Issue
No. 575 (16-31 Aug 2014)
WTO
misses trade facilitation deadline
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WTO’s
31 July “deadline” on TF protocol passes quietly
Differences
among member states have resulted in the inability of the WTO to adopt,
by 31 July as initially envisaged, a legal instrument that would give
effect to a contentious trade facilitation accord.
by
Kanaga Raja
Misplaced
claims of deadline sanctity for TFA
The
failure to adopt the trade facilitation protocol by 31 July was only
the latest instance in a long line of missed deadlines in WTO talks,
many of which involved key issues of interest to developing countries.
by
Chakravarthi Raghavan
Ten
reasons for saying “no” to the North
India’s
insistence that the issue of food security stocks be resolved alongside
agreement on trade facilitation can bring this and other neglected
development concerns back to the centrestage of WTO negotiations.
by
Ravi Kanth Devarakonda and Phil Harris
US
shelves move on “factoryless goods” manufacturers
The US has put off plans to redesignate US firms which offshore their
manufacturing as “factoryless goods producers”. Chakravarthi Raghavan
explains why this goes beyond a question of terminology and why it
matters to developing countries.
World Bank urged to rethink reforms to business-friendliness
report
Civil society groups have called for an overhaul of the methodology
behind an annual World Bank report which they say unduly promotes
deregulatory policies.
by Carey L. Biron
Cry
for Argentina: Fiscal mismanagement, odious debt or pillage?
Argentina’s
debt travails highlight the urgency of having a sovereign debt restructuring
system or, even better, international monetary reform that would preclude
the need for such restructuring in the first place.
by
Ellen Brown
Did
Argentina default or not? It’s more than semantics
Apart
from raising questions of whether Argentina has defaulted on its bond
repayments, the country’s debt dispute with vulture funds has also
thrown light on “the most savage face of international financial capital.”
by
Fabiana Frayssinet
The
global land rush
Institutional
investors are buying up farmland throughout the world, contributing
to the corporate consolidation of agriculture in developed and developing
countries alike.
by
Anuradha Mittal
Analysis:
Africa’s free trade hangover
African
governments are rethinking the virtues of free trade and the free
market, writes Rick Rowden
