Analysis by Aileen Kwa

GENEVA, Jan 24 (IPS) - Process issues have once again risen to the fore in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) as members brace themselves for the release of a new set of negotiating texts for agricultural and industrial tariff liberalisation at the end of this month or early February.

Delegates are concerned that WTO Director General Pascal Lamy might wrest the negotiation process out of the hands of the chairpersons of the negotiating groups when the texts become available, take control of the process and involve only a small group of delegations in the negotiations.

"There Must Be a U-turn to Create Healthy Domestic Markets"

Interview with Dr. Walden Bello, executive director of Focus on the Global South

HALIFAX, Canada, Jan 15 (IPS) - In 1992, Dr. Walden Bello issued a macro-economic warning about the so-called Asian miracle in his book "Dragons in Distress". Six years later, the Asian financial crisis Bello predicted swept the region, throwing millions into poverty.

Born in the Philippines in 1945, Dr. Bello is the author of more than 10 books, including "People and Power in the Pacific" (1992), "Dark Victory: The United States and Global Poverty" (1999), "Global Finance: Thinking on regulating speculative capital markets" (2000) and "The Future in the Balance: Essays on globalisation and resistance" (2001).

By John Hilary
The Guardian | January 21, 2008

Gordon Brown's focus on British interests threatens to condemn millions of poor Indians to despair

Yesterday saw the official start of Gordon Brown's visit to India, and the fourth top-level summit between our two countries. This is Brown's first visit as prime minister, and comes hot on the heels of his stay in China last week. The business delegation which has accompanied him hopes to sign deals worth billions of pounds during the stay, and Brown himself has highlighted the importance to the British economy of cementing links with the two Asian superpowers.

 

With an annual growth rate of 9% over the past couple of years, India is close to rivalling China's economic boom. Yet while China's achievements have been credited with lifting 400 million people out of poverty, the benefits of India's growth have not spread beyond the top 10% of its own massive population. According to Merrill Lynch's world wealth report, India now boasts an incredible 93,000 millionaires, as well as the world's second-fastest growth in "high net worth individuals". Yet in a parallel universe within the same country, 350 million people (more than in the whole of Africa) still live in desperate poverty on less than a dollar a day, while a total of 900 million scrape by on under two dollars a day.