The next big international meeting on development and trade is coming up in December in Doha, Qatar. The meetings sponsored by the United Nations hope to develop finance for the world's poor. But the recession felt thought the world may carry the agenda instead.A great article today in IPS talks about the preparations that EU member states have put into the upcoming meetings. Writer David Cronin gathers the opinions of aid groups and NGO's on what the European Union is doing.For past meetings similar to this, the EU was widely praised for their leadership, but now they are being criticized. Last week Jeffery Sachs gave what he would like to see on the meetings agenda. Today, we wanted to highlight the subject of tax havens from the IPS article. One of the most contentious issues on the...
Jeffery Sachs says that the credit crisis is a clear indication that the international financial system is broken. But he also stays it's broken in other ways. Such as a billion people being cut of from the system because of where they live, and no energy supply plan to address demand and climate change. The next big international meeting is in December. In his latest commentary, Jeffery Sachs proposes an agenda for the meeting, as found in the Guardian.Here, then, is an agenda for Bretton Woods II. First, we need to restructure global finance, based on an expanded system of capital adequacy standards, financial reporting, system-wide risk management, and new lender-of-last-resort capacities. Derivatives traders, hedge funds, and broker dealers would be brought under regulatory control....
from New Vision By Alec Van GelderThe recent failure of the World Trade Organisation’s Doha Round and the long-standing failure of aid need not need spell disaster for African economies. The tools for promoting growth and prosperity are in their own backyard and three of the world’s top 10 pro-growth reformers are in Africa, according to the World Bank report Doing Business 2009, released recently.Useful reforms in Africa have increased by over 150 per cent over the past five years, helping to maintain the record six per cent a year growth of the past decade. Some countries are buoyed by high commodity prices but African economies are diversifying and expanding.The top reformers in the whole continent, Botswana, Burkina Faso and Senegal, have focused specifically on an area of upmost...
from Reuters it seems like we always hear these kind of speeches at the beginning of these conferences. Here is a report of the start of the latest international aid conference. - KaleBy Kwasi KpodoACCRA (Reuters) - Translating billions of dollars of foreign aid into concrete, timely action that helps the world's poorest is the biggest challenge facing both donor and recipient countries, speakers at an aid conference said on Tuesday.Ministers and officials from more than 100 countries that give and receive aid, along with leaders of humanitarian, lending and relief agencies, opened a three-day conference in Ghana aimed at improving the delivery of development assistanceCritics say that the effectiveness of more than $100 billion of international aid that is channeled to the developing...
from Reuters Africa More trade talks are coming this week in Ghana. The trickiest part is "food aid" allowing countries to sell surplus food to countries with out the export subsidy. - Kale By Jonathan LynnGENEVA (Reuters) - As ministers from over 100 countries gather in Ghana to review how effective aid is in helping developing nations deal with poverty, many economists argue the answer is elsewhere -- in freeing up trade.The meeting in Accra this week comes just over a month after talks at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to secure a breakthrough in the long-running Doha round collapsed at the end of July. Rich and poor countries alike have called for efforts to save the Doha round and build on the compromises that were reached in July's talks. Senior negotiators are likely to meet...
from New Delhi News This is the first that I have heard from a third party on the failed Doha free trade talks. The NGO Bread for the World sides with India. - Kale'We need a global economy that works for everyone, rich and poor alike, and not just for a wealthy few,' David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World, a Christian organisation that strives to end hunger worldwide, said in a statement in Washington Monday.Beckmann warned that the recent collapse of the Doha Round of talks in Geneva would adversely affect the world's hungry and poor people in more ways than the negotiators realise.'The trading nations of the world put protectionism ahead of hungry and poor people, and it worsened their plight,' said Beckmann.'That is the real tragedy of the collapse of the Doha Round during...
the Center for Global Development This is an interview with Randall Soderquist of the Center for Global Development. It explores where global trade talks can go fom here. - KaleThe collapse of the Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations last week was a major setback for developing countries and rich countries alike. Policymakers are now trying to make sense of what went wrong and salvage what goodwill remains. Randall Soderquist, CGD’s new senior program associate for trade, says that developing countries stand to lose the most from last week’s events, as the fragmented regional and bilateral trade agreements that will likely succeed Doha will undermine their bargaining power. In a new Q&A, he explains Doha’s impact on poor countries, discusses shifting political attitudes...
