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  WTO (World Trade Organization): 1 Oct. 2001 to present  

See also other materials on WTO

NEW (recent additions to this section; top item is most recent addition)

No Sell-Out on Trade in the Human Rights Commission -...The human rights impact of international trade was a recurrent theme during the 2003 [United Nations] Human Rights Commission.  And the level of discussion reflected the willingness and ability of many in the human rights community and the trade policy world to seek mutually-beneficial solutions when trade liberalization risks adversely impacting on human rights. (Caroline Dommen, Director of 3D Associates, April 2003)

Dying for drugs - A hard-hitting investigation into the global power of the world's most profitable business - the pharmaceutical industry...In Africa the team sees how one of the world's biggest drug companies [Pfizer] experimented on children without their parents' knowledge or consent. In Canada they reveal how a drug company [Apotex] attempted to silence a leading academic who had doubts about their drug. In South Korea cameras follow the attempts of desperately ill patients to make a leading drug company [Novartis] sell them the drugs they need to save their lives at an affordable price. And in Honduras the team uncovers the brutal consequences of drug companies' pricing policies. (Channel 4 television [UK], 27 Apr. 2003)

Global Trade Unions state Position for WTO Cancun Meeting (International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, 7 Apr. 2003)

1 Oct. 2001 to present:

2003:

Dying for drugs - A hard-hitting investigation into the global power of the world's most profitable business - the pharmaceutical industry...In Africa the team sees how one of the world's biggest drug companies [Pfizer] experimented on children without their parents' knowledge or consent. In Canada they reveal how a drug company [Apotex] attempted to silence a leading academic who had doubts about their drug. In South Korea cameras follow the attempts of desperately ill patients to make a leading drug company [Novartis] sell them the drugs they need to save their lives at an affordable price. And in Honduras the team uncovers the brutal consequences of drug companies' pricing policies. (Channel 4 television [UK], 27 Apr. 2003)

Global Trade Unions state Position for WTO Cancun Meeting (International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, 7 Apr. 2003)

No Sell-Out on Trade in the Human Rights Commission -...The human rights impact of international trade was a recurrent theme during the 2003 [United Nations] Human Rights Commission.  And the level of discussion reflected the willingness and ability of many in the human rights community and the trade policy world to seek mutually-beneficial solutions when trade liberalization risks adversely impacting on human rights. (Caroline Dommen, Director of 3D Associates, April 2003)

The Dangers to Doha: The Risks of Failure in the Trade Round - The following is an address by Clare Short, MP, Britain's Secretary of State for International Development, to the Royal Institute of International Affairs...Today I want to talk to you about an urgent issue: the dangers to the Doha Trade Round and the imperative of acting now to secure a successful outcome of the Round. I want to spell out why this matters so much to developing countries. (Clare Short, UK Secretary of State for International Development, 25 Mar. 2003)

DRUGS: WTO Members Allow One Week To Reach Deal For Poor Countries - World Trade Organization member countries yesterday in Geneva gave negotiators one more week to reach a deal on providing inexpensive drugs to poor countries after the United States said it needed more time to consider new proposals (UN Wire, 11 Feb. 2002)

World Trade Body Ignores Union Appeals Over El Salvador's Treatment of Workers - The World Trade Organization praised El Salvador Wednesday for taking steps to open up its economy, but ignored a damning report from a global grouping of trade unions that accuses the country of dismissing workers' rights, particularly in export processing zones (Marty Logan, OneWorld US, 6 Feb. 2003)

New study [entitled "Making Global Trade Work for People"] explores ways that trade can maximize development - A new book launched at the Rockefeller Foundation in New York last week presents an independent reassessment of the current system of global trade and looks at ways that it can be improved to contribute more effectively to human development. (U.N. Development Programme, 5 Feb. 2003)

Balancing Trade Rules, the Environment and Sustainable Development -...AllAfrica's Akwe Amosu probed these issues with Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher, the General Manager of the Environmental Protection Authority of Ethiopia. (AllAfrica.com, 1 Feb. 2003)

DRUGS: WHO To Push WTO On Patents -...According to Brazilian Health Minister Humberto Costa, the WHO is planning to send a letter to the WTO calling for public health interests to be given priority over the interests of the pharmaceutical industry (UN Wire, 28 Jan. 2003)

2002:

DRUGS: Access Must Not Harm World Trade, WTO Head Says - "...if we fail to protect the patents of entrepreneurs who channel billions of dollars into developing new drugs, our hopes of finding lifesaving medication for currently untreatable ailments will be dashed," he [WTO Director General Supachai Panitchpakdi] said (UN Wire, 16 Dec. 2002)

press release: Access to essential drugs may be undermined by global patent agreement -...The Panos Report, Patents, Pills and Public Health: can TRIPS deliver? warns that patent legislation is not being debated widely enough in most developing countries, and the process of introducing it needs to be more consultative and transparent. (Panos Institute, 1 Dec. 2002)

Medicine Access in Dispute - With the rich countries eager to renege on promises made at the November 2001 World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial meeting in Doha, Qatar, developing countries in November rejected rich country proposals that public health advocates said would significantly limit poor countries' access to essential medicines. (Multinational Monitor, Dec. 2002)

Industrialised North Puts Brakes on WTO Medicine Accord - Negotiators at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) failed Friday to reach an agreement to ensure poor countries access to essential medicines. Health activists blame the fiasco on opposition from the United States and a handful of other industrialised countries. (Gustavo Capdevila, Inter Press Service, 29 Nov. 2002)

From Doha to Cancún: the Hypocrisy behind Western Compassion (Guy Verhofstadt, Prime Minister of Belgium, message to Second International Conference on Globalisation, 26 Nov. 2002)

Free trade can be a very powerful engine for growth and sustainable development (Donald J. Johnston, Secretary-General of the OECD, speech to Second International Conference on Globalisation, 26 Nov. 2002)

The Principle of Reciprocity (Dr. Aminata Dramane Traoré, Director of the Centre du Amadou Hampâté BA, speech to Second International Conference on Globalisation, 26 Nov. 2002)

Making the World Trading System Work for All Countries (Govindasamy Rajasekaran, Secretary-General of the Malaysian Trade Union Congress, speech to Second International Conference on Globalisation, 26 Nov. 2002)

Sustainability and Leadership (Rémi Parmentier, Political Director of Greenpeace International, speech to Second International Conference on Globalisation, 26 Nov. 2002)

Why Cancún Matters (Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi, Director-General of the World Trade Organisation, speech to Second International Conference on Globalisation, 26 Nov. 2002)

