Volume 13, Number 38, 4 November 2009

To access a full-text PDF copy of the Weekly, click here.

LEAD STORIES

EU, Central America Trade Talks Tripped Up by Regional Politics
Free trade talks between Central America and the European Union could resume after a presidential election is held in Honduras on 23 November, a delegation of European lawmakers said last week during a visit to Costa Rica. Brussels expects to pick up the process as soon as possible, the delegates said, taking into account the upcoming vote in Honduras and lingering uncertainty over whether Panama will be allowed to join the negotiations.

OTHER NEWS

TRIPS Council Debates Public Health, 'Non-Violation' Complaints
WTO delegates tackled several contentious intellectual property issues -- including access to medicines, 'non-violation complaints' and biodiversity -- at a two-day session last week.

WTO Rules Group Builds Understanding, but Gaps Remain
The WTO's Negotiating Group on Rules held informal open-ended talks from Monday to Friday of last week. Under the direction of the chair, Ambassador Guillermo Valles Galmés of Uruguay, delegates delved into technical questions on anti-dumping, countervailing duties, and fisheries disciplines, in many cases tackling issues on which they have long been divided.

SPECIAL SECTION: COPENHAGEN COUNTDOWN

Agriculture and Climate Change
Each week leading up the UNFCCC's 15th Conference of the Parties, Bridges Weekly will be providing readers with background and analysis on key issues facing negotiators as they prepare for December's meeting in Copenhagen. This week's article highlights the role of agriculture in the climate change puzzle.

IN BRIEF

US, China Strike Deals on Trade, but Sparring Continues
Senior-level officials from China and the US met for two days in China's eastern city of Hangzhou to try to find common ground on a number of trade issues last week, even as new disputes between the two countries continued to crop up outside the conference hall.

Update from Barcelona: Climate Talks Face Uphill Battle to Copenhagen
African delegates walked out of meetings during United Nations climate change talks in Barcelona, Spain this week, claiming that developed countries were not making solid commitments to cut their emissions of climate-warming gases.

US Senate Considers Two Key Trade Appointments
The United States Senate Finance Committee convened on Wednesday to consider the nominations of Michael Punke for the position of ambassador to the WTO, and Islam Siddiqui, who has been nominated to serve as Washington's chief agriculture negotiator.

EU Issues New Report on IPR Enforcement outside Europe
Increased cooperation between the European Union and the developing world is strengthening intellectual property enforcement in poorer countries, according to a new report from the European Commission.

WTO IN BRIEF

EU, US, Mexico Request WTO Panel on Chinese Export Restrictions
The EU, the US, and Mexico have requested the creation of a WTO panel to rule on the legality of a range of Chinese export restrictions on several raw materials used in manufacturing.

Canada Launches WTO Complaint over EU Seal Ban
Canada has formally requested WTO consultations with the EU over Brussels' controversial ban on imports of seal products, which is scheduled come into force in August 2010. Stockwell Day, Canada's trade minister, announced the move in a 2 November statement following the publication of the seal ban in the Official Journal of the European Union - the final phase of the EU's law-making process.

EVENTS RESOURCES

Events
17 November, London, United Kingdom. GLOBAL TRADE CONTROLS. Through relevant debates and information sharing, this high-level conference, sponsored by the Washington International Trade Association, will provide attendees with a thorough update and practical tools to carve out essential business opportunities...

Resources
THE DOHA ROUND: "DEATH-DEFYING AGENDA" OR "DON'T DO IT AGAIN?" By Stuart Harbinson. European Centre for International Political Economy, 2009. Almost eight years after the launch of the Doha Round, the WTO negotiations remain mired in a swamp of detail, with many participants unwilling or unable to make the hard decisions which would bring the Round to a conclusion...

Back issue of BRIDGES Weekly Trade News Digest© can be accessed in our archive.

BRIDGES Weekly Trade News Digest© is published by the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD).

Contributors to this issue of BRIDGES Weekly Trade News Digest are Andrew Aziz, Trineesh Biswas, Jonathan Hepburn, Ana Maria Kleymeyer, Hannah Leone, Thais Macedo and Paige McClanahan. Editor: Paige McClanahan (pmcclanahan@...). Director: Ricardo Meléndez-Ortiz. ICTSD is an independent, not-for-profit organisation based at: 7, chemin de Balexert, 1219 Geneva, Switzerland, tel: (+41-22) 917- 8492; fax: 917-8093.

Excerpts from BRIDGES Weekly Trade News Digest© may be used in other publications with appropriate citation. Comments and suggestions are welcomed and should be directed to the Editor or the Director.

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, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

ISSN 1563-003X