Impressive economic growth in S. Asia despite conflict
Ceylon Daily News, March 31, 2008

The topic that you have asked me to speak to you about is “Conflict and Development in South Asia”. As we look at the sub-continent, we are struck by the fact that, notwithstanding conflict in almost every country of the region, there has been a very impressive degree of economic development recently in each of these countries. The question that I would like to consider this evening is, how did this become possible? On the face of it, it appears to be a very intriguing phenomenon. The intensity of conflict would have been expected naturally to slow down development. On the contrary, development has taken place rapidly and without interruption. <<More>>

Small firms face big costs without new WTO pact
Guardian, March 31, 2008

Small companies need a new World Trade Organisation pact more than larger rivals that are better equipped to bear the costs of navigating complex export rules, trade experts say. International political economy professor Jean-Pierre Lehmann said many entrepreneurs were stressed by the "agonisingly slow" pace of the WTO's Doha Round talks, whose goal was to make it easier to sell goods and services abroad. <<More>>

EU Trade and Customs Law - Recent Developments

How is the EU adapting its external trade and customs law to ever faster global economic integration, which is creating new opportunities, additional competition and fresh challenges for the operators involved?  New proposals, the effectiveness of current measures and the need for new instruments will be analysed in this seminar by experts from the European Commission, the WCO and practitioners in these fields. <<More>>

Bio-fuels caused food price rise: UN ESCAP
The Financial Express, March 30, 2008

The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) in its recent annual survey report for the region has cautioned that the global food prices would remain high and held bio-fuel programme responsible for the same. "With grains and oil seeds the key feedstocks for bio-fuels, the oil price rise exerted by a strong push on agriculture commodity prices in 2007 which enjoyed their best performance for almost 30 years. As oil hit $100 per barrel in January 2008, soybean prices jumped to a 34-year high, corn prices approached their recent 11-year high, wheat prices were just below their recent all-time high, rapeseed prices rose to record highs and palm oil futures hit a historic high," the report said. <<More>>

Govt Can't Cure Poverty
Sunday Monitor Business, March 30, 2008

A government that provides good leadership and management of national resources makes it a lot easier for its citizens to escape poverty and become prosperous. It would be nice to rest the case of responsibility for poverty at this point but even countries with good leadership or economic management still have poor people. Conversely, countries with poor leadership and management also do have people who have escaped the clutches of poverty. <<More>>

Chomsky: Poorer Countries Find a Way to Escape US Dominance
By Raza Rumi, March 30, 2008

The World Bank is not the same institution, but there’s the same kind of conflicts and confrontations going on. In Bolivia, one of the major background events that led to the uprising of the majority indigenous population to finally take political power was an effort by the World Bank to privatize water. Take an economics course, they’ll tell you that you ought to pay the market price and so on. True value, yes, very nice, except that means poor people, which is most of the population, can’t drink. Well that’s called an externality; don’t worry about things like that. <<More>>

Exports to top $200 bn in 2008-09: India Inc
NDTV.com, March 30, 2008

Leaders of Indian industry are confident of exports topping $200 billion in fiscal 2008-09 despite a strong rupee, says a survey. Indian exports have the capability to register 20 per cent growth annually that would reinforce the country as a key player in the global market, but only if the government follows a stable policy, said the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) survey. <<More>>

India and Its Economic Entanglements
Business Standard, March 28, 2008

"China will be a great power, but India will just be a great democracy," pronounced Lord Meghnad Desai. Suppose that India wants to defy Lord Desai's prophecy and acquire Great Power status. Suppose too that acquiring it has four prerequisites: economic size (comprising a large and dynamic economy), military might (including an arsenal of nuclear weapons), some form of "soft" power, and global economic integration. And suppose finally that India is on its way to meeting the first three prerequisites. Becoming a Great Power could then come down to global economic integration: How should it be achieved and managed? <<More>>

Industry Losing Faith In WIPO; Debates US WTO Cases Against China
Intellectual Property Watch, March 28, 2008

The World Intellectual Property Organization is seen as in a state of tumult these days, as the global body searches for a new director general and tries to grapple with issues such as implementing a Development Agenda and further harmonising global patent regimes. And some industry observers think it is causing some to lose trust in the organisation. <<More>>

Arvind Subramanian: India and Its Economic Entanglements
Business Standard, March 28, 2008

“China will be a great power, but India will just be a great democracy,” pronounced Lord Meghnad Desai. Suppose that India wants to defy Lord Desai’s prophesy and acquire Great Power status. Suppose too that acquiring it has four prerequisites — economic size (comprising a large and dynamic economy), military might (including an arsenal of nuclear weapons), some form of “soft” power, and global economic integration. <<More>>

‘China-Bound Exports to Offset US Slump’
Korea Times, March 27, 2008

The South Korean economy will expand at a solid pace of 4.9 percent this year as increased business opportunities in China will offset a slowdown in the U.S., according to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asian and Pacific (UNESCAP) Thursday. <<More>> 

