Volume 13, Number 41, 25 November 2009

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NOTE TO SUBSCRIBERS

Next week, Bridges will be reporting daily from the WTO's seventh ministerial conference. The updates will be distributed by email and posted online at http://ictsd.org/news/ministerial/geneva2009/. Following the ministerial, the next issue of Bridges Weekly will be published on Wednesday, 9 December.

LEAD STORIES

Developing Countries Close to Deal to Boost South-South Trade
A group of developing countries has tentatively agreed on a deal to cut tariffs and other barriers to each others' exports in an attempt to boost South-South trade at a time when multilateral liberalisation efforts are languishing.

Banana Agreement Nearly Ripe: Delegates
The long-running dispute over trade in bananas is close to being settled, say delegates familiar with intensive talks held recently on the controversial issue. However, negotiators warn that a final banana accord may only be inked when a deal is also struck on other key products in the WTO's Doha Round - such as sugar, rum or tobacco.

SPECIAL SECTION: COPENHAGEN COUNTDOWN

Technology and Finance: Complementary Catalysts for Climate Action
Each week leading up to 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, the last in the series, highlights the discussions on climate technologies and financing.

IN BRIEF

Ashton to Step Down as EU Trade Commissioner on 1 Dec
The European Union will be getting a new trade commissioner fewer than 14 months after Catherine Ashton was appointed to the post.

Committee Sees Some Progress on Implementing WIPO Development Agenda
The fourth session of the Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP), which met from 16 to 20 November, witnessed some progress on the implementation of a number of WIPO Development Agenda recommendations.

WTO IN BRIEF

5,000 Protestors Expected in Geneva for WTO Ministerial
Roughly five thousand protesters are planning peaceful rallies to demonstrate their opposition to the WTO, which will hold its seventh ministerial conference in Geneva next week.

Services Talks Question Status of 'Signals' Sent in 2008
Another round of 'enchilada talks' was organised on Tuesday night by the chair of the WTO negotiating group on services trade, Ambassador Fernando de Mateo of Mexico, who brought together a number of senior officials who are in town for the organisation's ministerial conference, which kicks off next week.

Chair Urges Rules Group to Take up RTAs
The chair of the WTO's Negotiating Group on Rules convened a meeting of senior capital- and Geneva-based officials on 25 November to offer a run-down of the state of play in the talks and try to build some momentum for the group's negotiations.

WTO Calls for 'Exit Strategies' from Crisis Measures
Countries should begin planning their 'exit strategies' from crisis-triggered measures to restrict or distort trade, according to a new report from the WTO.

EVENTS RESOURCES

Events
2 December, Geneva, Switzerland. BOOK LAUNCH: AGRICULTURAL SUBSIDIES IN THE WTO GREEN BOX: ENSURING COHERENCE WITH SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS. Do the World Trade Organization's rules on 'green box' farm subsidies allow both rich and poor countries to achieve important goals such as food security, or do they worsen poverty, distort trade and harm the environment?...

Resources
STRENGTHENING MULTILATERALISM: A MAPPING OF PROPOSALS ON WTO REFORM AND GLOBAL TRADE GOVERNANCE. By Carolyn Deere-Birkbeck and Catherine Monagle, International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development, November 2009. This mapping study starts from the premise that the WTO is a valuable and indispensible multilateral institution...

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 Ahmed Abdel Latif, Johannes Bernabe, Trineesh Biswas, Jonathan Hepburn, Ana Maria Kleymeyer, Thais Macedo, Paige McClanahan and Mahesh Sugathan. 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