What Are the Most Urgent Questions to be Resolved for the South to Achieve a Genuine Development Agenda (Chee Yoke Ling, Deputy-Director of Third World Network, Malaysia, speech to Second International Conference on Globalisation, 26 Nov. 2002)

Europe: Development is the Goal, Trade is the Instrument (Pascal Lamy Member of the European Commission, responsible for Trade, speech to Second International Conference on Globalisation, 26 Nov. 2002)

DRUGS: Ministers At WTO Meeting Report Progress On Generics - Several of the 25 ministers attending a World Trade Organization meeting in Sydney today reported progress on permitting poor nations to import inexpensive generic medicines. (UN Wire, 15 Nov. 2002)

DRUGS: WTO Ministers Meet To Tackle Generics - A two-day World Trade Organization ministerial meeting was slated to open today in Sydney, with much discussion expected to focus on amending international patent rules to provide poor countries with access to cheap generic medicines. (UN Wire, 14 Nov. 2002)

WTO Talks Must Consider Labor Rights - The NSW [New South Wales, Australia] Labor Council has called on the participants in the Informal World Trade Organisation Meeting being held in Sydney to commit to complying with minimum labour standards. (Labor Council of New South Wales, 13 Nov. 2002)

TRADE: EU Calls For UNEP To Be Given Observer Status In WTO Talks (UN Wire, 11 Oct. 2002)

U.S. and W.T.O. Negotiate Drug Access - The United States and the World Trade Organization will try to come up with an agreement by year-end on how to give poor countries greater access to drugs to fight AIDS and other diseases, trade officials said today. (Bloomberg News, 27 Sep. 2002)

New WTO boss backs poor - The new head of the World Trade Organisation wants the organisation to focus on the needs of the poor countries. (Andrew Walker, BBC News, 3 Sep. 2002)

Tourism, NGOs divided on poverty - The historic clash between the tourism industry and non-governmental organisations is set to come to the fore at the World Summit for Sustainable Development...UK-based NGO Tourism Concern...wants the tourism industry to start focusing more on the amount of natural resources it consumes, whether the recent inclusion of services (which include tourism) as part of the World Trade Organisation agenda will truly provide for free and fair trade. Critically, it wants to raise the issue of foreign exchange leakage from developing countries. (Chatrudee Theparat, Bangkok Post, 26 Aug. 2002)

TRADE: New Study Examines How WTO Agreements Affect Public Health - Public health must be taken into consideration in the drafting of trade rules, according to a joint study released today by the World Trade Organization and the World Health Organization...The 171-page study, WTO Agreements and Public Health, says nations should be able to restrict imports and exports when the health of its people or wildlife is affected. It examines issues including infectious disease control, food safety, tobacco, environment, access to drugs, health services, food security and biotechnology. (UN Wire, 22 Aug. 2002)

For WTO's Next Chief, a Long List of Headaches (Elisabeth Olson, New York Times, 15 Aug. 2002)

The WTO Today (Caroline Dommen, forthcoming in Dommen, Trading Rights? Human Rights and the World Trade Organization, draft dated 12 Aug. 2002)

Rio + 10 Series: Report Finds Fundamental Flaws in WTO's Agreement on Agriculture - An Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy report argues that the Agreement on Agriculture fails to account for agri-business' monopoly over global agricultural trade...A recent report critiquing the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) noted that five privately owned companies (Cargill, Continental, Louis Dreyfus, Andre, and Bunge) control up to 90 percent of global grain trade. (William Baue, SocialFunds.com, 26 July 2002)

WTO: World Bank Releases Guide On Trade And Development (UN Wire, 27 June 2002)

HIV/AIDS: U.S., EU Back Easing Of Drug Patent Constraints -...The newspaper [Wall Street Journal] reports U.S. drug makers and, apparently, the Bush administration are supporting a WTO-administered waiver system, with countries obtaining generics on a case-by-case basis, while the EU is for an amendment to the TRIPS pact (UN Wire, 25 June 2002)

US mulls WTO action to lift EU block on GM crops (David Evans, Reuters, 21 June 2002) 

Fair trade demo attracts record numbers [UK] - Campaigners calling for a better deal for poor countries in the world trading system swamped parliament yesterday in the largest mass lobby of MPs to date (Charlotte Denny, Guardian [UK], 20 June 2002)

ICFTU condemns abuses of all core labour standards in India in new report - In a new report on India, produced to coincide with the 19-21 June WTO trade policy review, the ICFTU has condemned flagrant violations of workers’ trade union rights, including violence against trade union activists. The report also highlights “widespread child labour” with approximately 50 million children at work, at least 50% of whom are engaged in dangerous professions. (International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, 19 June 2002)

WTO policies criticized [Pakistan] - Organic farming, conservation of indigenous seeds and modern information on agriculture are prerequisites for getting rid of the offensive advances of multi-national companies and ensuring food security for the future generations. This was the crux of a day-long seminar on "The Agreement of the WTO and Threats to Food Security". (Dawn [Pakistan], 11 June 2002)

Chao: Work Standards an ILO Issue - U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine Chao said Monday she will press the United Nations labor agency to lead to the fight for basic work standards and keep the issue out of the hands of trade negotiators. (Alexander G. Higgins, AP, 10 June 2002)

Trade, Environment & Development Series Premieres: Top Experts Clarify, Propose Workable Solutions to Trade Issues - Attempting to break through the logjam of polarized debate over the nature, impact, and future of global trade, the Carnegie Endowment premieres the first policy brief in its Trade, Environment, and Development series. (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 3 June 2002)

Internationally-recognised Core Labour Standards in Slovenia: Report for the WTO General Council review of trade policies of Slovenia (Geneva, 13 and 15 May 2002) -...women receive lower wages than men and are under-represented in senior positions, and discrimination in employment against Roma continues to be a problem...Child labour does not generally occur, although there are credible reports of children under 16 working, largely on family farms, during the harvest. (International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, 13 May 2002)

New IUF Publication on The WTO and the World Food System: A Trade Union Approach - Access to adequate, safe and nutritious food is a fundamental human right, yet an estimated 820 million people are living in hunger. The agricultural workers who help feed the world are often unable to feed themselves, are twice as likely to die at work than workers in any other sector, and generally stand outside all systems of legal protection for their rights, health and welfare. Food processing workers are engaged in a constant battle to defend their unions, their employment and working conditions, their health and safety. (IUF - International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations, 3 May 2002)

