China and World Trade

Another China WTO Loss. Another Nail In The Coffin Of World Trade. : China Law Blog : China Law for Business

This post on China Law Blog by Steve Dickinson is worth reading; the way that China deals with its rare earths trade has also been the subject of posts on the IELP blog. It's ironic that we read information such as this when the 2nd National China Business Symposium opens in Auckland on Thursday 1 March 2012.

This symposium is organised by the NZCTA and the New Zealand China Contemporary Research Centre specifically for those who are engaged in trade with China and for academics who wish to test academic research with what actually happens in the market place. The theme of the Symposium is Successful Branding and Channel Management in China. It will be interesting to see if concerns over China's membership of the WTO surface.

Re-energising the Doha Round of Trade Talks

Logo from www.wto.org

Some readers of this blog may have noticed in the local media last week, mention of the restarting of the Doha Talks. Since then there has been almost nothing. In fact the talks are scheduled to resume formally on September 14 in Geneva. There was a Ministerial meeting held in New Delhi, India on September 3rd and 4th, between India and various regional blocs such as CARICOM on how to cater for the interests of the least developed countries and to ensure that their issues and concerns are addressed.

The latest official news on the Doha Round can be found at the WTO website: http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dda_e/dda_e.htm. This includes an audio statement from Pascal Lamy.

DS367

This is the number for the "apple access case" between Australia and New Zealand which will be aired at the WTO headquarters in Geneva beginning on Tuesday June 30,2009. New Zealand apples have been banned in Australia for 88 years because of the presence of the disease fireblight in New Zealand. Details of the dispute can be found at the WTO site at:

http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/cases_e/ds367_e.htm

The mural “Le bienfait des loisirs”, painting by Gustave-Louis Jaulmes, Salle des Pas Perdus in the WTO Building in Geneva with its very peaceful and pastoral scene certainly belies the difficulties of this case from New Zealand's point of view.

World Trade Finance

Some of you who have been following the financial ups and downs over the past months may be interested in this post by Pascal Lamy - Director-General of the WTO, to the Ideas for Development blog:

http://www.ideas4development.org/getting-worse-before-it-gets-better-trade-finance-and-the-risks-caused-by-risk/en/

It is entitled Getting worse before it gets better: trade finance and the risks caused by risk.

Photo: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Pascal_Lamy.jpg