31 October 2007
For Personal Use Only

• Source: RIA Novosti

MOSCOW, October 31 (RIA Novosti) - Western states have only allocated 25% of $2 billion promised to help Russia destroy its stockpiles of chemical weapons by 2012, a deputy head of the federal industry agency said on Wednesday.

Russia signed the Chemical Weapons Convention, which bans the development, production, stockpiling, transfer, and use of chemical arms in 1993 and ratified it in 1997. The country is to destroy all its declared arsenal of 40,000 metric tons of chemical weapons by 2012. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under East-West Relations and Russia, Arms Control, Proliferation and WMD

31 October 2007
For Personal Use Only

• Author: Dan Neumann
• Source: Inside US-China Trade

As the G7 group of industrialized countries toughened its stance last week on the value of the yuan, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) moved toward issuing a report on China’s currency under new IMF guidelines criticized by the Chinese.

In an Oct. 19 statement, G7 finance ministers “reaffirm[ed]” that exchange rates should reflect “economic fundamentals,” and expressed the undesirability of “[e]xcess volatility and disorderly movements” in exchange rates for economic growth. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Exchange Rate Management and Monetary Policy, Macroeconomic Policy, Multilateral Trade

31 October 2007
For Personal Use Only

• Author: Jeremy Warner
• Source: The Independent

Currencies were bouncing around all over the place yesterday as traders placed their bets on what the Fed might do to US interest rates after today”s meeting of the Open Markets Committee. For sterling, there is an equally important meeting next week of the Bank of England”s Monetary Policy Committee. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under International Financial Architecture Reform, Exchange Rate Management and Monetary Policy, Macroeconomic Policy, Investment and Competition Policy

31 October 2007
For Personal Use Only

• Source: Agence France Presse

GENEVA, Oct 31, 2007 (AFP) - The G20 group of developing economies in the WTO will meet here next month in a final attempt to drive global trade talks ahead, Brazil’s Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said Wednesday.

“It’s probably one of the last chances for our collective voices to be not only heard but listened to,” Amorim told reporters. The meeting is being scheduled for November 15, he said. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Multilateral Trade

31 October 2007
For Personal Use Only

• Author: Jonathan Lynn
• Source: Reuters News

GENEVA, Oct 31 (Reuters) - The long-running Doha round of trade talks cannot succeed unless developing countries get a fair deal reflecting their needs, Brazil’s Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said on Wednesday.

Amorim told a news conference that the talks were still slanted too much in favour of rich countries. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under International Financial Architecture Reform, Multilateral Trade

30 October 2007
For Personal Use Only

• Author: Gideon Rachman
• Source: Financial Times

Here is a selection of recent newspaper headlines: “Redford slams Bush over Iraq”; “Bono takes IMF to task over Liberia”; “Jolie blasts US military spending”; “Clooney’s foreign policy - sexiest man has a plan to save Darfur”. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Development, Conflict Prevention and Human Security, Democratization and Human Rights

30 October 2007
For Personal Use Only

• Source: The World Bank

Germany, which championed the partnership under its G8 presidency, stressed that by strengthening African financial systems, the new effort would support economic growth, job creation and poverty reduction.

Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, Federal German Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development , said, “economic development is only possible if there is a thriving financial sector which accords both men and women access to appropriate financial services, enabling them to save, while allowing businesses to invest and create lasting employment.” (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under International Financial Architecture Reform, Investment and Competition Policy, Development

30 October 2007
For Personal Use Only

• Source: States News Service

The following information was released by the U.S. Department of State:

Mr. Chairman, honorable Committee members, I am pleased that you have asked us here today to discuss climate change, renewable energy and the environment, with emphasis on India. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Development, The Environment, Climate Change, Energy and Nuclear Safety

30 October 2007
For Personal Use Only

• Source: PR Newswire (U.S.)

