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BRIDGES
Weekly Trade News Digest
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9
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Number
23
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29 June 2005
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 Lead
Stories |
EU
RELEASES REFORM PLAN FOR SUGAR
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On
22 June, the EU's executive European Commission released a new market
reform plan for the sugar sector, which is set to significantly change
a system that has been in place for 40 years. The proposal includes
a two-step, 39 percent cut in the guaranteed price of white sugar;
compensation to EU farmers for 60 percent of the price-cut in the
form of a decoupled subsidy linked to environmental and land management
standards; and a restructuring scheme encouraging less competitive
producers to move out of sugar farming as well as supporting factory
closure. The reform also offers assistance to the African, Caribbean
and Pacific (ACP) countries that currently enjoy preferential access
to the EU sugar market.
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SERVICES
CLUSTER UNDERWAY, TALKS ON BENCHMARKS FORTHCOMING
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A
two-week 'cluster' of services meetings got underway at the WTO on
20 June with the regular meetings of the Council for Trade in Services
and its subsidiary bodies. Sources report that despite many developing
countries' continued advocacy for more emphasis on the rule-making
aspect of the services negotiations -- which are the primary focus
of at least two of the subsidiary bodies -- little was achieved in
the course of the formal meetings. |
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LDCs
ADOPT COMMON POSITION FOR HONG KONG
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Least-developed
countries (LDCs) recently adopted a common negotiating position in
the Doha round WTO talks ahead of the global trade body's December
Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong. LDC trade ministers met in Livingstone,
Zambia, on 27 June, to deliberate on bargaining positions and strategy
in the ongoing multilateral trade negotiations. The 'Livingstone Declaration'
articulates a shared LDC position on the Doha round. It also calls
for rich countries to grant immediate, non-reciprocal and binding
commitments on duty- and quota-free market access for all products
from LDCs.
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EU
ADOPTS NEW GSP SCHEME
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EU
member states agreed on 23 June to a new system of trade preferences
for poor countries, which places particular emphasis on poorly diversified
economies that are dependent on a handful of export products. It expands
the number of products that can receive preferential market access
and establishes clear thresholds beyond which countries will 'graduate'
from eligibility for enhanced access. The EU's new Generalised System
of Preferences (GSP) will come into force on 1 January 2006, although
a system of additional preferences for countries that adopt certain
international agreements on labour, environment, human rights, and
governance will apply from 1 July 2005. According to a press release from the EU's executive
European Commission, it is "both simpler and fairer" than
its predecessor. |
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WTO
COTTON SUB-COMMITTEE: AFRICAN GROUP URGES RESPONSE TO NEW PROPOSAL
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The
WTO Sub-committee on Cotton held its fourth meeting on 22 June 2005.
At the gathering, African countries expressed disappointment at the
lack of written responses to their latest proposal calling for major
reforms in the trade of cotton, circulated prior to the group's 29
April meeting (see BRIDGES
Weekly, 4 May 2005). Negotiators from Benin, Burkina Faso and
several other African delegations, supported by their counterparts
from Brazil and Argentina, said that unless other countries produced
alternative proposals in writing they would be unable to report on
the progress of the sub-committee to their governments. |
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IN
MEMORIAM
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On
18 June 2005, Sanjaya Lall, a professor of development economics at
Oxford University and a leading thinker on industrial development
and policy, passed away suddenly following a heart attack. A prolific
writer and researcher on foreign investment and trade, corporate development,
industrialisation, technological capabilities and learning, he was
also editor of the multidisciplinary journal, Oxford Development Studies. |
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Events
& Resources |
| NGO
REGISTRATION FOR HONG KONG MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE |
Non-governmental
organisations (NGOs) wishing to attend the WTO's Sixth Ministerial
Conference in Hong Kong from 13-18 December 2005 may apply for WTO
accreditation online at https://meetings.wto.org/NGO/PreRegistration/ngohome.aspx?Language=E.
The deadline for registration requests is 29 July 2005 (midnight,
GMT).
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| Events |
29
June - 1 July, New York, USA: ACHIEVING THE INTERNATIONALLY AGREED
DEVELOPMENT GOALS, INCLUDING THOSE CONTAINED IN THE MILLENNIUM DECLARATION,
AS WELL AS IMPLEMENTING THE OUTCOMES OF THE MAJOR UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCES
AND SUMMITS: PROGRESS MADE, CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES. This event,
organised by UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) will include
high-level roundtable discussions, keynote addresses by heads of States
and Governments on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and feature
an element titled "voices against poverty," during which
non-UN actors will give their views on the MDGs. For further information
contact Aliye Celik, email: ecosocinfo@un.org;
Internet: http://www.un.org/docs/ecosoc/meetings/2005/hl2005/. |
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| Resources |
STRENGTHENING
INSTITUTIONS AND CAPACITIES IN THE AREA OF COMPETITION AND CONSUMER
PROTECTION POLICIES IN LATIN AMERICA: CASES OF BOLIVIA, COSTA RICA,
EL SALVADOR, HONDURAS, GUATEMALA, NICARAGUA AND PERU. United Nations
Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), June 2005. This report
addresses two main issues: the role of competition and consumer protection
policies in promoting development, and the relationship between regulatory
bodies and competition agencies. The latter will be of particular
interest to those countries that have not yet enacted competition
laws but that have begun formulating and adopting laws and regulations
governing specific sectors. A major lesson that can be drawn from
the experiences described in the publication is that countries should
progress in the field of competition and consumer law and policies
at their own pace and adopt competition laws and policies tailored
to their own needs. The publication looks at how anti-competitive
practices have been dealt with both in countries that already have
competition laws and policies in place and in
those that do not. Available online at http://www.unctad.org/en/docs/ditcclp20043_en.pdf. |
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BRIDGES
Weekly Trade News Digest is made possible in 2003-2004 through
the generous support of the Government of the United Kingdom (DFID).
Additional support is provided by ICTSD's core donors: the Governments
of Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden; Christian Aid
(UK), MISEREOR, NOVIB (NL), Oxfam (UK) and the Swiss Coalition
of Development Organisations (Switzerland). The Weekly also benefits
from support for the BRIDGES series of publications including:
the Rockefeller Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur
Foundation and Swiss Development Cooperation.
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