BRIDGES Weekly Trade News Digest

Lead Stories
NAMA IMPASSE PERSISTS, AS WTO MEMBERS AWAIT NEW DRAFT TEXTS	WTO Members insist that they have not given up on concluding the Doha Round of global trade talks in 2008. Director-General Pascal Lamy, too, sounds optimistic. "It's an Olympic year for China and maybe an Olympic year for Doha too," he told a Chinese newspaper last week.
AS ANTIGUA CONSIDERS CROSS-RETALIATION AGAINST US, WIPO OFFICIAL CREATES STIR	In a rare move, the WTO last month awarded Antigua and Barbuda the right to place sanctions on US patents, copyrights, and other intellectual property, as compensation for being unduly shut out of the US' online gambling market.
WTO BIOTECH RULING: EU MISSES COMPLIANCE DEADLINE	The EU has missed a 11 January deadline to comply with a WTO ruling against its practices for the approval and marketing of biotech products. The US, Canada and Argentina, the victors in the case, have temporarily suspended their right to impose retaliatory trade sanctions against EU exports in an effort to give EU countries more time to demonstrate "meaningful progress on the approval of biotech products" in order to "normalize trade" in such commodities.
PAKISTAN'S TPR LAUDS OPENNESS BUT HIGHLIGHTS CHALLENGES AHEAD	Pakistan has enjoyed an impressive economic performance since 2002 but faces challenges due to persistent structural weaknesses, low tax collection, current account deficits, insufficient export diversification, and political uncertainty, according to a new report issued by the WTO Secretariat last week.

In Brief	WTO in Brief
	Upcoming Panel Hearings in EU-US Zeroing Dispute to be Open to Public

Events        &        Resources
Events	29 January, Geneva, Switzerland: TECHNICAL AND INFORMAL WORKSHOP ON WTO DISCIPLINES ON FISHERIES SUBSIDIES: ELEMENTS OF THE CHAIR'S DRAFT TEXT. This meeting is organised by the UN Environment Programme, WWF, Oceana and the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development from 9h00-17h30 at the International Environment House II. The chair of the WTO Negotiating Group on Rules recently circulated a draft text, which includes potential disciplines on fisheries subsidies. As part of the effort to facilitate discussion on the merits and implications of the Chair's draft text, this workshop aims to provide an opportunity for informal technical discussion and to allow for elaboration and exploration of issues in a non-negotiating context. The discussion will be conducted under "Chatham House Rules," i.e., statements will be reported but not attributed to speakers. To participate, please register with Cecile de Gardelle at cdegardelle@ictsd.ch or by calling +41-22-917 8755. Further information is available online at http://www.ictsd.org/dlogue/2008-01-29/2008-01-29-desc.htm.
Resources	THE FUTURE CONTROL OF FOOD: A GUIDE TO INTERNATIONAL NEGOTIATIONS AND RULES ON INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, BIODIVERSITY AND FOOD SECURITY. By Geoff Tansey and Tasmin Rajotte. This practical book is the first wide-ranging guide to the key issues of intellectual property and ownership, genetics, biodiversity and food security. Proceeding from an introduction and overview of the issues, comprehensive chapters cover negotiations and instruments in the World Trade Organization, Convention on Biological Diversity, UN Food and Agriculture Organization, World Intellectual Property Organization, the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants and various other international bodies. This guide is an essential tool for everyone involved in shaping the future of food including negotiators, activists, environmentalists, food and intellectual property researchers, companies, farmer groups and all others affected by global negotiations. For more information, please see http://shop.earthscan.co.uk/ProductDetails/mcs/productID/776/.
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.