IMF: Nobel Economist Blasts Fund, Other International Institutions - The International Monetary Fund has betrayed its mission by becoming "the fanatical champion of market hegemony," and the World Bank and World Trade Organization also do more harm than good to poor countries, one of last year's Nobel Prize winners in economics [Joseph Stiglitz] writes in a book that hits shelves today in France. (UN Wire, 16 Apr. 2002)

Oxfam plays into hands of the anti-globalizers:...The report's coverage of the unfairness of many of the rules in international trade is mostly accurate and is a welcome reminder of the hypocrisy which underlies so much Western free trade rhetoric. However, Oxfam shows double standards of its own (Philip Bowring, International Herald Tribune, 12 Apr. 2002)

TRADE: Oxfam Critique of WTO Triggers Reactions from All Sides - Top officials from the United Nations and the World Trade Organisation rejected the analysis published Thursday by the humanitarian organisation Oxfam International about the inequities of the global trade system and the harm it purportedly causes developing countries. The report, part of Oxfam's "Make Trade Fair" campaign, blames WTO rules for relegating the world's poor regions and countries to misery, but at least one other humanitarian group says the report does not go far enough (Gustavo Capdevila, Inter Press Service, 11 Apr. 2002)

press release: The Great Trade Robbery: Rich world swindles millions from the benefits of trade as global wealth divide widens to all time high - OXFAM today accused the rich world of robbing the poor world of $100 billion a year by abusing the rules governing world trade and denying millions of poor people their best escape route from poverty. (Oxfam, 11 Apr. 2002)

Earth Summit must act on MEAS: Johannesburg Earth Summit must agree that the WTO will respect multilateral environmental agreements (Friends of the Earth International, Greenpeace International, Northern Alliance for Sustainability [ANPED] - Sierra Club - Third World Network, 3 Apr. 2002)

Europe's Double Standards: How the EU should reform its trade policies with the developing world (Oxfam, Apr. 2002)

Report of the In-Depth Study Session on the World Trade Organisation for Human Rights Professionals: 1-2 February 2002 [includes sections on: "Trade liberalisation, Development and Human Rights";  "The Agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs), Traditional Knowledge, and Indigenous Peoples' Rights"] (Secretariat of the Study Session on the WTO / 3D Associates, Apr. 2002)

ICFTU report condemns Mexican core labour rights abuses: Fierce anti-union discrimination, shocking working conditions in the maquiladoras, some 1.5 million unrecognised domestic workers with no legal rights and widespread discrimination against women and the indigenous population: these are among the findings of a new critical report on Mexico released by the ICFTU to coincide with the 20-22 March WTO trade policy review of the country. (International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, 20 Mar. 2002)

TRIPS and Public Health: The next battle -...The Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health agreed at the WTO Ministerial in Doha in November 2001 was an important step forward in the campaign for affordable medicines...However, rich-country governments, under pressure from large companies, are backsliding on their promises and seeking to water down potential solutions. (Oxfam, Mar. 2002)

Trade unions and the WTO - Where now?...The outcome of the Doha WTO Ministerial Meeting as far as workers’ rights are concerned was not just a disappointment; it was a major setback for trade unions and others trying to give globalisation a social dimension. (ITGLWF - International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers’ Federation, 26 Feb. 2002)

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: Annan Urges "Responsible Prosperity": In a pep talk to developed countries delivered today at the London School of Economics, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan called on the world to use three major U.N. conferences to take dramatic action against environmental degradation and poverty...Annan blasted "powerful interest groups within rich countries" for holding up a "development round" of trade talks meant to "fully open the markets of those countries to labor-intensive exports from poor ones." (UN Wire, 25 Feb. 2002)

Making Globalisation Work: Speech by Mike Moore (WTO) to Global Unions Taskforce on trade, investment and international labour standards (Mike Moore, Director-General, WTO, 20 Feb. 2002)

China, Brazil, India, 9 other nations form alliance against biopiracy: China, Brazil, India, and nine other of the world's most biodiverse countries signed an alliance Monday to fight biopiracy and press for rules protecting their people's rights to genetic resources found on their land. (Mark Stevenson, Associated Press, Environmental News Network website, 19 Feb. 2002)

Charity chip shocker [UK]: chip shop owners threatened by patent bid - International charity ActionAid today applies to patent Britain's favourite take-away food - the great British chip...ActionAid is able to make this claim under new patent rules that allow companies to get exclusive rights over basic foods and even nature itself...Salil Shetty, ActionAid's Chief Executive said: "Our chip patent shows how absurd these patent rules are and highlights the ease with which big business is using these rules to deprive people of their rights. (ActionAid, 11 Feb. 2002) 

ICFTU report condemns deplorable conditions for workers in Malawi [refers to restrictions on the trade union rights of plantation workers and workers in export processing zones, and problems with anti-union discrimination and child labour] (International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, 6 Feb. 2002)

WTO rules 'detrimental' to developing countries [report from World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil]: The message from all panellists at the conference was that the World Trade Organisation's rules on intellectual property rights were detrimental to developing countries and that reform efforts at its ministerial meeting in Doha last September were mostly cosmetic. (Raymond Colitt, Financial Times, 3 Feb. 2002) 

Parallel worlds reach informal accord: In a roundtable meeting in Paris last December, officials from the World Bank, the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organisation agreed in principle with social organisations including the World Social Forum on the need to promote "public debates on key issues of [the globalisation] conflict". (Raymond Colitt, Financial Times, 1 Feb. 2002) 

Globalization & Militarization - A national security exception protects countries’ subsidies for military production from international trade rules...By favoring arms sales over other forms of trade, the security exception fuels armed conflict. [includes discussion of U.S. policy on arms trade] (John Feffer, Foreign Policy in Focus, Feb. 2002)

A genuine development agenda for the Doha round of WTO negotiations (Joint statement signed by CAFOD, Save the Children, Oxfam, Action Aid, World Vision, Christian Aid, The Fairtrade Foundation, Traidcraft, ITDG and World Development Movement, 25 Jan. 2002)

WTO Urged to Hold Guatemalan Government to Account over Maquila Abuses: A WTO review of Guatemala’s trade policies has prompted international labour to spotlight that government’s total failure to uphold freedom of association and the right to bargain collectively (International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers’ Federation, 16 Jan. 2002)

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: Toepfer Calls For Flexibility - U.N. Environment Program Executive Director Klaus Toepfer [said] he is encouraged by the attention that was given to the environment, poverty and sustainable development at the World Trade Organization's November ministerial conference in Doha, Qatar. Toepfer said more flexibility in dealing with those issues is needed ahead of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (UN Wire, 14 Jan. 2002)

