This report identifies options that negotiators and policy-makers could pursue in order to reach a permanent solution at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to the problems some developing countries say they face when buying food at government-set (or government-administered) prices under their public stockholding programs for food security purposes. The …
post-Iraq, the us is gearing up for another fight. This time, it is over the export of genetically modified (gm) food to the eu. The us is moving the World Trade Organization (wto), along with Argentina, Canada and Egypt against the eu's "five-year moratorium' on allowing the sale of gm …
why should four per cent of the agricultural workforce (mostly affluent) in high-income countries reap the rich harvest of an international trade regime, when 70 per cent farmers (predominantly indigent) in developing countries get a raw deal under the same pact? This is a question member nations will be hard …
Is there the need for a multilateral framework to govern investments? Absolutely not. Firstly, foreign direct investments (fdi) may crowd out domestic investments and leave the host country worse off. Moreover, if the agreements were the major factor for fdi, then China should not be receiving any fdi. It does …
a crucial decision confronts the forthcoming Fifth World Trade Organization (wto) Ministerial Conference in Cancun, Mexico, in September 2003: whether or not to launch negotiations on a possible multilateral framework on investment. Issues such as the very need for this type of an arrangement under the wto, and the pro-investor …
reeling under a spate of unfavourable rulings in the World Trade Organisation (wto), the us was dealt yet another blow when the dispute settlement panel ruled recently that tariffs imposed on imports of certain steel products were illegal. Although the decision is an interim one, such rulings are rarely reversed. …
The export of fish and fish products from India is not a post-Independence phenomenon. Fish export statistics are available from mid-nineteenth century onwards. Princely states like Travancore and Cochin had vibrant export trade. Dried fish and prawns, fish oil, shark fins, sea cucumber, fishmeal
function opencover(){ var popurl="html/20030430_cover.htm" winpops=window.open(popurl,"","width=450,height=500,scrollbars=yes") } America’s administrators have seriously slipped up. Today us foreign policy stands exposed in all its Neanderthal crudity. This comes as no surprise to those observing the superpower in the arena of global environmental negotiations although the mainstream media has done a remarkably good job …
a group of 12 European institutional investors has come out with a prescription for the international pharmaceutical industry, exhorting the latter to provide developing countries with easier access to urgently required medicines
the recent discussions on world trade-related issues in Tokyo progressed along expected lines: they came a cropper. Ministers from Australia, Canada, Brazil, India, Kenya, South Korea, the us and the uk could not reconcile their differences over contentious agricultural trade issues during the three-day informal talks in February. The immediate …
dispute settlement under the World Trade Organisation (wto) rules has been fraught with disagreements. The us has now put forth a proposal to grant countries that are parties to the dispute more control over such proceedings. The plan was announced at the three-day meeting of the wto dispute settlement body …
In November 2001, developing countries succeeded in getting the World Trade Organisation (wto) Ministerial Conference held at Doha, Qatar, to issue a landmark declaration: public health should take precedence over wto patent rules. The
an informal round of World Trade Organisation (wto) talks was held in Sydney, Australia on November 14 and 15, 2002. A select group of 25 countries including Brazil, China, India, Senegal, the eu and the us attended the talks. The issue of developing countries' access to inexpensive medicines, enabling them …
INFORMATION FEUDALISM . Peter Drahos with John Braithwaite . Earthscan Publications Limited . London . 2002 . Rs 920 In the last two decades, the intellectual property standards have changed drastically. Today, these rules are set by the global strategies of a small number of companies and business organisations. The …
Hunger and poverty are essentially a human-made problem and can, hence, be overcome by human beings. The apologists of status quo would have us believe that being poor is
Statistics are easy to window-dress: showing everything but concealing vital facts. It is true in case of the small-scale industries (SSIs) also. For an average Indian, SSIs are more than 3.4 million registered small-scale units (and an equal number in the unorganised sector); 100 per cent of sports goods exports …
FOR many years now, small-scale industries have been making ugly rounds of courts. From Delhi to Kolkata, Agra to Vellore, the story repeats itself. Rather with more ferocity. Acting on public interest litigations and frustrated at the government"s lackadaisical attitude, the courts are cracking the whip on the industries. So …
Interestingly, this unregulated and technically incompetent industry sector has been exclusively entrusted to manufacture items, which pollute the most in processes like the garments, leather tanning, dyeing and electroplating. "The economic logic behind this kind of reservation is a fraud," says Shreekant Gupta, reader, Delhi School of Economics, University of …
