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Author (Category): Benny Kuruvilla

India’s RCEP Dilemma: Is There a Way Out?

Leaders from member countries at the 2nd RCEP Summit in Manila in 2017. Will countries come to an agreement when they meet again in Thailand on 1 November? [Photo from Presidential Communications Operations Office, Philippines via Wikimedia commons]

India’s RCEP Dilemma: Is There a Way Out?

Posted by | Oct 30, 2019 | ,

India’s difficulty in acceding to the mega regional free trade agreement, RCEP, currently being...

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‘There is no alternative to socialism’

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‘There is no alternative to socialism’

Posted by | Dec 18, 2008 |

by SMITU KOTHARI & BENNY KURUVILLA

Interview with Egyptian economist Samir Amin.

SMITU KOTHARI

Samir Amin: “It was the financial corporations that asked the governments to step in and ‘nationalise’ them. The rescue package was drafted by them, and they are in control of most of the bailout money.”

The financial crisis continues to spread rapidly across the world, crippling banks, stock markets and manufacturing industries and leaving hundreds of thousands jobless in its wake. Two days after the much hyped meeting of the Group of 20 in Washington, D.C., economist Samir Amin shared his insights into and analysis of the arduous road ahead for economic globalisation and the urgent need for a course change from capitalism and the possibilities of a new internationalism in the form of a Bandung II initiative.

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SERVICES TEXT BLOWS UP IN THE FACE OF THE HONG KONG MINISTERIAL

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SERVICES TEXT BLOWS UP IN THE FACE OF THE HONG KONG MINISTERIAL

Posted by | Dec 16, 2005 |

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By Benny Kuruvilla

S.African Minister speaking to civil society on Annex C

In the Ministerial draft that was taken from Geneva to Hong Kong the sections on services (Paragraph 19-21 in the main text and Annex C) were the most controversial. The brackets on Annex C, which showed that it was not a consensus document, partly reflected this. 
 
Knowing that services could stymie a successful outcome at Hong Kong, it was tactically discussed before the Ministerial began in a meeting of the Core Group on services (a non inclusive group which comprises 15 countries and is co-chaired by the US and India) on the evening of 12 December 2005. It was not on the agenda for the first 2 days of the Ministerial. The idea of the main demandeurs was to front load the ministerial with other issues such as agriculture, NAMA and development and introduce Annex C towards the end thereby ensuring that dissenting voices would be muted.

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