2001:

Next WTO chief [WTO Director-General-designate Supachai Panitchpakdi] calls for sympathy for poor nations:...One example of a lack of understanding of the problems faced by the developing world was the insistence by some rich countries on certain labour and environmental standards that poorer countries could not afford to meet. "We should not penalise countries by closing down their market access because they can't bring up financial resources...to abide by the international standards," he said. (Nopporn Wong-Anan, Reuters, 3 Dec. 2001) 

Report from Doha: Intrigue at the WTO, as Developing Countries Try to Keep Their Heads Above Water - An Interview with Cecilia Oh [includes discussion of patents/access to medicines issue] (Multinational Monitor, Dec. 2001)

Oil, the World Trade Organization and Globalization (Project Underground, Drillbits & Tailings, 30 Nov. 2001)

Whither the WTO?...Looking ahead to 2002 and beyond, there is much to play for, with vast opportunity and great danger in equal measure. (Dr Razeen Sally, Co-Director of the International Trade Policy Unit at London School of Economics, in Frankfurter Allgemeine, 25 Nov. 2001)

ICFTU Resolution on the Launch of New Negotiations at the World Trade Organisation (WTO):...DEPLORING the continuing refusal of WTO member governments to address the violation of internationally-recognised core labour standards arising from world trade liberalisation, or even to set up some form of WTO committee or working group (together with the ILO) to discuss this urgent issue;...COMMITS the ICFTU to intensify its campaign, particularly in developing countries, to introduce a full social, developmental, gender and environmental dimension to the WTO, including the respect of internationally recognised core labour standards, until our objectives are entirely realised. (Executive Board of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, 21-23 Nov. 2001)

WTO Doha Conference a Setback for Labour and the Poor:...Dressed up in the language of a "development round" and rhetorical invocations of the commitment to poverty-alleviation is a significant victory for the proponents of corporate globalization...The accession of China must be seen as positive affirmation of the unlimited right of WTO member states to repress workers and elevate union busting to the level of national policy. (International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations [IUF], 21 Nov. 2001)

Workers’ Rights Ignored as World Trade Organization Sets Agenda:...“once again failed to take a single step forward to recognize and address the crucial link between the trading system and workers’ rights..." said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. (AFL-CIO, 20 Nov. 2001)

Internationally-Recognised Core Labour Standards In The Slovak Republic: Report for the WTO General Council Review of the trade policies of the Slovak Republic...Women, the disabled, and Roma face discrimination in employment. (International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, 20 Nov. 2001)

Do-It-Yourself Labor Standards: While the WTO dickers, companies are writing the rules -...The movement is being driven by Western corporations and the factories in developing countries that supply them...Employers in several developing countries are even asking for independent monitoring of their factories to attract or retain orders from Western companies. Their requests have thrust the International Labor Organization (ILO) into a new role as factory-labor cop. (Aaron Bernstein, Business Week, 19 Nov. 2001)

Renowned US Economists Denounce Corporate-Led Globalization:...Recent Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz, along with well-known economist Paul Krugman, have of late made a flurry of public statements critical of the policies and processes of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the World Bank / IMF, and the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) — while leaving plenty of harsh words for the blatantly pro-corporate actions of the Bush Administration. Both economists point to the disruptive and distorting influence of large corporate entities through their dominance over both domestic and international institutions. (James L. Phelan, Grassroots Globalization Network, 18 Nov. 2001)

Getting WTO's Attention Activists, Developing Nations Make Gains: Considering this was a meeting of the World Trade Organization, an institution often vilified as an agent of multinational corporate capitalism, some of the results evoked surprisingly joyful reactions among advocates for the world's oppressed. (Paul Blustein, Washington Post, 16 Nov. 2001)

East Africa: New agreement on access to drugs welcomed: The Ugandan government on Thursday welcomed a declaration by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) that should allow developing countries to use generic drugs in times of health crises, overriding the patents held by major pharmaceutical companies. (U.N. Integrated Regional Information Network, 16 Nov. 2001)

Doha: reading the fine print - The head of the World Development Movement puts the agreement reached by the WTO at Doha under the microscope. (Barry Coates, openDemocracy website, 15 Nov. 2001)

The Meaning of Doha [regarding WTO conference; includes section entitled "Doha and the Developing Countries"] (Walden Bello, Director of Focus on the Global South, & Anuradha Mittal, Director of Food First, in CorpWatch website, 15 Nov. 2001) 

Environmental Issues Make Significant Progress At Key Trade Talks [WTO meeting in Doha]: For the first time, trade ministers from over 140 countries have firmly accepted that globalization of trade and the reduction of trade barriers must take into account environmental issues. (United Nations Environment Programme, 15 Nov. 2001)

WTO: Agreement Reached In Doha; January Trade Round Set -...Even in light of the agreement allowing developing countries to break patents in the name of public health, the optimism of drug companies has not been dampened, the Wall Street Journal reports. "This does not change the way we sell our medicines," said Merck spokeswoman Gwen Fisher. "We do not believe that our intellectual property rights are in any way diminished," said Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America President Alan Holmer. "We're satisfied with the language" (UN Wire, 15 Nov. 2001)

MSF reactions to Doha TRIPS agreement [on access to medicines] (Médecins Sans Frontières, 15 Nov. 2001)

WTO launches "broad and balanced" trade round:...ENVIRONMENT - on an issue which developing countries had long refused to consider, there will be negotiations on the relationship between WTO rules and specific trade obligations included in international environmental agreements like the Convention on Bio-Diversity and the CITES convention on protecting endangered species. (Robert Evans, Reuters, 15 Nov. 2001)

Deal puts patients before the patents: Negotiators have defused the most inflammatory dispute between rich and poor nations that threatened to scuttle trade talks. They came to a tentative agreement to allow developing countries greater access to cut-price drugs to fight epidemics. The deal at the World Trade Organisation talks will assure developing countries that patent rules do not stand in the way of producing or importing generic drugs as they face health crises such as AIDS and malaria. But it ran into immediate protests from pharmaceutical company representatives, who said dilution of patent protections would discourage them from seeking cures for diseases that afflict developing nations. (Sydney Morning Herald [Australia], 14 Nov. 2001)

Green light to put public health first at WTO Ministerial Conference in Doha: A declaration on TRIPS and public health adopted today clearly recognized the potentially lethal side-effects of the TRIPS agreement and gave teeth to the measures that countries can use to counteract them. (joint statement by Médecins Sans Frontières, OXFAM, Third World Network, Consumer Project on Technology ,Consumers International, Health Action International and The Network, 14 Nov. 2001)

