India to push for long-stalled Doha talks in 2016: WTO
Source: PTI Trade ministers of WTO member countries concluded their talks on December 19 without any commitment from developed countries on cutting farm subsidies After a ‘disappointing’ year at WTO, India is looking to beef up its efforts in 2016 to push for early conclusion of the long-stalled Doha Round talks at the global trade body and for finding a permanent solution to food security issues. At its recent Nairobi meet, the World Trade Organisation failed to address the concerns of developing countries, resulting in India coming back 'thoroughly disappointed' as far as the 14-year-old Doha commitments are concerned. Successful conclusion of the Doha Round agenda has been very important for developing countries and one of the main pending issues is ...
India to pitch for permanent solution to food security issue at WTO
Source: PTI Backed by several developing countries, India will strongly pitch for finding a permanent solution to the food security issue and a mechanism to protect poor farmers from surge in imports at the WTO meeting of 160 trade ministers', beginning in Nairobi on Tuesday. During the four-day meet, India wants the multi-lateral body to deliberate on pending issues of the Doha Round and deliverables of the Bali package, including issues of the least developed countries. “Focus of the deliberations will include issues relating to continuance of the Doha negotiating mandate; finding a permanent solution to the issue of public stock holding for food security; special safeguard measures,” an official said. The negotiations, launched at the Qatari capital in 2001 and ...
WTO chief voices concern with slow progress in key negotiating areas
The Dollar Business Bureau Roberto Azevedo, Director General, World Trade Organisation. Unhappy over not making the progress that is needed in the key areas of agriculture, industrial products and services, Roberto Azevedo, Director General (DG), World Trade Organisation (WTO) convened a meeting of all members in Geneva on June 1, 2015. The meeting discussed the current state of play in negotiations on the work programme to advance the remaining issues of the Doha Development Agenda. The Doha Round is the latest round of trade negotiations among the WTO membership. Its aim is to achieve major reform of the international trading system through the introduction of lower trade barriers and revised trade rules. The DG said, “I will ensure that meetings of ...
World Trade Organisation chief welcomes strong APEC support for Doha Round
The Dollar Business Bureau Continued backing from APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) and all other World Trade Organisation (WTO) ministers will be “critical” to reaching agreement on a work programme for concluding the Doha Round, said WTO Director-General (DG) Roberto Azevêdo. The Doha Round is the latest round of trade negotiations among the WTO membership. Its aim is to achieve major reform of the international trading system through the introduction of lower trade barriers and revised trade rules. The DG also welcomed the strong statement of support issued by APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) trade ministers at their meeting in Boracay, the Philippines, on May 23-24, 2015 for other WTO initiatives. The meeting of APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade (MRT) included ...
WTO & UN Food and Agriculture Organization announce enhanced cooperation on trade and food security
The Dollar Business Bureau Three days after all the World Trade Organisation (WTO) members agreed for a separate discussion on the role they envision for rules in the post-Bali work programme on May 4, 2015, WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo met with the Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), José Graziano da Silva, in Geneva on April 17, to step up collaborative efforts on the issue of trade and food security, as well as other issues. Roberto Azevêdo said: “Food security is closely linked to trade and therefore it is an important element of our work at the WTO. I am delighted that we will now be able to enhance our work on this crucial issue which affects ...
UN urges WTO members to adopt Trade Facilitation Agreement
The Dollar Business Bureau | @TheDollarBiz UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, opening the 2014 WTO Public Forum on 1 October 2014 (Source - WTO) Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General, United Nations (UN), has said that multilateral trading system is important for alleviating poverty and has urged countries to conclude the Doha Development Agenda which has Trade Facilitation at its core. Speaking at the WTO 2014 Public Forum on “Why trade matters to everyone”, Ban Ki-moon highlighted the importance of multilateral trading system in the economic growth of a country. He said, “Without trade, my country (South Korea) could not have risen from the rubble of war to become a developed nation. Without trade, China could not have achieved the impressive ...
