006, FTA Watch, GRAIN and Bilaterals.org organized the first ever international workshop to make a strategic analysis of the struggles against FTA in Bangkok, Thailand.

In the wake of this week

A few days after the collapse of negotiations at the WTO, delegates of many developing countries are pondering over several issues that have emerged over the proposal, mooted by WTO director general Pascal Lamy and supported by the Ministers of the G6 members, to suspend the Doha negotiations across the board.

In Geneva, on Thursday, at the request of WTO Director General Pascal Lamy, the ambassadors of the 149 WTO member nations, meeting in General Council, officially agreed to suspend Doha Round talks indefinitely after the stalled meeting on 24 July when the major G-6 trading powers (EU, United States, Brazil, India, Australia and Japan) were unable to reach a compromise on the modalities (figures and other provisions) for trade liberalisation in agricultural products and non-agricultural manufactured articles (NAMA).

It was a very quiet day at the WTO today, as few diplomats turned up at the building following the breakdown of the Doha negotiations on Monday.

A decision has been made at the WTO to indefinitely suspend the WTO's Doha negotiations across the board after the breakdown of the meeting ofG6 Ministers that took place on Sunday and Monday.

This op ed was carried in the main NZ newspaper, along with two others urging the government to refine its bilateral strategy and get moving.

Following the collapse of trade talks among the Ministers of theG6 countries late Sunday night, European Union Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson on Monday blamed the United States for failing to show flexibility on the issue of farm subsidies.