News Archive

2007
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Millennium Development Goals Regional Progress Report to Be Launched at Poverty Forum in Manila: Released: 1 Oct 2007; The annual update on the progress of Millennium Development Goals (MDG) in the Asia and Pacific region will be unveiled on 8 October.

ADB Reviews Poverty Reduction Strategy in Cambodia: Released: 1 Oct 2007; The Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) five-year strategy to help reduce poverty in Cambodia remains relevant but needs improvements to enhance its effectiveness, according to a midterm program review.

ADB Approves Loan Facility to Develop Road Network Proramme in West Asia: Released: 4 Oct 2007; The Asian Development Bank (ADB), at the request of the Government of Azerbaijan, will help finance a comprehensive road network program that will ensure sustainable economic expansion through increased trade flows and lower transport costs in the country.

IBSA summit to further strengthen trade ties: Released: 2 Oct 2007; Pretoria - The second annual India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) summit could result in the trilateral initiative achieving their trade target of $10-billion within the next few years.

ADB Releases New Study on Benefits of ASEAN+6: Released: 4 Oct 2007; The surge in free trade agreements (FTAs) in East Asia since the Asian financial crisis has prompted a lively debate on the pros and cons of bilateral trade agreements versus multilateralism, their impact, and future path of FTAs in the region.

Lamy accepts Civil Society influences on WTO agenda: Released: 4 Oct 2007; WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy, in his keynote address to the WTO Public Forum, “How can the WTO help harness globalization?” on 4 October 2007, said that civil society has registered many “successes” in the WTO, including the 2003 agreement on cheaper medicines for developing countries, and the inclusion of subjects like fisheries subsidies, environmental goods and services, and food aid in the Doha negotiations. He told participants “let me be clear—the WTO is looking for your contribution, it needs you to help shape its agenda”.

Final conference on ‘Mobilising Aid For Trade-Focus Africa’ begins at Dar Es Salaam: Released: 2 Oct 2007; Agricultural exporters in poor nations need funds and technical assistance to comply with food safety norms in order to boost their share of world trade, according to World Trade Organization (WTO) representatives.

‘Mobilising Aid For Trade: Focusing on Africa’ ended today at Dar Es Salaam: Released: 4 Oct 2007; The ‘‘Mobilising Aid For Trade: Focussing on Africa’’ high level conference ended this week with admonitions from the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The conference emphasized on getting exports to be an important priority for African states.

EU to Increase Trade Support: Released: 4 Oct 2007; The European Union (EU) will increase trade assistance to developing countries by Sh95 billion in the next three years.

Disaster assistance proposed for Farm Bill: Released: 4 Oct 2007; A permanent disaster assistance provision of the new farm bill is a comprehensive part of providing a strong safety net to agriculture producers, said Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb. On Wednesday, a proposal was put forward by Senate finance committee chairman Max Baucus, providing funding to create a permanent disaster assistance program to aid producers struck by weather-related disasters.

U.S. notifies WTO of subsidies for 1st time in years: Released: 4 Oct 2007; The United States is notifying the World Trade Organization of its farm subsidy levels for the first time since spending for the year 2001, Acting Agriculture Secretary Chuck Conner said on Thursday, saying the United States stayed within WTO limits since at least 2002.

Campaigners Assert EU Deals With Africa Could Violate Rights: Released: 5 Oct 2007; Opening up trade between the European Union and Africa risks violating basic human rights, according to campaigners.

Expansion of FDI flows through 2009 anticipated by Transnational Corporations: Reports UNCTAD World Investment Prospects Survey 2007-2009: Released: 4 Oct 2007; The World Investment Prospects Survey 2007-2009 is the most recent of a series of surveys on FDI prospects. UNCTAD has carried similar surveys since 1995.

Asia's Growth can Provide Economic, Social Benefits to All - Joint MDG Report: Released: 8 Oct 2007; The Asia and Pacific region as a whole is forging ahead on many of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), but there is uneven progress within countries and many of the less developed economies need global support to plug some of their key development gaps, says a new report released today.

COMESA States Urged to Drop Non-Tariff Barriers: Released: 5 Oct 2007; Despite the reduction in trade tariffs within the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), member states are still grappling with non-tariff barriers, which restrict the flow of exports and imports. This is regarded as putting brakes on the improvement of trade volumes in the region.

