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Le portail rinoceros d’informations sur les initiatives citoyennes pour la construction d’un autre monde a été intégré au nouveau site Ritimo pour une recherche simplifiée et élargie.

Ce site (http://www.rinoceros.org/) constitue une archive des articles publiés avant 2008 qui n'ont pas été transférés.

Le projet rinoceros n’a pas disparu, il continue de vivre pour valoriser les points de vue des acteurs associatifs dans le monde dans le site Ritimo.

No reprieve for small farmers in WTO draft text

The WTO’s draft modalities on agriculture, released by New Zealand’s Ambassador Crawford Falconer will allow the US and EU to go scot-free where it comes to domestic supports. According to Focus on the Global South, this is worrying since these domestic supports are today’s new form of hidden export subsidies. The Falconer text calls on the US to bind its overall trade distorting domestic support at between 13 - 16.4 billion (the exact figure to be negotiated). In 2006, overall trade (...) read

date of on-line publication : 26 July 2007

WTO talks on resumption of Doha talks

> Third World Network

http://www.twnside.org.sg/title2/twn (...)

Members of the World Trade Organization appear to be in favour of resuming the Doha negotiations, suspended by WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy (and endorsed by the Trade Negotiations Committee) in July, and subsequently "taken note of" by the General Council.
At a Lamy-convened ’Green Room’ meeting Friday evening, while delegations generally favoured resumption, opinion was divided whether it should be restarted formally or informally.
Some key countries advised caution, and suggested that there should be informal consultations and discussions on whether there was flexibility in the positions of key members. Others, including several of the chairs of committees, appeared to favour formal resumption of negotiations.  read

date of on-line publication : 21 November 2006

Kenyan Minister warns against bilateral trade deals

> TWNSIDE

http://www.twnside.org.sg/title2/twn (...)

The Kenyan Trade Minister, Mukhisha Kituyi, today spoke up against the danger of countries running to negotiate bilateral and regional trade deals with the impasse of the Doha negotiations at the World Trade Organisation.
"If we face hard decisions in the WTO, we should not run from there by going after bilateral deals," he said in a presentation at the Mid-Term Review session at UNCTAD.
At the same panel, Brazilian Ambassador Clodoaldo Hugueney reiterated the need for resumption of the Doha negotiations but added that "you can’t have a successful Round without dealing with development." He said that agriculture and development are at the centre of the Round, for the first time.
Kituyi, who also currently chairs the African Union Ministers of Trade, said that there is a rise of bilateralism as the Doha Round talks slowed down. Through bilateral and regional agreements, the developed countries were having the same aims as they had in other fora.
"Though the words change, the targets remain the same," he said. Referring to the latest European Commission paper on trade policy, he commented that the EU refused to be on the defensive and was going to go for "more market access."
The Kenyan Minister has on previous occasions spoken up on the imbalances and risks posed to developing countries in the Economic Partnership Agreements that the European Commission is negotiating with the ACP Group of countries. However, he did not mention the EPAs in his speech.
He added that many issues of concern to developing countries, such as the need to tackle agricultural domestic subsidies in developed countries and the use of special and differential treatment for developing countries, could only be dealt with in the multilateral system.  read

date of on-line publication : 27 October 2006

CONWAY Kevin

WTO Accession: Tough Love or a Heavy Hand?

> IDRC, 2005-12-13

http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-91906-201-1 (...)

Thirty-one countries from war-torn Afghanistan to Yemen are queued for membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO). Despite the disarray in the current Doha Round of trade talks and the growing number of regional and bilateral trade agreements being struck outside the WTO arena, few would-be members are ready to give up their place in line. The reasons officials give for staying in the queue range from improved market access for their exports to the positive signal - a seal of approval really - that WTO membership sends to the global trading and investment community.  read

date of on-line publication : 19 December 2005

SHIVA Vandana

Will WTO Shrink or Sink?

> ZNet, Dec 2005

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarti (...)

Here the author describes how economically weaker nations have learnt to exercise their power in WTO through non-cooperation and why they need to reject the “Aid of Trade” package in the draft Hong Kong Ministerial Text, viewing it as a retreat from commitments made at Doha.  read

date of on-line publication : 13 December 2005

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