from the AustralianThis story has some opinions from farmers and poor advocates in Australia. They say the trade deal would have given the poor a chance in the worsening economy. - KaleFARMERS and the world's poor will be the losers from the collapse of world trade talks in Geneva overnight, advocates say.The World Trade Organisation talks, which aimed to salvage a global free trade pact, collapsed after the US, China and India failed overnight to agree on when poor countries could raise import tariffs on farm products.National Farmers Federation president David Crombie said the breakdown would prevent farmers from selling into new and expanded markets."The breakdown of negotiations in the Doha Round of WTO trade talks is another dismal result for Australia's farmers and agricultural...
from the Washington Post This story serves as an overview of this round of talks, and the issue that ended them. - KaleBy Anthony Faiola and Rama LakshmiInternational talks aimed at ushering in a new era of free trade collapsed in Geneva yesterday during a bitter split between developed and developing countries over the future shape of global commerce.The failure of the talks after nine days of intense negotiations underscored what is likely to be the biggest challenge in coming years to expanding world trade: the reluctance of emerging juggernauts such as India and China to risk their newfound success by offering rich nations greater access to the hundreds of millions of consumers rising out of poverty in the developing world.High-level delegations from the United States and the...
from AFP via Google The WTO talks have collapsed due to an arguement between India and the US. Here is a reaction on how the absence of an agreement will effect Africa. - KaleGENEVA — The breakdown of talks on a world trade pact has "gravely undermined" efforts by African countries to fight poverty, Kenya's trade minister warned on Wednesday."Africa's opportunity to achieve fair trade has... been gravely undermined by the lack of progress in these negotiations," the minister, Uhuru Kenyatta, told a news conference, speaking on behalf of a grouping of African countries at the World Trade Organization talks here."Africa critically needs to realise development and get itself out of poverty through the establishment of fair trade rather than aid," he said."Most of the key issues of...
from the Raw Story Here is another story on the WTO talks collapse. This story gathers reaction from leaders across the globe. - KaleWorld powers reeled with regret and emotion on Wednesday from the collapse of WTO negotiations for a global trade pact, warning that the poorest countries would suffer."It is particularly distressing for us that we find ourselves without an agreement today," US Trade Representative Susan Schwab told a news conference, as delegates reviewed the wreckage of nine days of talks.She lamented that tense talks had broken down on deadlock over special import tariff measures, after certain countries rejected WTO proposals."It would have worked, and yet there were others who demanded more. and more included a tool to close markets," Schwab said, without naming...
from the Florida Times Union A tiny issue has stalled global trade talks. One that's is hardly worth even arguing about .... sigh... - Kaleby BRADLEY S. KLAPPERGENEVA — The world's largest commercial powers came into crucial talks on a new global trade pact pledging to assume the shared responsibility needed for solving planetary problems from climate change to food and energy prices.But they are close to letting an arcane dispute over a seldom-used safeguard on farm imports spoil a trade deal worth billions of dollars to the global economy.With huge question marks remaining on provisions to open up farm and industrial markets, the World Trade Organization's leading members on Monday were sharply divided over an issue worth practically nothing to the global economy.A number of trade...
from Report on Business, Canada Agreement on the global trade pact could ad anywhere between $60 to $300 billion to the world's economy. - Kaleby JULIANE VON REPPERT-BISMARCKGENEVA — World trade ministers appear to be finally making progress in seeking a sweeping new global trade agreement.Although critical to a deal, disputes in several areas still did not prevent a sense of optimism over the multiyear process as officials continued week-long negotiations at the World Trade Organization in Geneva yesterday."We're closer to an outcome than we've ever been before," New Zealand Trade Minister Phil Goff told reporters after an evening session of talks. "People have differences. We need to work through those differences."Protection for farmers in developing countries, U.S. cotton...
from the Washington Post By Doug Palmer and William SchombergA consession is being propsed by the US to try to save the global trade talks. - KaleGENEVA (Reuters) - The United States sought to kickstart efforts to rescue a global trade deal on Tuesday by offering to cut a ceiling on its contested farm subsidies, but leading developing countries said it was not enough.U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab announced Washington was ready to cap its trade-distorting farm subsidies at $15 billion a year, on condition countries like Brazil and India also make concessions to save the World Trade Organisation talks."This is a major move, taken in good faith with the expectation that others will reciprocate and step forward with improved offers in market access," Schwab told reporters.The...