UN report on MDGs reveal widening disparity in Asia: Released: 8 Oct 2007; While the report released today claims that the Asia-Pacific region as a whole is forging ahead on many of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), but there is uneven progress between and within countries, with many countries falling behind Sub-Saharan Africa or Latin America in certain areas.

Two week "break" for WTO agriculture talks: Released: 6 Oct 2007; After the 21 September open-ended agriculture meeting in WTO, the agriculture talks are scheduled to begin after a two week break from the 8 October. This was announced by the agriculture negotiations Chair, Ambassador Crawford Falconer at the WTO.

Budgeting with Women in Mind: Released: 9 Oct 2007; Why using the budget to empower women makes good economic sense - Janet Stotsky

Agriculture talks resume, little progress and small group consultations reported in NAMA: Released: 11 Oct 2007; Negotiations relating to the Doha Round are progressing slowly, with the talks focusing mainly on agriculture export competition early this week, according to WTO diplomats. The agriculture negotiations re-opened Monday after a two-week break and centered on food aid. The discussion for the first part of this week is expected to cover a range of export competition issues.

Lamy’s closing remarks at Dar Es Salam, Tanzania: Released: 2 Oct 2007; WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy, in his closing remarks at the conference on “Mobilizing Aid for Trade: Focus Africa” on 2 October 2007 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, said “Africa has the potential to compete with the world. The challenge is not just to build infrastructure, but to change mind sets — and that the most important change begins at the top — with a political commitment to making trade a central priority”.

Lamy emphasizes Development as basis for Doha Round: Released: 11 Oct 2007; Developing countries say they are committed to conclude the languishing Doha round of trade negotiations only on the basis of the "developmental" goals enshrined in the mandate, warning that they will not be cowed down by renewed efforts by the United States to shift the blame for raising constructive proposals.

High Costs Killing EAC Business: Released: 11 Oct 2007; Eriya Kategaya and Charles Murigande, Foreign Affairs minister at Kigali Genocide Memorial site in Gisozi. A delegation of top East African Community officials recently visited the country and discussed advantages of Rwanda's joining the regional bloc.

Effect of lower prices felt in developing world: Released: 8 Oct 2007; The effects of the farm bill are felt well beyond the borders of the us, largely in lower prices for subsidised basic commodities such as rice, corn and cotton that might benefit consumers but undercut farmers in other countries, particularly in the developing world.

European Companies Not Interested in Markets - EU Officials: Released: 9 Oct 2007; A Trade agreement between the EU and developing countries will not mean free trade but rather a full removal of tariffs and quotas by the EU on more exports from poor countries, senior officials from the block have said.

UNCTAD Secretary-General, WTO Deputy Director-General say Unity, Commitment Needed to Conclude Trade Talks: Released: 8 Oct 2007; UNCTAD´s Secretary-General and the Deputy Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) said this morning that political courage and unity were vital if the recently revived Doha trade negotiations were to yield a new agreement that would help the world´s poorer countries benefit more fully from world economic growth.

ECOWAS, EU committed to 'mutually-beneficial EPA': Released: 13 Oct 2007; ECOWAS and the EU have restated their commitment and determination to conclude a mutually-beneficial Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), capable of contributing to the socio-economic development of West Africa.

Four South Asian Countries Agree to ICT Connectivity: Released: 15 Oct 2007; Senior officials from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal have agreed to collaborate on a subregional information communication technology (ICT) project to improve connectivity among the four countries.

India, Brazil, South Africa – emerging powers to bargain for permanent seats in UN: Released: 14 Oct 2007; Brazil, India and South Africa will intensify their campaign for permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council when their leaders meet in the South African capital, Pretoria, on Oct. 17. President Luiz Inácio da Silva of Brazil, President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will discuss U.N. reforms and other issues of common interest at the second IBSA (India, Brazil, South Africa) summit later this week.

South Africa Declines to Backtrack on ‘New Gen’ issues: Released: 12 Oct 2007; The European Union (EU) needs to downscale its ambition to include the so-called ‘‘new generation’’ or Singapore issues in the economic partnership agreement (EPA) with southern African countries before the end of the year, says South Africa’s deputy minister of trade and industry, Dr Rob Davies.

General Council, WTO establishes working party to deal with Comoros Accession: Released: 9 Oct 2007; The General Council, on 9 October 2007, established a working party to examine the application of the Comoros to accede to the WTO. It authorized its Chair to designate the Chairperson of the working party in consultations with members and the representative of Comoros.

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