BRIDGES Weekly Trade News Digest

Lead Stories
Progress over Next Two Weeks Critical to Ministerial's Prospects	WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy rolled the dice last week, summoning ministers to Geneva later this month in a risky bid to salvage a deal in the troubled Doha Round of trade talks. The move is a gamble. Despite recent progress, significant divisions persist, particularly on how deeply governments should have to cut farm subsidies and industrial tariffs as part of a multilateral accord. Similar differences caused earlier pushes for a deal over the past two summers to break down in acrimony.
After 3-Year Hiatus, WIPO Patents Standing Committee Launches New Programme of Work	The WIPO Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP), under the chair of Maximiliano Santa Cruz (Chile), met from 23-26 June to discuss how the SCP should continue its work. The meeting, which followed a three-year break in the talks, occurred amidst much speculation about the fate of the negotiations on the Substantive Patent Law Treaty (SPLT). Discussions at the SCP have been at a standoff since June 2005, due to differences in opinion between developed and developing countries, particularly as to how the SCP should continue its work with regards to the SPLT, a treaty that would expand the minimum standards agreed in the WTO's Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).
High Food Prices Create Opportunity for Subsidy Reform, Report Says	Developed countries should take advantage of the current spike in commodity prices to reduce their agricultural subsidies, according to a report issued last week by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). "Not grasping the reform opportunities will prolong the life of policy measures that create imbalances," the report said.
TPR: Riding a Strong Economy, Oman Seeks to Diversify	Oman has experienced generally impressive economic performance, characterised by high real GDP growth of 5.3 percent, low inflation, and budgetary surpluses, according to a recent review by the WTO. However, the country could further boost its economy by removing restrictions on foreign direct investment in areas such as tourism, internal waterways and taxi transport, the review said.
SPS Committee Considers Establishing Working Group on Private Sector Standards	The WTO Committee that deals with food safety and animal and plant health measures recently considered the option of creating a new group to look at the controversial issue of private sector standards. Members also discussed procedures for using the chair's help to find a solution in cases in which parties disagree over the use of specific trade-related sanitary or health standards. The WTO Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) met from 24-25 June, with Members raising specific export-related concerns with regard to health and safety standards set by other Members. The meeting was preceded by informal consultations on 23 June.

In Brief	WTO in Brief
US, Vietnam to Deepen Economic Ties India, Myanmar Sign Four Economic Cooperation Agreements

Events        &        Resources
Events	4 July, Manila, Philippines. TOWARDS A MORE SOCIALLY AND ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE CITY. To present the philosophy of sustainable urban design and architecture the event is based on the Bogota success story that focused on 'building a city for people, not for cars'. The session is organised by Asian Development Bank's Urban and Transport Communities of Practice. For further information, please refer to http://www.adb.org/Documents/events/2008/Environmentally-Sustainable-City/default.asp.
Resources	ADDRESSING THE GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS: KEY TRADE, INVESTMENT AND COMMODITY POLICIES IN ENSURING SUSTAINABLE FOOD SECURITY AND ALLEVIATING POVERTY. UNCTAD, 30 May 2008. Once the international community has begun to meet the most immediate challenges of the global food crisis, says UNCTAD in a new report, it should also use the crisis as a wake-up call for overhauling the agricultural trade and production systems. The report, entitled "Addressing the Global Food Crisis: Key trade, investment and commodity policies in ensuring sustainable food security and alleviating poverty," looks at the causes of the crisis and proposes a host of responses, particularly for the long term. The report, issued in advance of the 2008 high level conference on world food security in Rome from the 3 to 5 of June, can be accessed at http://www.unctad.org/Templates/Page.asp?intItemID=4521&lang=1.
BRIDGES Weekly Trade News Digest is made possible through the generous support of the Government of the United Kingdom (DFID) and ICTSD's core donors including the Governments of Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden; Christian Aid (UK) and NOVIB (NL). BRIDGES Weekly also benefits from support for the BRIDGES series of publications from donors including the Rockefeller Foundation and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.