Archive - 2009 - Article

July 3rd

Africa: Deeper regional integration needed in response to crisis

26 June, 2009

Geneva, 25 Jun (Kanaga Raja) -- The global economic crisis, which has reached the African continent, requires the re-examination of existing approaches to international development, with one important response being deeper regional integration to address the long-standing structural weaknesses of African economies, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said Thursday.

 

UN Economic Conference to receive agreed outcome draft text

25 June, 2009

New York, 24 Jun (Meena Raman) -- The UN Conference on the "World Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on Development" opens Wednesday morning with speeches by UN dignitaries and some political leaders that have gathered here to discuss ways and means to address the crisis.

However, the main event will be whether a Main Committee decides to adopt a draft outcome document that has been transmitted to it by diplomats who have been negotiating intensely in the past few months.

European Union urged to reconsider its role in Central America

1 July, 2009

Versión española abajo.

FRIENDS OF THE EARTH INTERNATIONAL
MEDIA ADVISORY
For immediate release: Wednesday July 1, 2009

*****
EUROPEAN UNION URGED TO RECONSIDER ITS ROLE IN CENTRAL AMERICA
*****

Trade Act provides road map to new American trade model

29 June, 2009
WOW - when's the last time 106 congressional Representatives - 9 full committee chairs and 40 subcommittee chairs included - were original cosponsors of any legislation, much less agreed on a new way forward on the contentious issue of trade?

Biggest emitters fail to show the way forward

10 June, 2009

Kathrin Hille in Beijing and Edward Luce in Washington

China and the US failed to achieve a breakthrough at their latest round of
climate talks on Wednesday, raising the stakes in the global effort to fight
global climate change.

The two countries responsible for almost half of the world¹s greenhouse gas
emissions ended three days of negotiations in Beijing.

While there are still months to go until the December meeting in Copenhagen,
where 181 countries, led by the United Nations, plan to work out a new

Call to Indian Government: No WTO-Doha compromise

18 June, 2009
Date: 18 June, 2009 Dear Prime Minister Mr. Manmohan Singh, As the newly formed UPA coalition government is just settling in to govern for the next five years, there is news that Commerce Minister Anand Sharma is already on his way to the United States (US) to bilaterally iron out differences to seal the trade deal that was launched during the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) 4th Ministerial Meeting in Doha. At stake in these trade negotiations are hundreds of millions of livelihoods in the farming and non-agriculture sectors that India has fought hard to preserve over the past eight years since the launch of the Doha Development Round.

June 26th

Rafael Correa, Presidente de Ecuador, llama a defender los derechos de los pueblos antes que los inversionistas y el capital

26 June, 2009
Con la participación de más de 400 delegados de la sociedad civil, en el marco de la Conferencia de las Naciones Unidas sobre Crisis Económica Mundial en Nueva York - EEUU, Rafael Correa criticó la “ideología fundamentalista” del neoliberalismo porque ha llevado al mundo a la actual crisis.

US pressure on Indian Cabinet formation?

16 June, 2009
There is a rather odd interview Anand Sharma has given to Reuters. He is off to Washington and the interview comes just before the visit. Part of the interview is about India being keen to break the deadlock in WTO negotiations.

June 18th

TRIPS and FTAs have adverse impact on access to drugs

4 June, 2009

TRIPS and FTAs have adverse impact on access to drugs

Geneva, 3 Jun (Kanaga Raja) -- The WTO TRIPS Agreement and the TRIPS-plus
provisions in Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) have had an adverse impact on
prices and availability of medicines, making it difficult for countries to
comply with their obligations to respect, protect and fulfil the right to
health, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health, Mr Anand Grover,
said on Tuesday.

June 17th

Canadians ask Federal Government to Halt Ratification of Canada-Peru Free Trade Agreement in Light of Peruvian Police Massacre of Indigenous Protesters

10 June, 2009
Non-governmental organizations are urgently asking Canadians to write to senators, MPs and the Prime Minister to express their outrage at the police massacre of peaceful Indigenous protesters in Peru, and to demand that the Canadian government halt its implementation of the Canada-Peru Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that is now before the Senate as Bill C-24.