By Yossef Ben-Meir* MARRAKECH | 21 October 2024 (IDN) — The commitment of Kamala Harris’ U.S. Presidential campaign to create an opportunity economy—one that lowers costs and strengthens opportunities for working families and small businesses—has established goals that are consistent with observed outcomes of participatory approaches to community development around the world. The participatory approach […]
Cuts in Education, Health and Social Protection Trigger Rise in Economic Inequalities
By Rodney Reynolds NEW YORK | 21 October 2024 (IDN) — A new global index reveals that nine out of ten countries worldwide are pursuing policies that are likely to increase levels of economic inequality. Education and health cuts by nearly every country under World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) programs are being described as “dispiriting, dangerous, […]
Up to 41 billion USD in World Bank Climate Finance Unaccounted for, Oxfam Finds
By Rodney Reynolds NEW YORK | 17 October 2024 (IDN) — Up to $41 billion in World Bank climate finance—nearly 40 percent of all climate funds disbursed by the Bank over the past seven years— is unaccounted for due to poor record-keeping practices, reveals a new Oxfam report published ahead of the World Bank and […]
Will the G20 Decide Minimum Tax on the Wealthiest of Our World?
By Sam Pizzigati* This article was originally published on Inequality.org , a project of the Institute for Policy Studies under a Creative Commons 3.0 License. NEW YORK | 4 August 2024 (IDN) — For the richest among us, life on Earth can sometimes get rather boring. But worry not for our world’s deepest pockets. At […]
Multilateral Development Banks Play Crucial Role in Financing Global Public Goods
By José Antonio Ocampo and Karla Daniela González, Columbia University This article was first published in the 2023/2024 UNDP Human Development Report – Breaking the Gridlock: Reimagining cooperation in a polarized world –on 13 March 2024. NEW YORK | 14 March 2024 (IDN) — There is broad-based agreement among the United Nations and the Group […]
The Anatomy of Default and the IMF in Sri Lanka: Of Elections, Bond Scams, and Money Politics
By Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake COLOMBO, Sri Lanka | 7 February 2024 (IDN) — With the wisdom of hindsight, the Root Causes of Sri Lanka’s first-ever Sovereign Default, staged three years ago on the eve of 75 years of ‘Independence’ from the British Raj are clear. When the Default happened in March 2021, there was too much […]
Thailand’s ‘Sufficiency Economy’ Philosophy Bears Fruits in Laos
By Pattama Vilailert VIENTIANE, Laos. 28 June 2023 (IDN) — It was at the height of the Thai Economic Crisis in 1997 that the term “sufficiency economics” came into prominence when the late King of Thailand Bhumibol Adulyadej told his people that rather than building factories to become another Asian Tiger, the important thing for […]
Development Agenda Crucial for Nairobi Global Trade Conference
By Dr. Patrick Gomes, ACP Seretary-General | IDN-InDepthNews VIewpoint
BRUSSELS (IDN) – The year 2015 has witnessed a number of global events so important to development, namely; the Financing for Development Conference that took place in Addis Ababa from July 13 to16, 2015, the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit in New York that took place from the September 25 to 27, 2015, the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21) scheduled to take place in Paris from the November 30 to December 11, 2015 and the World Trade Organization Tenth Ministerial Conference (MC10) scheduled for the December 15 to 18, 2015 in Nairobi Kenya.
This is the first time that a WTO Ministerial Conference will be held on the continent of Africa and in an ACP Country, therefore I have no doubt that we are all equally enthused by this fact. Some reports from Geneva on developments in the negotiations at the WTO might damper our enthusiasm.
Agreement on issues of particular interest to the ACP Group, especially the development aspect, remains elusive. We have learnt of sentiments from some WTO Members that suggest that it is now time to fold the Doha Development Round (DDA) and close shop because of this lack of agreement on the issues under negotiation.
ACP Group Faces Tough Challenges at Global Trade Conference in Nairobi
By Ronald Joshua | IDN-InDepthNews Analysis
BERLIN | BRUSSELS (IDN) – The Tenth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO), to be held in Kenya’s capital Nairobi from December 15-18 will not only be “a milestone in terms of the future of the organization”, but also a challenge to the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States.
ACP Ministers Convene to Adopt Strategy for Global Trade Meet in Kenya
By INPS* | IDN-InDepthNews Report
BRUSSELS (IDN) – African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries’ trade ministers will gather in Brussels on October 19 for a strategic two-day meeting to prepare for the Tenth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO), to be held in Nairobi, Kenya from December 15-18.
According to the ACP Secretariat, the meeting would discuss ACP strategy and adopt a Declaration on the WTO ministerial conference in Nairobi. Key issues of concern for the ACP Group include those related to development, agriculture, Non-Agricultural Goods Market Access (NAMA), and appropriate provisions for Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small and Vulnerable Economies (SVEs).