News Archive

Launch of UNIFEM’s web portal on Gender Responsive Budgeting: Released: 10 Jul 2007; UNIFEM recently announced the launch of a new version of its web portal on gender-responsive budgeting.

‘I Can’ Campaign Celebrates Women’s Political Potential in Timor-Leste: Released: 30 Jun 2007; UNIFEM has launched the Hau Bele ("I Can") campaign. This campaign, directed at women's empowerment, will coincide with Timor-Leste's parliamentary election period.

Why did the G4 negotiations fail ?: Released: 22 Jun 2007; The G4 talks have been regarded as extremely important for a lot of issues. However, the 5-day discussion ended in bitter notes between the South and the North.

Aftermath of G4 collapse: Released: 26 Jun 2007; The collapse of the G4 negotiations and perhaps of the group itself, have brought the negotiations back to Geneva, the WTO headquarters.

Barclays report cite Asian business women as ‘richest’: Released: 24 Jun 2007; The survey titled 'Barclays Wealth Insight: A question of Gender' has reported that even as the amount of wealth generated by female entrepreneurship is highest in Asia.

African women’s entrepreneurial efforts hindered by rampant discrimination: Released: 18 Jun 2007; The rampant gender-based discrimination obstructing African women's success in entrepreneurial efforts can only be tackled through policy and programmes, says a study by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).

OECD Economic Outlook 2007 quotes India as the best in terms of employment creation among the BRIC countries: Released: 19 Jun 2007; India apparently has created around 11.3 Million net new jobs every year between 2000 and 2005, reports a study conducted by the OECD, a conglomeration of rich nations in the world.

Fourth Regional Capacity Building Workshop on Gender, Trade Policy and Export Promotion for Southern Africa: Released: 11 Jul 2007; The Fourth Regional Workshop on Gender, Trade Policy and Export Promotion for Southern Africa was held 2-6 July 2007 in Windhoek, Namibia.

Financing women-owned enterprises given priority by financial institutions in Africa: Released: 16 Jul 2007; Women have been a driving force of the African economy but have been discriminated against for a very long time. Although there has been an increase in the number of women-led enterprises in Africa, yet there exists a degree of disparity when it comes to extending credit to the women entrepreneurs, says the International Finance Corporation’s industries section VP.

Developing-country groups form common front at TNC meeting: Released: 28 Jul 2007; Major groupings of developing countries put up a common front at the WTO on Thursday (26 July) on the process and broad substance of future negotiations of the Doha Round.

“Stop dancing salsa with the livelihood of the people”: Released: 19 Jul 2007; While the WTO is intent on SADC and other African countries to sign the EPAs, the reaction of the civil societies and other organizations involved proactively with trade negotiations and its effects on the marginalized sections. A report.

Negotiations on Draft Agricultural proposal to begin from September 3: Released: 27 Jul 2007; Intense negotiations on agriculture modalities will start on 3 September for at least a fortnight and without a deadline, according to the Chair of the WTO's Committee on Agriculture (Special Session), Ambassador Crawford Falconer of New Zealand.

NAMA draft repudiated by developing country groups at WTO: Released: 28 Jul 2007; Major groupings of developing countries severely criticized the draft text on modalities put forward by the Chair of the WTO negotiations on non-agricultural market access (NAMA) when the NAMA group met to discuss the draft on 25 July

EU upbeat on draft proposals on NAMA and Agriculture: At the cost of Poor countries?: Released: 31 Jul 2007; The Crawford Falconer text on agriculture and the Don Stephenson text on NAMA have generated a sort of satisfaction among the European trade officials as the text proposals allow the EU to dish out generous subsidies to its farmers while demanding some of the fastest growing poor countries to substantially lower the taxes they levy on industrial imports from the West.

Tonga joins WTO: Released: 30 Jul 2007; The Kingdom of Tonga, a part of the Commonwealth Family since 1970, has been adopted as a formal member of the WTO on 27th July, 2007. Tonga becomes the 151st member of the WTO. Tonga applied for accession to the WTO in June 1995, but negotiations effectively started in April 2001.

African governments worried over ‘Aid for Trade’: Released: 20 Jul 2007; African governments are worried that funds from the European Union (EU) to help them increase their countries' share of world trade could be at the expense of other forms of development aid. They expressed concerns over such funds cutting down on the expenditure on Health and Education.

Zimbabwe for Multilateral Trade: Released: 31 Jul 2007; Most of the producers today in Zimbabwe are skeptical about their returns from trade with the EU. While they are confident that the products are a hit in the European markets yet, they realize that the prices are fixed by merchants in Europe and there lies the uncertainty about getting proper returns.

Pascal Lamy’s statement to the TNC: Released: 27 Jul 2007; The WTO director-general Pascal Lamy in the Trade Negotiations Committee Meeting held on the 26th July, 2007 urged its members to go through the draft Agricultural and NAMA texts thoroughly and get ready to engage in intense discussions in the coming days. Below is the full text of Lamy’s statement to the TNC.

Lamy’s statement to the General Council as TNC chair: Released: 28 Jul 2007; Director-General Pascal Lamy sees high level of commitment to conclude the Doha round of negotiations. He said this in his report to the General Council on 27th July 2007. Although he noted significant differences among the members, yet he seems confident about reaching a convergence with a ‘little flexibility and the necessary’ will on part of the member states. Below is the statement of Lamy to the General Council.

Special Report : Does a Globalized and Multilateral Economy Constrain Development Policies?: Released: 2 Jul 2007; The Woodrow Wilson Center held an event "The Policy Space Debate: Does a Globalized and Multilateral Economy Constrain Development Policies?" This Special Report asks whether global economic policies and rules constrain national policy space to enable developing countries to choose the best policy mix for achieving sustainable and equitable development.

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