The suspension of the Doha negotiations on 24 July 2006 is an opportunity to set a new course. It is a chance for the industrial countries to rebuild trust with the developing world and for the World Trade Organization to rethink its role in the multilateral trading system. A prerequisite for further talks would be to take serious the positions of the South. World Economy & Development In Brief documents the statements of the important groupings of the South before Doha collapsed.
EU-India Free Trade Talks: In Whose Interest? + The Risk of a Global Economic Recession + FDI at New Heights + EITI Beyond German G8 Presidency + Are We 'All Keynesians Now'? + South-South Cooperation against Child Labour
Lisbon EU-Africa Summit + Shift in Globalisation Debate + Trade Unions and Globalisation + The Falling Dollar + The Biofuel Debate in Brasil + Agentina's Comback without the IMF
International aid is necessary for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Just increasing aid, however, is of limited relevance, if it is not used effectively. A lot of ODA is not spent well because of donor practices - not because of recipient's corruption or incompetence.
The saga has been ongoing since November 2001, when the current round of negotiations was launched in Doha, Qatar, with numerous subsequent ups and downs, near-collapses, and extensions. The latest round of talks in Geneva has once again failed to produce an agreement. A compilation of controversial analyses
Is there anything unusual about the events in question? An African despot, a good deal of bloodshed - at least 80 dead, 10,000 injured, 200,000 displaced -, a rigged election, a concentrated effort to dilute international interest which is very little in the first place - that list contains nothing out of the usual or expected, does it?
The world´s 50 poorest nations saw the values of their exports climb by a collective 80% from 2004-2006 and recorded their highest rates of economic growth in 30 years. But their increased dependence on selling a few unsophisticated products leaves them vulnerable to a reversal, this years LDC report of UNCTAD warns.
The new century started with streamlining initiatives from the IMF and the World Bank to their conditionality, but these have not managed to deliver real change. The arguments have not changed over the last years, and opponents have become firmly entrenched in their positions. The machinery, however, seem to be coming slowly to life after the impasse.