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WTO
Secretariat reorganizes for Development Round
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Director-General
Mike Moore, in a speech
on 14 December 2001, said that “the WTO has been given an
important new negotiating mandate by Ministers”. He said that “to
prepare for this challenge and improve the functioning of the
Secretariat, I have determined that certain organizational changes are
needed at this stage”. Mr. Moore said these changes aim to reflect the
work priorities of the Doha Development Agenda, make efficiency gains
and cost savings, ensure proper coordination of related elements of work
wihtin the Secretariat, increase accountability and assess the
efficiency of the Secretariat on a continuing basis, and to communicate
more effectively with the outside world on the work of the WTO.
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Director-General
M. Moore and Chairman Min. Youssef Hussain Kamal steer the Doha meeting to
success.
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Doha
success marks a turning-point for world trade — Moore
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The
4th Ministerial Conference held in Doha, Qatar on 9-14 November was
“an extraordinarily successful meeting ... that will be remembered as
a turning point in the history of the WTO and the trading system and in
relations between developed and developing countries within that
system,” said Director-General Mike Moore in his first formal
assessment of the results. In his speech WTO
and the New Round of Trade Talks before the Pacific Economic
Cooperation Council in Hong Kong, China on 28 November 2001, he said
that the work programme agreed in Doha “invigorates and extends the
negotiations for liberalizing access to markets which are the core
business of the WTO”. He said the completion of the Ministerial
Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health “removed a critical point of
discord between developed and developing countries”. Mr. Moore cited
the accession of China and Chinese Taipei as “a massive
achievement”.
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Doha
Conference ends with agreement on new programme
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Ministers
from WTO member governments, on 14 November 2001, approved a work
programme — which they called “broad and balanced" — that
includes negotiations on a range of subjects and other tasks for the
coming years. “The success of our conference at this difficult time
is … especially important as a reaffirmation of the determination of
the international community to work together to respond to these
challenges for a better future,” said Conference chairman, Qatari
Finance, Economy and Trade Minister Youssef Hussain Kamal.
Director-General Mike Moore said: “I have been impressed by the
readiness which so many ministers have shown to understand and
accommodate the needs of others, and by the strength of the common
determination to make the conference a success — not just for the sake
of national interests, but very much because everybody appreciated the
need to give a signal of confidence in this very difficult time of
international uncertainty.” The work programme, spelt out in two
declarations — a main declaration and one on intellectual property
(TRIPS) and public health — and one decision on implementation —
i.e. developing countries’ difficulties in implementing current WTO
agreements.
>
Doha
Ministerial Declaration
> Implementation-related
issues and concerns — Decision
> Subsidies
— procedures for extensions under Article 27.4
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“A
meeting for a better and more just world” |
Qatar's
Emir opens 4th WTO Ministerial Back
to top
His
Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Emir of Qatar, opened the
4th Ministerial Conference on 9 November by underscoring that “a
successful meeting will be the best possible demonstration that all
nations, rich and poor alike, are working together for a better and more
just world”. He said that “the world is looking forward to a
new round that would give prominence to development…” The Emir
added that “the Conference gives the State of Qatar the opportunity
to introduce itself and show that its economic system is open and
flexible”.
>
Statements
from the inaugural session
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Ministers
adopt Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health
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The
4th Ministerial Conference, on 14 November, adopted the Declaration on
the TRIPS
Agreement and Public Health. The Declaration recognized that the
TRIPS Agreement contained elements of flexibility that can be used to
respond to health emergencies. They include the right to grant
compulsory licenses and to determine the grounds upon which they should
be granted, and the right to establish national regimes for the
exhaustion of intellectual property rights.
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China's
Foreign Trade Min. Shi Guangsheng signs his country's membership document
on 11 Nov. 2001
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WTO
Ministerial Conference approves China's accession
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The
WTO's Ministerial Conference, on 10 November, approved by consensus the
text of the agreement for China's entry into the WTO. “This is an
historic moment for the WTO, for China and for international economic
cooperation”, said WTO’s Director-General, Mike Moore, commenting on
the approval of China’s accession.
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Economic
Affairs Min. Lin Hsin-I signs Chinese Taipei's accession document on 12
Nov.2001
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Chinese
Taipei signs membership package
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Chinese
Taipei, on 12 November, signed its membership package in Doha, Qatar.
Ministers from WTO member governments had formally approved Chinese
Taipei’s package on 11 November.
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Ministers
grant waiver to ACP-EC Partnership Agreement Back
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The
Ministerial Conference, on 14 November, granted a waiver to the
Partnership Agreement between the ACP (Africa, Caribbean and the Pacific)
and the European Communities, also known as the Cotenou Agreement. Under
this Agreement, the EC provides preferential tariffs to ACP products. The
draft waiver decision was forwarded to the Ministers by the Council for
Trade in Goods which held a special meeting in Doha.
>
Decision
on waiver for the ACP-EC Partnership Agreement
>
Decision
on the EU transitional regime for banana imports
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Agencies
to boost developing countries' participation in setting food safety and
related norms Back
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At
the WTO Ministerial Conference in Doha, Qatar, five international
organizations, on 11 November, issued a joint statement committing
themselves to help developing countries' participate more fully in
setting international norms for sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS)
measures — food safety and animal and plant health.The five
organizations are the WTO, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the
International Animal Health Organization (Office International des
Epizooties or OIE), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the World
Bank.
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