Victory on public health but few other gains for people in poverty - Oxfam is giving a four-out-of-ten score to the WTO deal struck today at Doha. There is a clear victory on public health, but Oxfam fears that developing countries can be bulldozed into agreeing a huge trade agenda which could exacerbate poverty and inequality. (Oxfam, 14 Nov. 2001)

Triumph for world trade talks:...Developing countries have the right to produce drugs cheaply in the case of a medical emergency...WTO members have accepted EU demands that investment, competition and environment rules be put on the agenda. (Steve Schifferes, BBC News, 14 Nov. 2001)

WTO agrees to launch new trade round: One of the Doha talks' biggest achievements was an agreement to shelter poor countries' access to medical supplies from the threat of legal challenge in the WTO. The deal partly resolves a bitter dispute fuelled by poor countries' complaints about difficulty in obtaining treatments for HIV/Aids and other diseases...One of the biggest stumbling blocks was France's refusal to accept wording in the draft agenda that called for "elimination" of farm subsidies. France dropped its opposition only when the EU succeeded, after all-night talks, in inserting a qualification and in obtaining a stronger WTO commitment to negotiate on trade and environment. (Guy de Jonquières, Financial Times, 14 Nov. 2001)

WTO to launch a new round of trade talks:...Mr. Clark [Ottawa trade consultant Peter Clark] said a deal reached early on in the WTO meeting that gave poor countries better access to drugs during health crises helped bridge divisions between industrialized and developing countries and increased chances of the round's successful launch. (Steven Chase, Globe and Mail [Canada], 14 Nov. 2001)

WTO Declaration on TRIPS and Health "the fight is not over": Under the leadership of the Africa Group, a bloc of more than 80 countries representing a majority of WTO Member States forced concessions from rich countries on the controversial issue of public health and drug company patent rights, despite fierce pressure from the U.S., E.U., Japan and Switzerland to divide the countries....But the declaration that emerged on public health and TRIPS from three days of negotiations was robbed of its full potential, activists say..."At the end of the day, opposition from rich countries crippled the legally binding language sought by the majority of WTO countries." (Health GAP Coalition, 13 Nov. 2001)

Oxfam, EU clash over market access for the poor: In Doha where the World Trade Organisation (WTO) meeting is being held, the British charity organisation, Oxfam and the European Union (EU) Commissioner Pascal Lamy clashed publicly on whether the industrialised world had lived up to its promises to extend fair trade to the poor world. The Oxfam indictment, a widely-circulated document called Eight broken promises: Why the WTO isn't working for the world's poor, drew a fiery response from Lamy who issued a six-page riposte, ripping into the Oxfam research. (Farah Khan, Daily News [Zimbabwe], 13 Nov. 2001)

WTO relaxes rule on drug patents: Campaigners hope deal will cut cost of remedies for diseases which kill millions - Developing countries won a breakthrough deal on relaxing drug patents at the World Trade Organisation's Doha meeting yesterday. Campaigners hope it will bring down the cost of remedies for treating diseases killing millions of poor people every year...campaigners said the US had undermined its own position by itself threatening to override the patent on Cipro, the main anti-anthrax remedy last month, even though only four people have died of the disease. (Charlotte Denny, Guardian [UK], 13 Nov. 2001)

Global Unions call WTO draft declaration a recipe for disaster: As a result of its disregard for basic human rights and development concerns, the 4th WTO Ministerial Conference in Doha stands to further undermine the legitimacy of the WTO, according to the ICFTU, the world’s largest trade union body. (International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, 13 Nov. 2001)

ICFTU/ICATU Joint Statement on Globalisation and the WTO (International Confederation of Free Trade Unions & International Confederation of Arab Trade Unions, 13 Nov. 2001)

WTO confirms drugs deal: Trade negotiators at the world trade talks in Doha have reached broad agreement on a deal to ensure that poor countries have access to medicines...Ministers are expected to approve a text later on Tuesday relating to the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) intellectual property rights accord, known as TRIPS. The text will state that TRIPS "can and should be interpreted and implemented in a manner supportive of WTO members' rights to protect public health and in particular to ensure access to medicines for all". Senior US trade officials said that "great progress" had been made on the health issue, and the success demonstrated to developing countries that the WTO was "part of the solution, not part of the problem". But they argued the text was a political statement that did not have legal force. (Steve Schifferes, BBC News, 13 Nov. 2001)

EU says environment must be in new trade talks: The European Union insisted on Sunday that environmental issues must be part of a new round of global trade negotiations and said it did not see why it should make concessions in other areas to win agreement on this. (Reuters, 13 Nov. 2001)

Antitrade activists face tough sell: As world trade meeting wraps up in Qatar, activists find little appetite for US-bashing in shadow of 9/11. (Peter Ford, Christian Science Monitor, 13 Nov. 2001)

Core Labour Standards tabled at Doha WTO Ministerial:...“It is significant that a number of countries welcomed the proposal to express their commitment to the respect of core labour standards, and for enhanced co-operation between the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the WTO,” commented ICFTU General Secretary Bill Jordan. (International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, 11 Nov. 2001)

Message from Doha - Day 2:...Today the WTO and its agents began the process of telling us "outsiders" here in Doha the way it's going to be. We can forget labor rights. (George Becker and Bill Klinefelter, United Steelworkers of America, 11 Nov. 2001) 

India criticizes WTO over ignoring needs of poor countries: India sharply criticized the World Trade Organization here on Saturday, accusing it of ignoring the needs of poor countries and badgering them to take positions against their will...Among the new issues being considered are proposed moves to link the protection of the environment and workers' rights to trade pacts, a position vigorously advocated by the European Union. Maran [Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry Murasoli Maran] reiterated that poor countries firmly reject any such connections, seeing in them a transparent bid by the West to use alleged abuses of labour and the environment as pretexts for blocking exports from the developing world. (Dawn [Pakistan], 11 Nov. 2001)

China hints at active role in development issues at WTO (Kyodo News [Japan], 11 Nov. 2001)

Observer Comment - Anti-globalisation can not help the developing world. But the rich countries must ditch the hypocrisy and keep their promises to the south...Multinational corporations, finance capitalists and Northern Governments justify themselves in terms of free trade, but what they actually promote are their own interests, which is not the same thing at all. In trade the industrialised world imposes liberalisation on developing countries while protecting its own markets in agriculture and textiles through tariff barriers. (Michael Jacobs, Observer [UK], 11 Nov. 2001)

