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Glossary for the WTO Agreement on Agriculture

Excerpted from Sailing Close to the Wind: Navigating the Hong Kong WTO Ministerial. Baffled by the boxes? Terrified by tariffication? Stymied by the special safeguard? Here is all you need to know to become an instant Agreement on Agriculture expert or at least to sound like one.

Ten Ways to Fix Agricultural Trade

Excerpted from Sailing Close to the Wind: Navigating the Hong Kong WTO Ministerial. The WTO Agreement on Agriculture has failed rural communities around the world. Its successor, now under negotiation, is set to perpetuate the failure. The following proposals are a basis for a new agricultural trade system.

Finding NAMA: How to Navigate the Market Access Negotiations

Excerpted from Sailing Close to the Wind: Navigating the Hong Kong WTO Ministerial. Non-agricultural market access (NAMA) negotiations are important because they go to the heart of development and the extent to which countries can govern their own development path.

Sailing Close to the Wind: Navigating the Hong Kong WTO Ministerial

When the World Trade Organization meets next month in Hong Kong, agriculture negotiations will take center stage. Negotiators are far apart with only a few weeks to find common ground. A new briefing report by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) outlines the key agriculture issues facing WTO negotiators.

Policy Coherence and Agricultural Trade Liberalization: Lessons for the Doha Round

Excerpted from Sailing Close to the Wind: Navigating the Hong Kong WTO Ministerial. According to a World Trade Organization secretariat note in October 2004, the primary objective of cooperation and policy coherence among the WTO, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund for the Doha Round negotiations is to expand market access opportunities.

10 Lessons for Agriculture after Hurricane Katrina

From higher energy costs to a dearth of transport and storage for fertilizer and grain, Katrina reminds us of the fragility of our commodity networks.

The Impact of GATS on Agriculture

Excerpt from Sailing Close to the Wind: Navigating the Hong Kong WTO Ministerial. Conventional wisdom on the World Trade Organization negotiations has it that there will be a trade-off between concessions made by industrialized countries in agriculture

EU offer in Doha World Trade Talks, October 2005

New EU offer in WTO Doha Round negotiations. The offer comes in response to several proposals from the U.S, G20, G33, G10 and Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group on WTO agriculture negotiations. The proposal makes any agriculture concessions strictly conditional on concessions from WTO members in industrial products, services, geographical indicators and rules.

Letter from Commissioner Mandelson to WTO Director General, Pascal Lamy, October 2005

Letter from Commissioner Mandelson to WTO Director General, Pascal Lamy expressing concerns about the lack of progress in the services and industrial product negotiating areas of the negotiations. This is in response to pressure from WTO members on the EC to give concessions in agriculture.

Statement of EU conditional negotiating proposals

Statement by the E.C. at the Zurich mini-Ministerial meeting, 10 October 2005. The statement sets out the EUs proposals for the Doha Round.