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 Lead
Stories |
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WTO NEGOTIATORS
LOOK TO 2008, THOUGH DOHA DEAL PROSPECTS REMAIN SLIM
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Until
recently, trade officials from many governments were warning
that the Doha Round trade talks would die or go into indefinite
hibernation without a breakthrough agreement on cutting tariffs
and subsidies by the end of the year. The troubled WTO negotiations
now look set to remain alive, if not quite kicking, into 2008,
despite the unusually early start to the US election campaign.
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UN CLIMATE
SUMMIT IN BALI UNDERWAY; SEVERAL TRADE MINISTERS TO ATTEND
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Government
officials from around the world are meeting at a United Nations
conference in Bali to develop a blueprint for starting negotiations
on a new treaty to protect the global climate from greenhouse
gas emissions. |
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DRAFT RULES
TEXT WOULD BAN WIDE RANGE OF FISHERIES SUBSIDIES
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A
new potential basis for negotiating future WTO rules on subsidy
spending would ban a wide range of government payments to the
fisheries sector that conservationists blame for promoting the
wide-scale depletion of marine fish stocks.
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AG CHAIR
PRESENTS NEW PROPOSALS ON DEVELOPING COUNTRIES' 'SPECIAL PRODUCTS'
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The
chair of the WTO agriculture negotiations has suggested a new
set of potential parameters for the number and treatment of
the 'special' farm products that developing countries will be
able to slate for shallower tariff cuts based on food security,
livelihood security and rural development grounds.
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EU, US
CALL FOR ELIMINATING TRADE BARRIERS TO CLIMATE-FRIENDLY GOODS
AND SERVICES |
Just
prior to a United Nations climate change conference in Bali,
the EU and US last week submitted a joint proposal at the WTO
calling for trade liberalisation in climate-friendly goods and
services. |
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LINKS BETWEEN
PATENT RULES AND ACCESS TO GREEN TECHNOLOGY COME UNDER SCRUTINY
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On
the eve of an international conference on climate change in
Bali, the European Parliament has called for examining the impact
of intellectual property protections on the spread of environmentally
sound technologies, suggesting that WTO rules might be impeding
their diffusion. |
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COUNTRIES
STEP UP DEMANDS ON GI EXTENSION, DISCLOSURE
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Two
groups of countries this week proposed text for clauses in a
potential Doha Round framework deal that would aim to alter
WTO intellectual property rules for patent applicants whose
inventions involve biodiversity, and strengthen protections
for foods linked to particular places.
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