Trade and Environment: What Europe really wants and why - The European Union is among the most active supporters of a positive "environment" and "sustainable development" agenda in WTO. (European Union, 11 Nov. 2001)

Greening Doha : the EU's Trade and Environment Agenda (speech by European Union Commissioner Pascal Lamy, delivered to the Greenpeace 'Safe Trade' Seminar, 11 Nov. 2001)

Labour: the missing issue at Doha:...The fading of labour rights from the agenda of trade talks has much to do with the new, more pro-business orientation of the Bush administration...However, it is also part of the new negotiating strategy which gives more weight to the concerns of developing countries. They believe that blocking trade in goods because of supposed violations of labour rights would be a form of disguised protectionism. (Steve Schifferes, BBC News, 10 Nov. 2001)

The WTO's Hidden Agenda: Three confidential documents from inside the World Trade Organization Secretariat and a group of captains of London finance, who call themselves the "British Invisibles," reveal the extraordinary secret entanglement of industry with government in designing European and American proposals for radical pro-business changes in WTO rules. (Greg Palast, special to CorpWatch, 9 Nov. 2001)

Prelude to Doha: Northern Countries Try to Ram Through Agenda Developing Countries Being Set Up to Yield to New Round -- Or Take Blame for Failure (Martin Khor, Director of Third World Network [Malaysia], special to CorpWatch, 9 Nov. 2001)

At trade talks, generic-drug issue key:...Accused of hypocrisy by AIDS groups and developing nations, the US is now backing off on its hard-line stance on drug patents, offering new hope for AIDS-ravaged countries such as South Africa. (Nicole Itano, Christian Science Monitor, 9 Nov. 2001)

Environmental Issues At The Doha Wto Trade Talks: A successful outcome in Doha would be the launch of a new trade round that builds mutually supportive trade and environment policies - "Environmental issues, seen by many as a controversial topic, must not be sidelined at the fourth WTO Ministerial Conference that begins today in Doha, Qatar," said Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). (United Nations Environment Programme, 9 Nov. 2001)

Globalising opposition: The newly-founded Arab Forum for Resisting Globalisation held its first conference in Beirut last weekend. The coming WTO meeting in Doha was a constant theme. Zeina Abu Rizk reports from Beirut (Al-Ahram Weekly [Cairo], 8-14 Nov. 2001)

Fixing, not Sinking, the WTO (George Soros, in Project Syndicate, 6 Nov. 2001)

WCL & ICFTU call on the WTO to make real progress:...The joint statement by the two Brussels-based labour groups calls on the WTO decision-makers to incorporate respect for the ILO’s core labour standards into international trade agreements and the work of the WTO through a formal body with the full participation of the ILO. The statement also demands the inclusion of social, labour, gender, environment and development concerns in the WTO's trade policy review mechanism as well as providing formal consultative procedures for trade unions and other significant and representative non-governmental actors. (International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) and World Confederation of Labour (WCL), 6 Nov. 2001)

WTO to Hear Calls for 'Robin Hood' Tax: Campaigners are stepping up calls for a "Robin Hood" tax on the global currency trade ahead of a high-level summit of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in the Gulf state of Qatar later this week. A "small and simple" levy on the world's currency market could wipe out the worst of global poverty, according to a report released Monday by anti-poverty charity War on Want and leading alternative think-tank the New Economics Foundation. (Sebastian Naidoo, OneWorld UK , 6 Nov. 2001) 

War Profiteering: Bayer, Anthrax and International Trade - This article, which lays out the issues surrounding drug patents, WTO rules and public health, was written before the recent WTO meeting in Doha, Qatar...We believe this piece is still timely because it gives context to the fierce fight over drug patenting in the WTO and the implications for both developed and developing countries. (Kavaljit Singh, Asia-Europe Dialogue Project, on CorpWatch website, 5 Nov. 2001)

Malaysia warns of WTO standstill if rich include child labor and human rights issues: If rich countries insist on "smuggling" issues like child labor and human rights into a World Trade Organization meeting this week, a new round of free trade talks will not happen, Malaysia's prime minister said Monday. (Associated Press, 5 Nov. 2001)

Trade sanctions against Burma fully compatible with WTO rules, says ICFTU: The persistence of forced labour on a large scale in Burma, widely expected to be confirmed next week by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), should prompt all Member States to impose binding trade sanctions on the Burmese regime, says the ICFTU...While many governments and corporations have hidden behind an alleged incompatibility of trade sanctions against Burma with WTO rules, the ICFTU's briefing rejects their claims as "legally unfounded and morally wrong", Jordan [ICFTU General Secretary Bill Jordan] said today. (International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, 5 Nov. 2001)

Wanted - global authority to tame big business: British charity Christian Aid last week urged delegations heading for next week's World Trade Organisation conference in Qatar to consider the need for a new global regulator to bring corporations under legally binding control. (Reuters, 5 Nov. 2001)

WTO talks could make things worse - environmentalists: Global trade rules are damaging small farmers, local food producers and rural communities and next week's World Trade Organisation meeting could make things worse, Friends of the Earth said in a report yesterday. The environmentalist group said that food and farming policy were now loaded in favour of big farmers and transnational companies, which makes the poor poorer. (Reuters, 2 Nov. 2001)

Rich world hypocrisy and double standards threaten WTO legitimacy - The World Trade Organisation (WTO) faces a critical test of legitimacy at its forthcoming meeting in Doha, Qatar (9 – 13 November), due to sustained and blatant first world hypocrisy according to a new report, Broken Promises, released today by the campaigning aid agency Oxfam International. (Oxfam, 2 Nov. 2001)

WTO and the Fate of the World's Forests:...Global forestry corporations, like Boise Cascade, International Paper, Mead, and Weyerhaeuser, all would like expanded WTO rules to ensure unfettered access to forest resources and consumer markets. They use industry groups, like the American Forest and Paper Association (AF&PA), to lobby Washington and, in essence, help write the US position on trade and shape the WTO agenda on forest issues...The new global corporate regime is designed to accelerate industrial logging for export, to concentrate corporate control over forest resources, and to reduce protections for forest ecosystems and forest peoples. (Victor Menotti, Program Director of the International Forum on Globalization, for CorpWatch, 1 Nov. 2001)

The WTO, Forests and the Spirit of Rio:...Since its inception, the WTO has undermined the agreements reached in Rio by replacing the environmental agenda with the corporate push for indiscriminate international trade...[I]n the tropics...increased trade of all sorts of goods -- ranging from logs to aluminum, from shrimp to palm oil to soya beans -- results in forest destruction and the impoverishment of local communities. (Ricardo Carrere, International Coordinator of the World Rainforest Movement, for CorpWatch, 1 Nov. 2001)

