BRIDGES Weekly Trade News Digest

Lead Stories
DOHA NEGOTIATING GROUP CHAIRS ACKNOWLEDGE NO FRAMEWORK DEAL POSSIBLE BEFORE AUGUST	The chairs of the Doha Round negotiations on agriculture and industrial goods last week announced the schedule for discussing the draft versions of conceivable deals that they will soon present to WTO Members, effectively abandoning hopes for a deadlock-breaking accord by the end of July. In a joint note to delegations on 5 July, agriculture Chair Ambassador Crawford Falconer (New Zealand) and non-agricultural market access Chair Ambassador Don Stephenson (Canada) said that they would circulate the draft negotiating texts they are preparing in "mid-July."
MERCOSUR AGREES ON CONCESSIONS TO PARAGUAY, URUGUAY, AS CHÁVEZ CASTS CLOUD OVER SUMMIT	South American leaders from the Mercosur (Common Market of the South) trade bloc agreed at a recent summit to several measures aimed at mitigating asymmetries between the group's minnows, Paraguay and Uruguay, and giants Brazil and Argentina. Nevertheless, clouds were cast over the meeting by controversy over Venezuela's pending accession to the bloc.
WIPO COMMITTEE ON GENETIC RESOURCES, TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE INCONCLUSIVE THUS FAR	After over six years of discussions, members of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) remain divided on whether to create a new binding international treaty to protect genetic resources, traditional knowledge, and folklore against misappropriation, with an ongoing committee meeting on the issue inconclusive thus far.

In Brief	WTO in Brief
Looking Beyond Doha, APEC Trade Ministers Seek to Simplify FTA 'Spaghetti Bowl' Indonesia, Japan to Sign Free Trade Agreement

Events        &        Resources
Events	2 - 27 July, Geneva, Switzerland. ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL (ECOSOC) 2007 SUBSTANTIVE SESSION. The 2007 Substantive Session for ECOSOC will be organised as follows: high-level segment (2-5 July 2007); dialogue with the Executive Secretaries of the regional commissions (6 July 2007); coordination segment (6-10 July 2007); operational activities segment (10-13 July 2007); humanitarian affairs segment 16-18 July 2007); general segment (19-26 July 2007); and conclusion of the work of the Council (27 July 2007). For more information, email ecosocinfo@un.org. internet: http://www.un.org/docs/ecosoc/meetings/2007/
Resources	THE STATE OF RESPONSIBLE COMPETITIVENESS 2007: MAKING SUSTAINABILITY COUNT IN GLOBAL MARKETS. AccountAbility, July 2007. Factors such as climate change, gender, human rights, and anti-corruption are reshaping global markets; successful countries will be those that can redefine public policies and business strategies to reflect those changes. Countries that fail to compete responsibly could miss out on their share of emerging market opportunities that are worth in excess of USD 750 billion, or more than one percent of global GDP. This report assesses countries' progress toward advancing responsible business practices and includes a Responsible Competitiveness Index covering 108 countries. The report is available at http://www.accountability21.net/uploadedFiles/publications/The%20State%20of%20Responsible%20Competitiveness.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.