Trade and development report update: April 2024
The report forecasts global economic growth to 2.6% in 2024, barely above the 2.5% threshold commonly associated with a recessionary phase. The report says the prevailing focus on inflation overshadows
Trade
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Brazil dismisses EU tariff cut offer as 'propaganda'
(GENEVA) - The European Union offered Monday to make deeper tariff cuts on agricultural imports in order to spur progress in deadlocked trade talks, but the move was quickly dimissed by Brazil as "propaganda." "We're in a position to raise our average tariff cuts from 54 percent to 60 percent," EU trade spokesman Peter Power said. "This is a very considerable advance and it is a very substantial improvement and should inject important momentum into discussions in Geneva this week."
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India should reject WTO draft, says PUCL
CHENNAI: India should reject the WTO draft agreements on Agriculture and Non-Agriculture Market Access as the provisions are detrimental to the country's interests, the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) said on Monday. K.G. Kannabiran, president, PUCL, noted in a press release that the draft allowed farm subsidies in the U.S. to increase to between $13 billion and $16.4 billion, while forcing developing nations such as India and Brazil to cut their import tariffs by about 36 per cent on average. "Will hit markets'
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US, EU put pressure on developing economies
DOHA MINISTERIAL: DAY 1 D Ravi Kanth / Geneva July 22, 2008, 0:11 IST Trade ministers from over 30 countries began their crucial World Trade Organization (WTO) trade talks here today to hammer out modalities(parameters) in the Doha Development Agenda. Instead of hard negotiations to find convergence on the final numbers for tariff and subsidy cuts for Doha agricultural products and tariff cuts for industrial products, the first day was spent on political statements and mild mutual recriminations.
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EU offers to reduce farm tariffs by 60%
Geneva: The European Union (EU) said on Monday that it would slash farm tariffs by 60% as part of a new global trade pact, a deeper cut than it has ever offered. EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson said at the World Trade Organization (WTO) that the offer was meant to kick-start a week of crunch global commerce talks on a new global commerce pact.
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India, Brazil to take on rich nations in WTO talks
Backed by over 100 developing countries, India, Brazil and South Africa will take on the rich nations to get a fair trade deal at the WTO meeting of key trade ministers' beginning here on Monday. Against a backdrop of high crude oil prices and global food crisis, the World Trade Organisation has convened a five-day mini Ministerial Meeting with a hope that closing the Doha Round can reinvigorate the world economy which is in the grip of a slowdown.
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Fortune from a fungus
IMPROBABLE though it may sound, an exotic fungus has triggered a gold rush of sorts in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. Considered a performance enhancer, Yarchagumba is a much-sought-after ingredient in traditional medicine in China. But some trade observers suspect that the Beijing Olympics has pushed prices to a never-before high this year.
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With US election on cards, Doha talks could be an exercise in futility
WHY are member states of the WTO still negotiating the Doha Round, particularly in agriculture despite being aware that the current US administration does not have the authority or the power to ratify the promises it makes in the any issues, especially non-agricultural market access (Nama) and agriculture? As the US civil society Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch (PCGTW) writes: "The political and legal reality is that the US will only be in a position to engage honestly in Doha Round talks after the new president arrives.'
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Farm,Nama tug of war at WTO talks
Amiti Sen GENEVA A DAY before the crucial mini-ministerial meet of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the stage seems to be set for a battle between the developed and developing countries. While developed countries, including the US and the EU, are trying to push developing countries to minimise the number of products they would shield from tariff cuts (an allowance given to developing countries under the special & differential treatment clause), the poorer countries are bent on ensuring that they get more out of the round than their rich counterparts.
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Services key to trade pact
WHILEthe WTO mini-ministerial will focus on reaching an agreement on liberalising trade in agriculture and industrial products (Nama), the willingness expressed by developed countries in opening up services could play an important role in the success of the meeting. It has been decided by the services committee at the WTO to allow trade ministers to put down their demands in up to five areas during the meet.
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For Global Trade Talks, the Stakes Have Risen
When global trade talks ran into the night in Geneva in the summer of 2006, so many negotiators crammed into one room that they had to choose between sweltering with the windows closed or opening them and fending off swarms of insects. Pascal Lamy, the director general of the World Trade Organization, has the task of managing the complex negotiations. For ministers preparing for new negotiations starting Monday, the good news is that their meeting room will be air-conditioned. The bad news is that it may be even more crowded