from the Financial ExpressWealthy nations are under pressure to cut tariffs, but still want to keep some for most products. It could be the undoing of trade negotiations going on now. - Kale The United States, the European Union and emerging economic heavyweights will try again on Tuesday to line up the long-elusive trade-offs needed to save a deal to dismantle export barriers around the world.The United States resisted calls on Monday to announce a cut in its ceiling for farm subsidies as a critical week of talks opened, saying it was ready to act as long as others do likewise, especially developing economies like Brazil and China.The World Trade Organisation's Doha round of negotiations risks years of further delay without a breakthrough this week.But some top trade officials doubted...
from Reuters Africa Oxfam is speaking out on the global trade talks. They make issue with the lack of progress, and the proposal that don't give enough support to poorer farmers. - KaleBy Laura MacInnis GENEVA, The suggestion by top U.S. and EU trade officials that emerging economies need to make big concessions mean there is little hope of reaching a global trade deal this week, the head of Oxfam International said on Monday.Statements from U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab and EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson saying such concessions were needed to forge a World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreement, were "outrageous", Jeremy Hobbs said.The aid advocacy group's executive director said the food and fuel price crisis, combined with looming economic trouble, had created hardship...
from Reuters Even prosperous countries are growing more food do to food secuirity concerns. As this Reuters article explains, the British government has a new report on ways to tackle the global food crisis. - Kale By Nigel HuntLONDON - More fertiliser in Africa, a global trade pact and maybe even genetically modified crops could help tackle global food security as rising prices drive millions into poverty, Britain's farm ministry said on Thursday.Britons are increasingly growing their own food as prices rise and fears mount about future supplies, the ministry said in a report launching a debate on food security. "High energy prices, poor harvests, rising demand from a growing population, use of biofuels and export bans have all pushed up prices and ... have sparked riots and...
from Bloomberg By Naila Firdausi A successful global agreement among members of the World Trade Organization would ``send positive signals'' that might help stem increases in food prices, U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab said.WTO negotiators are in the seventh year of talks on an accord to trim farm aid, cut tariffs and lower industrial trade barriers to buoy the global economy and ease poverty. Efforts to reach an agreement this year come as prices of food, including rice and wheat, soar to records.``Only by letting comparative advantage operate do you have the opportunity to really bring supply and demand back to a better balance,'' Schwab said in an interview today in Nusa Dua, Indonesia.The price of rice, staple for half the world's population, doubled in the past year in...
from The Daily TimesNEW DELHI: India will not sacrifice the interests of its millions of subsistence farmers to clinch a deal in global trade talks, the country’s trade minister warned.Trade Minister Kamal Nath’s strong stand came after the head of the World Trade Organisation Pascal Lamy declared late last week he hoped to finally secure an agreement in the Doha round of international trade negotiations by the end of 2008 — four years later than initially scheduled.While admitting that the United States, a key player in the talks, has “sensitivities” in agriculture, Nath said, “We in India also have sensitivities of 650 million subsistence farmers” and will safeguard their interests at all cost.“We cannot have a subsidised market access which destabilises our farmers,”...
from Yahoo NewsGENEVA (Reuters) - The heads of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Tuesday a quick conclusion to the long-running Doha trade talks was essential to help poor countries grow out of poverty.World Bank President Robert Zoellick said rich and poor countries had made considerable progress in negotiations since the start of the trade talks, which he helped launch six years ago in the Qatari capital as U.S. trade representative."You have the elements of an excellent deal on the table. With political will -- and a little courage -- you have a package here that would be a lasting improvement for the trading system," he told a WTO conference on aid for trade.IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said export-orientated policies were necessary for...
from Yahoo BusinessEU Trade Chief Says Dispute Over Industrial Goods Could Sink Global Trade DealBRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- India, Brazil, South Africa and other emerging economic powers were put under pressure by European Union trade chief Peter Mandelson on Monday to compromise on opening up their manufacturing markets in world trade talks.The EU's trade commissioner said the countries were risking a failure of ongoing negotiations at the World Trade Organization in Geneva."On industrial tariffs, the negotiation is now in danger of going wrong," Mandelson told lawmakers at the European Parliament. "Emerging countries have to exercise responsibility commensurate with their importance and relative strength compared to the poorest. To some extent, they now hold the key to a conclusion of...