Annan urges trade round to aid poorer nations: Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary-general, called on Thursday for a global response to rebuild confidence in the international economic system after the September 11 attacks in the US, including the launch of new world trade talks to benefit poorer countries...Juan Somavia, ILO director-general, also backed a new trade round to make trade "a locomotive of equitable growth and decent work creation". (Frances Williams & Nancy Dunne, Financial Times, 1 Nov. 2001)

EMPLOYMENT: Annan Stresses Plight Of Poor Following Terrorist Attacks - Addressing the opening of the International Labor Organization's Global Employment Forum in Geneva, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said today that the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States will have "severe and multiple" effects on the job market and the poor. Citing the ILO estimate that 24 million could lose their jobs by the end of next year, Annan called for global economic integration that takes into account social and employment difficulties. (UN Wire, 1 Nov. 2001)

Protesters call for trade reforms before WTO meeting: Critics of the World Trade Organization will press for trade reforms during the group's meeting in Qatar next week, despite the Gulf nation's ban on assembly and street protests, advocacy groups said yesterday. (Reuters, 1 Nov. 2001)

War on Want WTO Policy Statement (War on Want, Nov. 2001)

ICFTU calls for leading role for the ILO in globalisation and at the WTO: Bill Jordan, General Secretary of the ICFTU, will outline how the ILO has a central role to play in establishing “new global rules that will permit and encourage sustainable development, decent employment and respect for workers’ rights in all part of the world”, at the ILO’s Global Employment Forum opening in Geneva tomorrow. (International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, 31 Oct. 2001)

Call for trade round as economy falters: The World Bank has urged global leaders to launch a trade round for the benefit of developing countries. (Steve Schifferes, BBC News, 31 Oct. 2001)

Present Problems and Future Shape of the WTO and the Multilateral Trading System (Chee Yoke Ling, Legal Advisor to the Third World Network, speech to International Conference on Globalisation, 30 Oct. 2001)

It's Not the Trade; It's the Trade-Offs (Naomi Klein, speech to International Conference on Globalisation, 30 Oct. 2001)

Public Health vs Corporate welfare choices for Doha: Months of talks and negotiations over the issues of Public Health and access to medicines, that have been affirmed to be a fundamental human right, the United States and its core supporters have refused to yield and place public health of billions across the world above corporate profits of the pharmaceutical corporations (Chakravarthi Raghavan, South-North Development Monitor, 29 Oct. 2001)

WTO and social responsibilities:...The sanctimonious advocacy of the social clause by the protagonists of WTO is a case in point. According to this, no product that involves child labour or forced labour can be sold in world markets. On the face of it, this lacks a moral stance and in point of fact this is a patent piece of protectionism meant to favour the MNCs. (Swami Agnivesh, The Hindu [India], 29 Oct. 2001)

Drug Patent Dispute Poses Trade Threat - Generics Fight Could Derail WTO Accord - Amid its own efforts to obtain cheap supplies of Cipro to fight the anthrax threat, the Bush administration is battling to keep Brazil and other developing countries from securing broad rights to override patents and lower the prices of drugs for treating AIDS and other illnesses. (Paul Blustein, Washington Post, 26 Oct. 2001)

Enron: Washington's Number One Behind-the-Scenes GATS Negotiator -...Enron's connections with the Bush Administration make it one of the most powerful corporate players in Washington today. And these connections make it an even more influential player in the WTO's service negotiations. (Tony Clarke, Director of the Polaris Institute, for CorpWatch, 25 Oct. 2001) 

Making Trade Liberalization Work Against World Poverty:...One of the keys to success for the Doha meeting will be for the developed countries to articulate what they mean by, and are prepared to do about, a so-called development round. (Donald J. Johnston, Secretary-General, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, in International Herald Tribune, 25 Oct. 2001)

A battered Bayer opts out of a fight over its Cipro patent: Rather than suffer a bruising battle for its Cipro patent and risk more damage to its image, the German drug giant will sell the anthrax-fighting antibiotic to the [U.S.] federal government at a drastically reduced price -- 95 cents a tablet, about half earlier offers. The deal came after U.S. officials threatened to override the patent. The outcome underscores the ongoing difficulties facing the pharmaceutical industry as it tries to protect its patents. In poor countries such as Brazil and South Africa, drug makers such as Roche AG and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. have been accused of denying treatment to AIDS patients by using patent law to prevent the availability of cheaper generics. The Cipro fight is the first such squabble to involve the United States. The threat to override Bayer's patent, which expires in 2003, appears to contradict the government's own position. At a World Health Organization meeting in Qatar next month, the United States is expected to oppose efforts to produce generic medications in the event of a public-health crisis. (Ed Silverman, Star-Ledger [New Jersey], 25 Oct. 2001)

India caught in drug patent trap: It took the anthrax scare in the United States and an offer of cheap drugs from India to highlight a problem familiar to people in developing countries - the denial of access to affordable drugs because of tough patent laws. "India's thriving drug industry has provided a good example of how drugs can be produced cheaply and profitably for local markets when unburdened by exorbitant licensing fees," said Mira Shiva, an expert on pharmaceutical drugs with the Voluntary Health Association of India (VHAI).  Ironically, it was the United States that took India to the World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement tribunal - and in 1999 it compelled India to begin working on legislation to introduce product patents and allow foreign patent holders exclusive marketing rights (EMRs) in the meantime. (Ranjit Devraj, Asia Times, 25 Oct. 2001) 

Needs of Vulnerable Consumers Ignored by WTO: Impact assessments by Consumers International show trade liberalisation is not benefiting consumers - Consumers International has carried out impact assessments on agriculture and services liberalisation in 16 developing and transition economies from Chile and Chad, as part of its Consumers and the Global Market programme. The results of this work show that the World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreements in agriculture and services are working against consumers, particularly in developing and transition economies. (Consumers International, 16 Oct. 2001)

Nobel Laureate Encourages Global Justice Movement: Joseph Stiglitz, whose critiques of free market fundamentalism cost him a senior job at the World Bank in 1999 but won him the Nobel Prize for economics last week, has succinct advice for the global justice movement: Keep it up. ''The recognition that the trade agreements of the past have been unfair is one of the important lessons of the anti-globalisation movement,'' he says. ''I think it's something that will stick with us. And if we go forward with another round of trade talks, it will shape our discussions.'' (Tim Shorrock, Inter Press Service, 15 Oct. 2001)

