BRIDGES Weekly Trade News Digest

Lead Stories
MIND THE GAPS: DIVISIONS PERSIST AS AG, NAMA CHAIRS AND G-4 STEP UP SEARCH FOR COMPROMISE	Trade negotiators at the WTO are saying that it is "now or never" for the troubled Doha Round talks, and that the next two months will either see a framework agreement or a prolonged breakdown. WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy on 6 June once again called on Member delegations to soften their negotiating stances, "so that effective bargaining can take place." He said that meetings over the upcoming weeks would be crucial for efforts to agree on 'modalities' for determining tariff and subsidy cuts in the agriculture and industrial goods talks.
AG: HINTS OF RAPPROCHEMENT AMIDST DIFFERENCES, AS DRAFT 'MODALITIES' TEXT LOOMS	Trade diplomats report signs of movement and an improved atmosphere in the troubled Doha Round agriculture talks, saying that long-awaited concessions on market access and subsidy reform may finally be emerging as the chair of the negotiating group puts together a new draft 'modalities' text to release later this month. Chair Ambassador Crawford Falconer (New Zealand) is expected to issue the new text, which will describe the controversial formulae and numbers for farm tariff and subsidy cuts as well as exceptions to them, during the week of 25 June. However, some suggest that he might issue it even before a 19-22 June meeting of the 'G-4' group of major trading partners - Brazil, the EU, India and the US - during which they have promised to try to bridge their differences.
EU, ACP DETERMINED TO MEET END-OF-YEAR DEADLINE FOR EPAs	Leaders from African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states have vowed once again to work to finalise a set of free trade agreements with the EU before a critical end-of-year deadline, although many issues in the negotiations remain unresolved. Meeting in Brussels from 22-24 May, the ACP ministers expressed their commitment to moving forward with the economic partnership agreement (EPA) negotiations, provided the EU heed their calls to include a number of specific concessions in the deals on issues such as adjustment aid and rules of origin.

In Brief	WTO in Brief
G8 Clashes Over Climate Change in Run-up to Summit	Japan Proposes 'Bottom-up' Approach to Fisheries Subsidies, Instead of Blanket Ban

Events        &        Resources
Events	3-15 June, The Hague, Netherlands. FOURTEENTH MEETING OF THE CONFERENCE OF THE PARTIES TO CITES. Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) will consider 40 new proposals for rules changes regarding the protection of specific species. Participants will also discuss enforcement of CITES regulations, the control of illicit trafficking, and the effects of CITES rules on the rural poor. The meeting's agenda also includes the establishment of a new strategic vision for 2008 to 2013. For more information, email cites@unep.ch. internet: http://www.cites.org/eng/cop/index.shtml
Resources	THE ROLE OF DOMESTIC DEBT MARKETS IN ECONOMIC GROWTH: AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION FOR LOW-INCOME COUNTRIES AND EMERGING MARKETS. By Ali Abbas and Jakob Christensen. International Monetary Fund, June 2007. The authors of this working paper present evidence suggesting that moderate levels of non-inflationary domestic debt, as a share of GDP and bank deposits, exert a positive overall impact on economic growth. Drawing on an analysis of a public domestic debt database that covers 93 low-income countries and emerging markets over a thirty-year period, the authors conclude that the growth contribution of domestic debt is higher if it is marketable, bears positive real interest rates, and is held outside the banking system. The full text of the paper is available at http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2007/wp07127.pdf.
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.