BRIDGES Weekly Trade News Digest

Lead Stories
CAPE VERDE JOINS THE WTO AS MEMBERS LOOK AHEAD TO 2008	Cape Verde is the newest member to accede to the WTO, following approval on 18 December by the General Council, the WTO's top permanent decision-making body. Director-General Pascal Lamy welcomed Cape Verde's accession as "adding another valuable member to the family" and bringing the WTO "another step closer to universal membership."
FISHERIES SUBSIDIES TEXT REPRESENTS A STRONG STARTING POINT, SAY DELEGATES	WTO Members expressed overall satisfaction with a set of potential multilateral disciplines on fisheries subsidy spending put forward by the Chair of the Doha Round rules talks, during the negotiating committee's meetings on 12 and 14 December.
TRADE FACILITATION MEETING LOOKS AT CUSTOMS FEES AND FORMALITIES	Discussions in the WTO Negotiating Group on Trade Facilitation last week focused mainly on reforming multilateral rules for trade-related fees and formalities to ensure that they do not serve as an undue obstacle to commerce.
US, OTHER COUNTRIES CLASH OVER ANTI-DUMPING RULES IN CHAIR'S TEXT	The US and other major trading nations last week continued to clash over proposed changes to WTO trade remedy rules, principally on the issue of 'zeroing', a controversial practice that Washington uses to calculate anti-dumping duties.
SERVICES TALKS PICK UP MOMENTUM	WTO discussions on liberalising trade in services have picked up the pace over the past two weeks, although precisely how to move ahead with the negotiations remains a source of contention.
CARIBBEAN GROUP, CAMEROON, GHANA SIGN EPAs WITH EU	Fourteen Caribbean nations, Cameroon, and Ghana have joined the list of countries that have agreed to reciprocal trade deals with the EU just ahead of a crucial end-year deadline, thus saving their exports to Europe from major disruption in 2008.

In Brief	WTO in Brief
BALI MEETING STAKES OUT PATH TO GLOBAL CLIMATE AGREEMENT	WTO PANEL RULES AGAINST EU BANANA TARIFF REGIME

Events        &        Resources
Events	9-12 January, Jaipur, India: STRENGTHENING SKILLS ON COMMERCIAL & ECONOMIC DIPLOMACY. This training programme for senior-level civil servants and executives, organised by the India-based CUTS Institute for Regulation & Competition, will impart knowledge and information on multiple aspects of commercial and economic diplomacy in the present and future context of globalisation and economic relations among countries. Two training programmes have been successfully accomplished for mid- and junior-level civil servants and executives respectively. Experienced resource persons from various backgrounds will conduct sessions with case studies and simulation exercises. It is aimed for senior level government officials (from trade and other economic ministries), representatives from inter-governmental and multilateral agencies, and other stakeholders such as businesspersons. For details, please see http://www.circ.in/CDS04/Pdf/CDS.04.pdf
Resources	TRADE-RELATED MEASURES AND MULTILATERAL ENVIRONMENTAL AGREEMENTS. UNEP, 2007. This paper contributes to ongoing negotiations at the WTO by analysing MEA trade-related measures in the context of their overall objectives. In particular, the paper provides a detailed review of the main provisions and specific trade-related measures found in six MEAs. The paper also explores the linkage between trade and environment and the role the trade-related measures incorporated in MEAs play in responding to this relationship. The paper concludes that a classification of trade-related measures should be developed in a manner that takes into account the particular context of each MEA, and the paper recommends a framework for considering trade-related measures in reference to the functions they perform. To access the paper visit http://www.unep.ch/etb/areas/pdf/MEA%20Papers/TradeRelated_MeasuresPaper.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.