Vol.46, Issue No. 25 Apr 2010

Doha deal possible this year if countries willing – Lamy

A deal in long-running Doha world trade talks is possible in 2010 if key countries are willing to make the politically difficult final decisions, World Trade Organisation (WTO) Director General Pascal Lamy said on Thursday. “What we need is a sense that negotiators are moving into an end game,” Lamy said during a discussion. “There is a huge potential on the table (to boost trade), provided we close the negotiations.” More>>

Zuma urges SACU to tackle EPA negotiations as united front

Speaking at the 100th anniversary of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) celebration held in Namibia on Thursday, South African President Jacob Zuma said that the future of the customs union was “undoubtedly in question”, if it could not “pursue the unfinished business of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) negotiations as a united group”. More>>

The urgent Impertative of the global goods agenda in the next decade-Prof J-P Lehmann

Jean-Pierre Lehmann, Founding Director of the Evian Group and Professor of International Political Economy at IMD, Lausanne delivered a public lecture at New Delhi on 16th February, 2010. The event was jointly organised by CUTS International and ICRIER. In his presentation entitled “The Urgent Impertative of the Global Public Goods Agenda in the Next Decade” Professor Lehmann noted some outstanding global developments during the last decade and deliberated on their relevance for the future. More>>

Brazil suspends retaliation after US concession

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has launched a discussion forum ahead of the publication of the organisation’s flagship annual publication, the World Trade Report, in July. The yearly report aims to deepen our understanding of key issues facing the multilateral trading system. The theme of the 2010 World Trade Report is “Trade in Natural Resources: Challenges in Global Governance”. Trade in natural resources represents an important and growing share of global trade, which in 2008 accounted for roughly 24% of world merchandise trade in dollar values. More>>

Africa calls on WTO members to maintain Aid for Trade momentum

African countries, at the Committee on Trade and Development’s 14th Session on Aid for Trade on 17 March 2010, called on WTO members to maintain the momentum on resource mobilization for Aid for Trade. Also on the same date, the WTO Secretariat organized a workshop on Aid for Trade and agriculture, and the WTO and the International Trade Centre held a joint event on “Connecting West African Farmers to Market”. The Central African Republic, speaking on behalf of the African Group, said that increasing resources for the initiative has become even more important in the light of the global financial crisis, which has affected many developing countries. More>>

DDG Singh says Doha will provide “strong foundation” for Asia’s economic future

Deputy Director-General Harsha V. Singh, in opening the presentation of the Asian Development Bank’s “Asian Development Outlook 2010” at the WTO headquarters on 16 April 2010, welcomed the projected rebound of the developing Asia this year and underlined the importance of open trade in world economic recovery. This is very important because today many count upon Asia to help the world economy recover from the recession. This interest in the Asian region is from both countries within and outside the region. More>>