BRIDGES Weekly Trade News Digest

NOTE TO SUBSCRIBERS:	For exceptional reasons, the next issue of BRIDGES Weekly Trade News Digest will be published on 11 April.
Lead Stories
WTO PANEL RULES AGAINST EU IMPORT BAN IN BEEF HORMONE CASE; BOTH SIDES CLAIM VICTORY	Both sides are claiming victory following the latest WTO ruling in one of the longest running disputes in the institution's history, which has pitted the US and Canada against the EU over trade in hormone-treated beef.The ruling, released on 31 March, faulted all three parties to the case for not adhering to WTO rules and procedures.Most significantly, the panel found that the EU's import ban on hormone-treated beef - despite modifications in 2003 in response to an earlier WTO ruling - was not compliant with multilateral trade rules, since it was not backed by an adequate scientific risk assessment.
HITCH ON SENSITIVE AG PRODUCTS DELAYING REST OF DOHA TALKS	Continuing disagreement among a dozen-odd WTO Members on how to expand trade in 'sensitive' farm products is holding up discussions in the ongoing push for a deal in the struggling Doha Round of global trade negotiations.
MEMBERS REMAIN DIVIDED ON FISHERIES DRAFT TEXT	WTO Members remain divided on how to structure future multilateral rules on fisheries subsidy spending, notably on the conditions under which developing countries should be allowed to provide significant amounts of support to their fisheries sectors.During the 26-27 March session of the Negotiating Group on Rules, Members resumed discussions on a draft fisheries subsidies agreement text released by Chair Ambassador Guillermo Valles Games (Uruguay) last November.

In Brief	WTO in Brief
Caribbean Leaders Urge US to Renew Trade Preferences

Events        &        Resources
Events	8 - 11 April, New Delhi, India. GLOBAL AGRO-INDUSTRIES FORUM 2008: IMPROVING COMPETITIVENESS AND DEVELOPMENT IMPACT. The development of competitive agro-industries is crucial for creating employment and income opportunities and for enhancing the demand for farm products. Agro-industry development has the potential to provide employment for the rural poor in off-farm activities such as handling, packaging, processing, transporting, and marketing of food and agricultural produce. Unfortunately, there are also risks and trade-offs in agro-industrial development often affecting the most vulnerable countries and people. Thus, it is important to build on experiences and understandings of trends, in order to formulate sound policies and strategies for fostering agro-industries. The GAIF 2008 hopes to help develop a shared vision on the factors critical to future developments of agro-industries, key factors affecting competitiveness and potential action areas. For more information please visit the conference website at www.gaif08.org.
Resources	REGIONALISM OR MULTILATERALISM: A POLITICAL ECONOMY CHOICE. By Giorgia Albertin, IMF, March 2008. This paper provides a political economy analysis of the incentives underpinning a country's decision to enter a regional trade agreement when a multilateral free trade agreement is available, and of how entering a regional trade agreement affects the incentives to pursue multilateral trade liberalization. Taking into account the influence exerted by organized interest groups in the formation of trade agreements, the authors derive a formal condition under which a regional trade agreement is preferred to a multilateral one. Furthermore, they show that a country's decision to enter a regional trade agreement unambiguously undermines the incentives towards multilateral trade liberalization. The paper is available online at http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.cfm?sk=21821.0.
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.