from the Khaleej Times GENEVA - The long-running Doha round of trade talks cannot succeed unless developing countries get a fair deal reflecting their needs, Brazil’s Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said on Wednesday.Amorim told a news conference that the talks were still slanted too much in favour of rich countries.‘I can’t come to a place in which everyone’s sensitivity is taken into account and my own sensitivity is not taken into account,’ he said. ‘That’s not fair and one thing that we’ll be demanding is fairness.’The Doha round has made faltering progress on the complex and technical rules governing world trade. But the key outlines of any deal are clear.The United States would cut its trade-distorting farm subsidies and the European Union would cut its farm tariffs,...
from BathurstA long-delayed global free trade deal can still be done but countries such as Japan, Brazil and China must show flexibility or risk being blamed for failure, the top US negotiator said."A successful agreement in the Doha round is within reach," US Trade Representative Susan Schwab wrote in a comment piece published in the Financial Times."But it could slip through our fingers unless a handful of major developed and developing countries demonstrate their willingness to confront difficult choices."The World Trade Organisation launched the Doha round of free trade talks in 2001, hoping to give the world economy a boost and help poor nations ease poverty through more exports.But the talks now risk several years of further delays if there is no breakthrough soon.Schwab said the...
from Yahoo NewsBy Jonathan Lynn GENEVA (Reuters) - Diplomats sought on Monday to overcome the strains in global trade talks with intensified negotiations, but some warned that growing frictions could further delay a deal. The World Trade Organization's (WTO) 151 members will hear this week an update on progress in agriculture, and the industry talks' chairman Don Stephenson has scheduled meetings to help solve rich-poor tensions that boiled over last week.Stephenson, Canada's ambassador to the WTO, is set to hold intensive talks with small groups of developing countries to ease their tough stance on manufacturing tariffs that triggered sharp rebukes from the United States and European Union.The latest tensions may have set back efforts to wrap up the broad outlines of a Doha round accord...
from YahooA long-delayed global free trade deal can still be done but countries such as Japan, Brazil and China must show flexibility or risk being blamed for failure, the top US negotiator said."A successful agreement in the Doha round is within reach," US Trade Representative Susan Schwab wrote in a comment piece published in the Financial Times."But it could slip through our fingers unless a handful of major developed and developing countries demonstrate their willingness to confront difficult choices."The World Trade Organisation launched the Doha round of free trade talks in 2001, hoping to give the world economy a boost and help poor nations ease poverty through more exports.But the talks now risk several years of further delays if there is no breakthrough soon.Schwab said the...
from The Financial TimesBy Alan Beattie, World Trade EditorCongressman Charles Rangel's view that the so-called ‘Doha round’ of trade talks will have to wait until a hypothetical Clinton administration after 2009 is echoed widely across Capitol Hill and most of the rest of Washington.There is, not for the first time, a disjunct between official expressions of optimism at the heart of the talks and attitudes within the capitals that will have to implement an agreement.Nor is it just a matter of Doha. With the Democrats in charge of Congress and President George W. Bush's political capital dwindling weekly, there is a widespread feeling that, at least until next year's presidential elections, any progress in trade talks will be narrow, halting and weighted down with scepticism about the...
from ABS CBNPresident Arroyo on Thursday welcomed the resumption of the Doha Round global trade talks, saying that the multilateral trading scheme remains the best way to thump poverty, which has long held the Philippines from stepping up into the rank of a developed country."The multilateral trading system, through the Doha Round, remains the best option to address poverty and improve standards of living around the world through an agreed set of international trade rules," she said during a two-day conference on mobilizing aid for trade among poorer nations in Asia-Pacific."That does not mean we believe that countries like the Philippines are ready to compete head-to-head today in every sector, but it does mean that we cannot afford to be afraid of globalization," she added.Mrs. Arroyo...
from The Daily TimesNAIROBI: Proposals in the revived Doha Round of free trade talks could help protect the environment if governments agree to a deal at forthcoming negotiations, the head of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) said on Monday.Measures to cut farming and fisheries subsidies will stop overproduction while others will lower tariffs on environmentally sound goods and services, Pascal Lamy said on the fringes of a major UN environment meeting in Kenya. “These are not just speeches, they are very concrete proposals to really help,” he told Reuters in an interview.Lamy had earlier told hundreds of delegates the WTO would be at the forefront of encouraging sustainable development, especially in the world’s poorest countries.It was the first time a WTO leader had attended the...