Avian influenza is a deadly disease that can spread rapidly through poultry. There are many documented cases of transmission from birds to people, but as yet only rare instances of human to human transmission. Nonetheless, public health officials are concerned about the possibility of a human...

Development objectives dictate that the Doha negotiations address tariff escalation. This could increase the production and export of processed goods in developing countries, expand investment and employment, and reduce dependence on primary product exports. Despite its importance, little...

The long-running WTO negotiations remain unresolved. Agriculture is the main stumbling block. Members have agreed to linear tariff reductions within bands, but proposed exemptions for sensitive products, while providing for much needed flexibility, threaten to undermine the ambition. A detailed...

Developed countries have agreed to provide duty free and quota free access to imports from LDCs covered by 97 per cent of tariff lines. However, LDCs would like to extend the agreement to 100 per cent coverage, since 3 per cent of tariff lines can cover a substantial proportion of LDC exports....

Australia has long been considered a commodity based economy, with the relationship between the terms of trade and the real exchange rate well documented. Less well documented are the determinants of the Australian terms of trade and how these have moved in response to structural change and...

Discussions within the World Trade Organization on the temporary movement of labour across borders have met with limited success, in spite of the potential benefits to both home and destination countries. Developed countries have been reluctant to allow increased immigration because of concerns...

Following the global spike in food prices in 2008, there is renewed interest in Indonesia in self-sufficiency as a means of achieving food security. Restrictive trade policies, including specific tariffs on rice and sugar, and quantitative restrictions on imports and exports, have been used in...

The interests of developing countries in multilateral trade negotiations will need to be given greater consideration than previously if progress is to be made in the current round of multilateral trade negotiations. Modelling the impacts of policy changes on individual developing countries...

The Uruguay Round agreement on agriculture was a milestone, bringing this important sector under the disciplines from which it had escaped in the early days of the GATT. The agreement limits the distortions that countries may impose on: market access, on export subsidization and domestic...

In 2011 the Thai Government pledged to pay rice producers 50 per cent more than the going market price. The surplus has gone into Government stocks. While supporting local farmers, the Government also hoped to drive up world prices by withholding supplies from the world market and make a...