Role of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs vis-à-vis economic diplomacy
The Island (subscription), March 27, 2008

Today economic diplomacy has become a cogent and compelling driving force for the political development of any nation, be it developed or developing. conomic diplomacy has been broadly defined as promotion of trade and trade related activities, attraction of outward and inward investments i.e. FDIs, FIIs and international Joint Ventures (IJVs), enhancement of tourism,  telecommunication and  energy and transport networks, exchange of business delegations, facilitation of merges and acquisitions and buy-outs and commercial collaboration between entities and corporates among others. <<More>>

UNCTAD XII Confab What Civil Society Expects
Modern Ghana, March 26, 2008

Civil society groups are asking for comprehensive policies in favour of developing countries to facilitate their trade, industrialization and development at the forthcoming United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) XII expected to take place in Accra from April 17-19, 2008. <<More>>

Rice and politics in Asia Empty bowls, stomachs and pockets
Economist.com, March 26, 2008

THE soaring price of rice and dwindling stockpiles of Asia’s staple food are causing anxiety across the continent. In particular the Philippines, a big, hungry country which cannot grow enough to feed itself, could be in trouble. <<More>>

Why NAFTA and why now

With NAFTA likely to again play center stage in the upcoming April Pennsylvania Democratic primary, I thought you might find this piece of interest on "why NAFTA and why now".

India and Africa: The people power
The Economic Times, March 22, 2008

In the emerging global knowledge economy, human development is the key challenge for both India and Africa. The two regions have much to give and learn from each other in meeting this challenge together. <<More>>

WTO membership - flattering to deceive
Thanh Nien Daily, March 22, 2008

It has been an uneasy start for Vietnam as a WTO member. The expected windfall has not materialized while the economy, though still booming, is mired in problems. <<More>>

Economist: Unjust trade must be countered
Xinhua, March 22, 2008

The current global trade regime is unfair to developing countries and runs counter to their development, a Nobel prize winning economist said on Friday. And China has fallen victim to US double standards, as the United States repeatedly imposes dumping charges on Chinese products, professor of economics at Columbia University Joseph Stiglitz said. <<More>>

It`s not just about royalty rates
Business Standard, March 19, 2008

A small generics company from Hyderabad applies for a compulsory licence (CL) to export two life-saving drugs to neighbouring Nepal. The quantities are small, not enough to make any ripples in the market or to dent the earnings of the patent-holders who, of course, are big guns. Yet, the application filed by Natco Pharma for Roche’s erlotinib (brand name Tarceva) and Pfizer’s Sunitinib (sold as Sutent) has a significance that goes beyond these two drugs, both of which are used to treat cancer, and that’s why international interest in this seemingly innocuous application is unusually high. <<More>>

Food insecurity: a form of violence
The Hindu, March 19, 2008

Policies and conditions which prevent the establishment of the preconditions for agency and reasoned decision by all citizens exclude India’s poor from substantive citizenship and treat them as less than human. <<More>>

Job Creation Tops UNCTAD XII Confab
Modern Ghana, March 19, 2008

The inability of many African nations to create enough jobs and their continuing dependency on agriculture and extractive industries would be one of the topmost agenda of the 12th session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, UNCTAD XII, to be held between April 20 and 25, 2008, a credible document available to CITY&BUSINESS GUIDE has revealed. <<More>>

SXSW Review: Battle in Seattle
Cinematical, March 19, 2008

Watching Battle in Seattle is like being jabbed in the belly with a police baton, and not in a good way. Written and directed rather ambitiously by the actor Stuart Townsend, who has never written or directed anything before, it uses fictional characters to tell a true story but gives us no reason to care about the people, their lives, or their political causes. <<More>>

UZBEKISTAN: TASHKENT STRIVES TO DIVERSIFY ITS TRADE PARTNERS
EurasiaNet, March 19, 2008

Hoping to emulate the success of Kazakhstan’s "multi-vector" foreign policy, Uzbekistan is seeking to diversify its foreign markets, especially for natural gas and cotton -- Tashkent’s major cash crop. In recent weeks, Uzbek officials have registered trade gains with several countries in the Middle East and Asia. <<More>>

Changes in globalization to be key topic at UN trade and development conference
UN News, March 18, 2008

Containing the global economic slowdown and adapting development thinking to “the second wave of globalization” will be major topics at the upcoming session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Delegates to the 20-25 April meeting will also address the implications of emerging challenges such as high energy prices and climate change for development, UNCTAD Secretary-General Supachai Panitchpakdi told reporters in Geneva today. <<More>>

Shaping China’s Global Choices Through Diplomacy
US Department of State, March 18, 2008

There is little doubt that China’s regional and global influence is rising rapidly. My colleague David Sedney will discuss the military policies underpinning China’s growing influence. I would like to speak about how United States policy has responded to the growing influence that has flowed from China’s expanding diplomatic and economic engagement in the East Asia region and around the world. I should say at the outset that the United States is not attempting to contain or counter China’s growing influence, but rather to shape the choices that Chinese leaders make about how to use their growing power. <<More>>

