BRIDGES Weekly Trade News Digest

Lead Stories
MARKET ACCESS KICK-STARTS DEBATE ON CHAIR'S DRAFT WTO AG DEAL	Market access issues have dominated the start of a three-week phase of intensive consultations by the chair of the WTO agriculture negotiations. The talks, centring on the draft agreement text issued in July by Chair Ambassador Crawford Falconer (New Zealand), are widely seen as an especially serious 'make-or-break' moment for the Doha Round, with delegates warning that substantial progress is needed now if any deal is to be achieved.
APEC CALLS FOR DOHA PROGRESS - BUT DOES IT MEAN ANYTHING?	"There has never been a more urgent need to make progress" in the faltering Doha Round of trade talks, declared leaders from 21 Pacific Rim countries last weekend, while pledging once more to work for the prompt conclusion of a global accord.
UNCTAD ISSUES WARNING ON NORTH-SOUTH FTAs, CALLS FOR MORE EXCHANGE RATE MANAGEMENT	The proliferation of bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) and preferential trade agreements (PTAs) may be more costly for developing countries than was previously expected, according to a new study by the United Nations. The Trade and Development Report for 2007, released on 5 September by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), claims that trade agreements between developed and developing countries can often limit the medium-to-long term growth of competitive industries in the latter.

In Brief	WTO in Brief
WIPO Members Consider Implementation of Development Agenda China and Peru to Launch FTA Negotiations

Events        &        Resources
Events	13-14 September, Lima, Peru. MOBILIZING AID FOR TRADE: FOCUS LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN. Organised by the WTO and the Inter-American Development Bank in cooperation with the World Bank and the Peruvian government. The purpose of the meeting is to highlight the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) dimension of Aid for Trade, and to encourage governments, donors and the private sector to address specific challenges for the region, to prioritize AFT needs, and to move towards shared solutions to trade-related challenges. Internet: http://www.iadb.org/events/aidfortradelac/index.cfm?language=EN&parid=1
Resources	KEEPING THE LIGHTS ON. By Walt Peterson. Royal Institute of International Affairs, July 2007. This book analyses the methods human energy consumption and the dangers those methods pose to the planet. It proposes a new approach to thinking about energy, in order to progress and improve in energy security and consumption, maintaining low costs and distributing it to all corners of the globe. Internet: http://shop.earthscan.co.uk/ProductDetails/mcs/productID/790/
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.