'New Development Agenda' in Doha? The fourth ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) scheduled next month in Doha may end up being described as setting a 'new development agenda' and not just yet another 'new round' of trade talks. (Kalinga Seneviratne, Inter Press Service, 15 Oct. 2001) 

Japan, EU agree to block farm trade liberalization: Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka and European Union Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy reaffirmed Saturday their intention to oppose drastic farm trade liberalization at the proposed launch of new global trade talks under the World Trade Organization, a Japanese official said...Tanaka said Japan will extend as much support as possible to the EU's bid to seek WTO negotiations on the environment as Japan believes the issue is important. But another Japanese official said Japan is not likely to support the idea of "precautionary principles" that the EU wants the WTO to address in the next trade round. The principles would allow countries to restrict imports, without scientific evidence, of goods they believe would damage the environment. (Japan Times, 14 Oct. 2001)

WTO Rules Block Cheaper HIV/Aids Imports [Kenya]: The National Aids Control Council of Kenya has said the government is having difficulty buying cheap HIV/AIDS drugs despite the government passing legislation in June to allow low-cost importation in June, the 'Daily Nation' reported on Wednesday. Deputy Director of NACC, Dr Patrick Oregi, was quoted as saying that some rules of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) were hindering the importation of anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) used to treat the disease. (UN Integrated Regional Information Network, 12 Oct. 2001)

A 'Crisis Of Legitimacy' Facing World Trade Meeting: A group of prominent non-governmental organizations (NGOs) based in industrialized countries sent a sharply worded letter to the World Trade Organization (WTO) charging that it "is facing a fundamental crisis of legitimacy" which requires comprehensive institutional reforms. The groups critical of the WTO are the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF, also known as World Wildlife Fund), based in Gland, Switzerland, Friends of the Earth International (FoE), based in Amsterdam, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), from Minneapolis, ActionAid (London) and Oxfam International, with offices in Washington and Oxford. (Gustavo Capdevila, Inter Press Service, 12 Oct. 2001)

TRADE: India To Seek Changes in WTO Draft in Singapore: India will rally like-minded developing countries to press for changes in the World Trade Organisation (WTO)'s draft declaration readied for next month's ministerial conference in Doha, Qatar...''The draft confirms that WTO is an asymmetric body, biased in favour of the North against the South, with rules written to protect the interests of corporations and extinguish the rights of people.'' said Vanadana Shiva, director of the India-based, Research Foundation for Science, Ecology and Technology...While developing countries have demanded that the Convention on Biodiversity take precedence over TRIPS wherever conflicts arose between the WTO and multilateral environment agreements, the draft favours TRIPS as the guide for work on indigenous knowledge and biodiversity. (Ranjit Devraj, Inter Press Service, 11 Oct. 2001)

Free Trade for A Better World - Promoters of global free trade have found a new argument for the cause: trade liberalization is key to fighting terrorism. But old conflicts die hard - Even before the smoke had settled from the September 11 attacks in New York and Washington, United States Trade Representative Robert Zoellick launched a series of speeches arguing that global trade liberalization was a central plank of the counter-offensive against international terrorism...But free-traders will find it hard to fully capitalize on the momentum for a response to the deadly attacks. (Murray Hiebert and Shada Islam, Far Eastern Economic Review, 11 Oct. 2001)

EU largely isolated on WTO environment issue: The European Union stepped up its bid this week for negotiations on environmental issues to be included in any new trade round, but most members of the World Trade Organisation remained firmly opposed, officials said. (Reuters, 10 Oct. 2001)

ACTRAV Symposium shows union convergence on globalization issues...The Symposium gave a unique opportunity for dialogue between the world of labour and representatives of the International Financial Institutions and the World Trade Organization (WTO). (Human.Rights@Work: A monthly newsletter produced by the ILO Bureau for Workers' Activities, International Labour Organization, 9 Oct. 2001)

Institutional reforms in the WTO - joint NGO open letter (Oxfam, WWF, IATP, Action Aid, CIEL, Friends of the Earth, 9 Oct. 2001)

Is the WTO serious about reducing world poverty? The Development Agenda for Doha (briefing paper, Oxfam, 8 Oct. 2001)

EU stance on environment threatens new trade round: European Union insistence that the World Trade Organisation negotiate on environmental rules could sink prospects for a new global trade round, trade diplomats said on Thursday. (Frances Williams, Financial Times, 4 Oct. 2001)

EU ups stakes over environment in trade round push: The European Union insisted yesterday that negotiations on environmental rules had to be included in a new trade round, upping the stakes in end-game efforts to get fresh liberalisation talks launched next month. (Robert Evans, Reuters, 4 Oct. 2001) 

Sustainable Development Lacking In Draft Declaration: As BRIDGES Weekly went to press, WTO Members were busy deliberating a new draft Declaration for the forthcoming WTO Ministerial in Doha, Qatar on 9-13 November...Language on trade and environment is limited to pursuing work in environment-trade 'win-win' situations and in deepening the understanding between the WTO and multilateral environmental agreements. (BRIDGES Weekly Trade News Digest, International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development, 2 Oct. 2001) 

International Undertaking on Plant Genetic Resources: The Final Stretch - What is at stake under the "new" IU [International Undertaking on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture] has risen considerably. It's still about developing an international system - implying shared responsibilities - to conserve genetic diversity of food and fodder crops. But more critically, it's about whether or not these resources will be rescued from the deepening spiral of corporate - and state - monopolisation. If governments do not reach an agreement on the IU in November, we will be left with only one global legal instrument setting the rules over farmers' seeds and farmers' rights: the WTO TRIPS Agreement. (GRAIN, Oct. 2001)

Biodiversity Rights Legislation (BRL): Biodiversity Rights Legislation (BRL) is a collection of public legal documents -- laws, bills and other legislative proposals...BRL contains the full texts or the Internet addresses (URLs) of emerging laws and policies that affect peoples' control over agricultural biodiversity in developing countries. (GRAIN [Genetic Resources Action International], Oct. 2001)

The unremarkable record of liberalized trade - After 20 years of global economic deregulation, poverty and inequality are as pervasive as ever (Christian E. Weller, Robert E. Scott and Adam S. Hersh, Economic Policy Institute, Oct. 2001)

WTO must not block access to medical treatment -...The following are extracts from a statement by the Health Gap International and ACT UP from the United States, and from an open letter to the WTO by about 40 NGOs from around the globe. (South Bulletin no. 22, South Centre, Oct. 2001)