Bumpy meeting of agriculture ministers sees multiple abstentions
EU Observer.com, March 18, 2008

EU agriculture ministers have listed a series of reservations regarding the "health check" of the EU's common agriculture policy, tabled by the European Commission last November. The main sticking point centres around the idea of capping and cutting payments for farmers, particularly of the current biggest beneficiaries. <<More>>

Statements by Supachai Panitchpakdi, Secretary-General of UNCTAD
UNCTAD, March 17, 2008

I need not remind you that UNCTAD XII comes at a time when the world is in a period of uncertainty, with credible fears of recession. The sub-prime mortgage crisis in the US has affected the availability of credit elsewhere, and rising energy and food prices are beginning to result in inflationary tendencies. All of this is cause for concern, as is the related risk of a protectionist backlash against key exports and investments from developing countries. But this is only one of the challenges. <<More>>

TRADE-AFRICA: Liberalisation Eroding Poor Countries’ Advantage
IPS, March 17, 2008

The trade liberalisation of the past couple of decades is eroding the advantage that least developed countries (LDCs) enjoy in export markets as duty and quota free access has become less valuable. <<More>>

Development, poverty reduction and human rights
Daily Mirror, March 17, 2008

The former Secretary-General of the UN once remarked that “global market forces can generate wealth and spread prosperity, but where development is uneven the result can be increased political tensions and risks of instability.” This is a phenomenon that has been proved true again and again in different parts of the world, including Sri Lanka. <<More>>

Money isn't enough
Times of India, March 17, 2008

The government's mantra of trying to make farmers' distress go away by spending more money does not seem to work. The earlier amount of Rs 3,750 crore spent in Vidarbha did little to reduce farmers' woes. <<More>>

Rwanda: Trading Environment Assessed
AllAfrica.com, March 14, 2008

Trade experts are evaluating the business environment in Rwanda to identify the country's trade needs, priorities and weaknesses. <<More>> 

Brussels to grant some concessions to industry in environment proposals
EUOBSERVER, March 14, 2008

Energy intensive industries have won some concessions from the European Commission when it comes to taking part in future legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Europe. <<More>>

WTO regulations need prioritizing
Taipei Times, March 14, 2008

The WTO promotes the value of trade liberalization and advocates cutting tariffs and reducing obstacles to trade. The most influential aspect of this promotion is the expansion of the scope of trade liberalization from traditional commodities trade to include service industries. <<More>>

Ghana to host UNCTAD meeting in April
Afrique en ligne, March 13, 2008

The danger that financial turmoil and an economic slowdown in industrialized countries will derail promising economic growth in the developing world is likely to be at the heart of debate when senior government officials, economists, and development experts gather in Accra next month for the 12th United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. <<More>>

Freer world trade benefits seen $120 bln/yr-study
Reuters, March 13, 2008

Freer trade could bring benefits worth up to $120 billion a year to the world economy, according to a study on Thursday that dismisses growing unease about globalisation. The report, by two economists in Australia and Britain, also suggested greater immigration to rich nations from developing countries would raise economic growth despite fears by many governments about allowing in new workers. <<More>>

Ministries told to cut tarrifs to live up to WTO commitments
Viet Nam News, March 13, 2008

The Government has told the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Industry and Trade to slash import duties to help the country meet its commitments to the World Trade Organisation (WTO). <<More>>

EU leaders to set timetable for energy and climate change goals
EU Observer, March 13, 2008

EU leaders are gathering in Brussels for what is likely to be unusually conflict-free summit. European Commission proposals on how to turn ambitious green goals into concrete laws, the union's Lisbon strategy for growth and jobs and ways in which to strengthen fragile financial markets are the main topics up for debate. <<More>>

Consultation workshop examines trade and business facilitation in ...
Caribbean Net News, March 12, 2008 

The OECS Export Development Unit (OECS-EDU) in collaboration with the Commonwealth Secretariat’s Hub and Spokes Project, the Dominica Association of Industry and Commerce (DAIC) and the Ministry of Trade, Industry, Consumer and Diaspora Affairs examined issues related to the enabling environment for trade and business in Dominica at a National Consultation held on Thursday 21st to Friday 22nd February, 2008 in Roseau Dominica. <<More>>

Cuba to Deepen World Trade Ties
Prensa Latina, March 12, 2008

Cuba will strengthen its participation in the World Trade Organization and other economic and trade international organizations to defend national and third world interests, said an official source. <<More>>

The WTO and Biofuels: The Possibility of Unilateral Sustainability ...
RedOrbit, March 12, 2008

Over the last decade, the global scientific community has largely accepted the existence of global wanning. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ("IPCC") of the United Nations, "major advances in climate modeling and the collection and analysis of data now give scientists Very high confidence' (at least a 9 out of 10 chance) of being correct in their understanding of how human activities are causing the world to warm." <<More>>

Australia eyes post-WTO issues
Viet Nam News, March 12, 2008