Trade : With US intransigent, MC11 may end with Chair statement (PRIV)
(D. Ravi Kanth, Buenos Aires)
South Africa and India, supported by a large majority of countries, waged a grim battle on Wednesday with the United States for including the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) in the Buenos Aires Ministerial Declaration, several trade ministers and envoys told the SUNS.

Trade : MC11 ending amidst endless frustration of large majority of South (PRIV)
(D. Ravi Kanth, Buenos Aires)
The World Trade Organization's eleventh ministerial conference (MC 11) in Buenos Aires concluded on Wednesday amidst endless frustration and disappointment for a large majority of developing countries who have been denied a mandated outcome on the permanent solution for public stockholding programs for food security after an intransigent United States pulled the plug, trade ministers told SUNS.

Trade : South insists post-MC11 work based on DDA, but facilitators omit DDA (PRIV)
(D. Ravi Kanth, Buenos Aires)
A large majority of developing and poorest countries on Tuesday insisted that the post-Buenos Aires work program must be based on the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) but the facilitators in their reports ensured there is no reference to the Doha work program, trade ministers told SUNS.

Trade : India+4 link moratoriums on e-commerce, TRIPS NV and CBD (PRIV)
(D. Ravi Kanth, Buenos Aires)
India today (13 December) insisted at the Buenos Aires ministerial meeting that the moratorium on electronic commerce transmissions (zero tariffs) must include the moratorium on the TRIPS non-violation (NV) complaints and a work program on the relationship between the TRIPS Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), trade envoys told SUNS.

Trade : "Pink washing" WTO with draft women's declaration? (PRIV)
(Roberto Bissio, Buenos Aires)
A non-binding declaration on Women and Trade signed by 118 countries was made public Tuesday during a press conference at the Hilton Hotel, where the 11th Ministerial Conference (MC11) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) is taking place.

Argentina : Debate on glyphosate use comes to a head (PRIV)
(IPS, Buenos Aires)
In and around the city of Rosario, where most of Argentina's soybean processing plants are concentrated, a local law banned the use of glyphosate, the most widely-used herbicide in Argentina. But two weeks later, producers managed to exert enough pressure to obtain a promise that the ban would be overturned.

Brazil : Indigenous people, guardians of threatened forests (PRIV)
(IPS, Rio de Janeiro)
Indigenous peoples, recognised as the best guardians of the world's forests, are losing some battles in Brazil in the face of intensified pressure from the expansion of agriculture, mining and electricity generation.