7th Ministerial, Geneva 2009

World economy to shrink by 2.6% this year

29 May, 2009

Geneva, 28 May (Kanaga Raja) -- The United Nations on Wednesday downgraded its economic forecast for 2009, projecting the world economy to shrink by 2.6% this year, with the poorest countries to be hit the hardest.
 
The downgrade comes on top of an already pessimistic UN estimate five months ago, when it had projected a decline by 0.5%.
 
The even grimmer economic picture has been outlined by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN-DESA) in its mid-year report "World Economic Situation and Prospects 2009".
 

Developing countries nix Lamy's two-track approach to Doha talks

28 May, 2009
Many developing countries appear to have opposed and/or voiced concerns over a suggestion by WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy for work along "two simultaneous tracks", one on modalities in agriculture and non-agricultural market access (NAMA) and another for commencing the scheduling exercise in both these areas.

WTO to hold seventh Ministerial Conference end November

28 May, 2009
The WTO General Council on Tuesday decided to convene its seventh Ministerial Conference in Geneva from 30 November to 2 December, nearly four years after its last conference in Hong Kong-China in 2005.

Developing nations call for WTO deal to help poor

GENEVA, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Developing countries called on Sunday for a quick deal in the World Trade Organisation's Doha round of talks to help poor nations by removing unfair distortions in the global trading system. Trade ministers from Brazil, India and Indonesia issued the call after a meeting on the eve of a WTO conference in Geneva.