The preference between public and private negotiations for a buyer who sequentially visits two suppliers is examined. It is shown that the buyer weakly prefers to conduct private negotiations in order to create strategic uncertainty about the trade history. With substitute goods, such uncertainty is valuable only when price offers have short expiries that prevent a head-to-head supplier competi...

Since the TRIPS Agreement (Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) came into effect, Brazil, like other developing countries, has become more assertive in multilateral negotiations and begun to argue that the present international system of intellectual property should be better adapted to its needs and interests. In doing so, the country has emphasized that intellec...

During September 10-14, 2003, WTO members met in Cancún for a mid-term review of the Doha Round of trade negotiations, launched in November 2001. Trade ministers entered the 5 WTO Ministerial divided on agricultural and non-agricultural negotiating modalities, on whether to launch negotiations on the so-called Singapore issues and their possible scope, on the approach to take towards strengthen...

This article aims to review the process of Brazilian trade liberalization and integration over the last decade of the century. Emphasis is given to the analysis of the two principle integration projects in which Brazil has been engaged: the implementation of the Southern Cone Common Market (Mercosul) and the negotiations on the formation of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). Another is...

The preference between public and private negotiations for a buyer who sequentially visits two suppliers is examined. It is shown that the buyer weakly prefers to conduct private negotiations in order to create strategic uncertainty about the trade history. With substitute goods, such uncertainty is valuable only when price offers have short expiries that prevent a head-to-head supplier competi...

RIS is a New Delhi-based autonomous policy think-tank supported by the Government of India and devoted to trade and development issues. Its work programme focuses on policy research and capacity building on multilateral trade and financial negotiations, regional economic cooperation in Asia, South-South cooperation, new technologies and development, and strategic policy responses of developing ...

This paper analyzes what actions could be taken in the context of the WTO Doha negotiations to assist countries to benefit from deeper trade integration. It discusses the policy agenda that confronts many developing countries and identifies a number of focal points that could be used both as targets and as benchmarks to increase the likelihood that WTO negotiations will support development. To ...

The search for solutions to problems in international commodity trade has been more actively pursued during the past five years than at any previous time in history. Long negotiations in the Kennedy Round were aimed both at tariff questions and at establishing international commodity arrangements. The need for improved commodity trading arrangements was emphasized by developing countries at the...

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The persistent attempts of the major industrial nations to press ahead with the newly initiated (Doha) round of international trade negotiations under the auspices of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) have met with resistance from the developing countries (DCs). The failure of the WTO Ministerial meeting in Cancun and the slow pace of trade negotiations both before and since then are potent pr...