The Millennium Round: Setting the Stage for Developing Countries

Volume

1,

Number

6

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1 December 1997

The Millennium Round: Setting the Stage for Developing Countries

1 December 1997

`Get involved in the early stages of setting the agenda for the year 2000 round of WTO negotiations,' Gamani Corea, former Secretary-General of UNCTAD, urged developing countries at a meeting held in Geneva in late November. Convened by the CUTS Centre for International Trade, Economics and...

The Enigma of APEC

1 December 1997

Jeff Atkinson

At the APEC Ministerial meetings and Leaders' summit held in Vancouver in November, governments wanting to see APEC become a leading instrument for trade liberalisation were again frustrated. And those wanting to see APEC's potential for regional co-operation used to address crucial regional issues...

Trade Provisions Still Possible on Post-Kyoto Agenda

1 December 1997

Aniket Ghai

Discussion on potential conflicts between the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and international trade rules was limited during the Convention negotiations and remained so until recently. The Framework Convention contains neither binding greenhouse gas reduction...

WTO News

1 December 1997

Financial Services Agreement Reached The Committee on Financial Services exceeded its negotiation deadline of 12 December by two hours but emerged with a new multilateral protocol that, according to the WTO, covers more than 95 percent of trade in banking, insurance, securities and financial...

Dispute Settlement Corner

1 December 1997

Panel Finds Against Argentina's Textile Taxes A WTO dispute settlement panel report, circulated on 25 November, found that Argentina's import taxes on footwear, textiles and other apparel in excess of its bound rate of 35 percent were not justified under GATT law. The United States had alleged...

Renato Ruggiero on Trade and Sustainable Development

1 December 1997

On 9 December 1997, Renato Ruggiero, Director-General of the World Trade Organization, delivered a major speech in Bonn on the subject of sustainable development. As this was the first time a high official of the multilateral trading system publicly addressed some of the key concerns of civil...

Developing Country Trade Issues: Standards, IPRs and Dispute Settlement

1 December 1997

Raghav Narsalay

The CUTS-ICTSD Roundtable on Trade Issues for Developing Countries was held from 27-28 November in Geneva (see cover story for an overview). The first session focused on multilateral trade rules of particular importance to developing countries. Standards While a few developing countries have...

Developing Country Trade Issues: Market Access

1 December 1997

Christophe Bellmann

`When we talk about market access we can bring out all kinds of economic arguments regarding access to developed country textile markets and so on but as long as issues relating to power are not addressed there is no way we can bring about changes in the relationship between the North and the South...

Developing Country Trade Issues: New Issues

1 December 1997

Marie-Claire Segger-Cordonier

It was clear, at the conclusion of the joint ICTSD - CUTS Roundtable, held in November in Geneva, that `new issues' for developing countries in the international trade system will need much further debate and consideration. Provocative remarks from the Chair, Professor Jagdish Bhagwati of Columbia...

MEA News

1 December 1997

Biodiversity Convention: Protecting Indigenous Knowledge The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity organised a Workshop on Traditional Knowledge and Biological Diversity from 24-28 November 1997 in Madrid. The workshop sought to identify ways of implementing the Convention's Article...