BRIDGES Weekly Trade News Digest

Lead Stories
WTO AG TALKS: PROGRESS ON SUBSTANCE MUST DETERMINE DEADLINES, WARN MEMBERS	If trade ministers are indeed to meet in the foreseeable future to try to hammer out a Doha Round deal on cutting tariffs and farm subsidies, their gathering must be scheduled on the basis of substantive progress in the talks and not on arbitrary deadlines, agriculture negotiators from several countries stressed last week. Most WTO Member delegations broadly welcomed a new potential draft deal from the chair of the agriculture negotiations as a basis for further talks, though they also pointed to areas where they disagreed with his assessment of where consensus might lie.
PERSISTENT DIVISIONS, CROWDED AGENDA LOOM OVER DOHA MODALITIES PUSH	WTO Member delegations are still behaving as though a ministerial-level meeting will be held between mid-March and mid-April to reach a framework accord that would make it possible for the Doha Round negotiations to be concluded by the end of the year. But while trade missions in Geneva keep an eye on hotel availability for their capital-based colleagues, wide-ranging divisions make it far from clear whether top officials would actually be in a position to hammer out a deal, even if they did find themselves summoned to WTO headquarters.
EU EPAs COULD INHIBIT SOUTH-SOUTH TRADE INTEGRATION, BRAZIL ALLEGES	Brazil has alleged that a clause in the EU's recent trade agreements with several former colonies could discourage these countries, among the world's poorest, from pursuing deeper trade integration with other developing nations. This would run counter to a WTO principle aimed at increasing poor countries' participation in global commerce, Brazil claims, adding that it sits uneasily with the EU's oft-stated commitment to promoting South-South trade.
INTERIM WTO RULING GOES AGAINST CHINA IN AUTO PARTS DISPUTE	A WTO dispute panel has issued an interim ruling against China, largely upholding the complaints by the US, the EU and Canada that Beijing was levying inappropriate tariffs on imported auto parts, thus boosting its domestic industry.

In Brief	WTO in Brief
Amid New Talks, Russia Could Complete WTO Accession This Year Brazil, EU in Spat Over Beef Imports	US Appeals Compliance Panel Ruling in Cotton Dispute

Events        &        Resources
Events	21-22 February. Nairobi, Kenya. EXPERT GROUP MEETING ON LAND FOR SUSTAINABLE URBANIZATION IN AFRICA This expert group meeting will contribute to the sixteenth session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD 16). For more information contact: e-mail: gltn@unhabitat.org; Internet: http://www.gltn.net/en/newspage/en/newspage/expert-group-meeting-on-land-for-sustainable-urbanisation-in-africa-2.html
Resources	A CUT ABOVE; BUILDING THE MARKET FOR FREE TRADE TIMBER. By Duncan McQueen. International Institute for Environment and Development, 2008. Unlike coffee and cotton, timber has yet to become a fair trade commodity. But now its time has come. Rights over forest resources are increasingly ceded to small-scale community forest enterprises (CFEs), as large-scale industrial logging is now largely discredited in the sustainable development context. The fair trade emphasis on just pricing for poorer producers is exactly what CFEs need as incentive to invest in sustainable forest management — and secure environmental and poverty reduction benefits at one stroke. With fair trade timber, CFEs could boost their entrepreneurial capacity using democratic business models with in-built social and environmental responsibility. The Fair Trade Labelling Organizations International and Forest Stewardship Council are exploring the ways and means through a new partnership, but more is needed. Consumers must be made aware of why paying higher prices is key to creating CFE incentives for sustainable forest management and poverty reduction. Time and money are needed for consumer education and installing fair trade timber in producer country forest policies, market segregation and procurement policies at all levels. For more information, please see http://www.iied.org/pubs/display.php?o=17033IIED&n=1&l=71&c=trade.
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.