DES MOINES, Iowa, Oct. 30 — Barack Obama today stepped ahead of all other candidates for President in one of the most critical areas of foreign policy, the effort to eradicate extreme poverty. As a part of reasserting America’s leadership in this area, he pledged to increase spending on global HIV/AIDS to $50 billion over 2009 to 2013, while at the same time increasing overall foreign assistance spending to $50 billion annually. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Development, Health and Infectious Disease

30 October 2007
For Personal Use Only

• Source: Associated Press Newswires

NEW DELHI (AP) - India and Germany agreed to work together to tackle the threat of global warming, speed up the success of worldwide trade talks and boost the two countries’ business, science and defense ties. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Multilateral Trade

30 October 2007
For Personal Use Only

• Source: Nikkei Report

TOKYO (Nikkei)–The Japanese government is trying to find a balance between obliging requests for an increase in foreign aid and putting its own fiscal house in order. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Development

30 October 2007
For Personal Use Only

• Source: BBC Monitoring Middle East

Text of report by political desk headlined “Deputy foreign minister - We shall do anything to return dossier to agency” published by Iranian newspaper Aftab-e Yazd website on 28 October (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Energy and Nuclear Safety, Arms Control, Proliferation and WMD

29 October 2007
For Personal Use Only

• Source: Indo-Asian News Service

Indo-Asian News Service Manesar (Haryana), Oct. 29 — India must make mandatory cuts in its greenhouse gas emissions after 2012, and make a commitment to this effect at the next summit of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) at Bali this December, a senior United Nations expert on climate change said here Monday. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Development, The Environment, Climate Change

29 October 2007
For Personal Use Only

• Author: Jonathan Lynn
• Source: Reuters News

GENEVA, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Brazil is convening a meeting of ministers from developing countries in Geneva next month to plan strategy for the faltering Doha trade talks at the World Trade Organisation (WTO), a senior Brazilian diplomat said on Monday. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Multilateral Trade, Development

29 October 2007
For Personal Use Only

• Source: Platts Coal Outlook

The International Energy Agency called for making new fossil-fueled power plants more efficient as a global priority, especially in major coal-using countries.

Many coal-fired units all over the world currently operate at efficiencies well below 30%, the Paris energy body of the OECD countries said in a statement. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under The Environment, Energy and Nuclear Safety

29 October 2007
For Personal Use Only

• Author: Nouriel Roubini
• Source: The Edge Singapore

The recent turmoil in global financial markets — and the liquidity and credit crunch that followed — raises two questions: How did defaulting subprime mortgages in the American states of California, Nevada, Arizona, and Florida lead to a worldwide crisis? And why did systemic risk increase rather than decrease in recent years? (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Global Financial Crises, Financial Supervision, Corporate and Public Governance, The New Electronic Economy and Information Technology, Investment and Competition Policy

27 October 2007
For Personal Use Only

• Author: Kevin Rafferty
• Source: South China Morning Post

They trooped out for their five-minute photo-op, grey men and one woman in grey suits, then huddled again for their discussions. Finally, they gave a rosy economic picture of a turbulent economic world. The “they” were the financial masters of the globe, the finance ministers and central bank governors of the Group of Seven leading industrialised countries, with bonus places for the European Union. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under International Financial Architecture Reform, Macroeconomic Policy

27 October 2007
For Personal Use Only

• Source: Irish Independent

THE Group of Seven’s united campaign for faster yuan gains means China risks increasing tensions with major trading partners, as US Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson, and European Central Bank President, Jean-Claude Trichet, prepare to visit Beijing.

Paulson, Trichet and the rest of the G7 last week called for “an accelerated appreciation”, the toughest language in four years. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Exchange Rate Management and Monetary Policy

26 October 2007
For Personal Use Only

• Author: Jeffrey Simpson
• Source: The Globe and Mail

LONDON — The world is groping toward a new industrial revolution, sensing where it must lead but uncertain how to get there. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under The Environment, Climate Change

26 October 2007
For Personal Use Only

• Source: Presswire

World Trade Organization Director-General Pascal Lamy told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) this afternoon that trade negotiators were likely to reach a good deal in the next few weeks that would significantly slash trade barriers and deliver on the Doha Development Round’s core development objectives. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under International Financial Architecture Reform, Multilateral Trade, Development

25 October 2007
For Personal Use Only

• Source: Latin American Economic and Business Report

The Institute of International Finance, the international bankers’ club, advocated that the world’s biggest economies, the G7, should invite Brazil (along with China, India and Russia) to join them in an expanded talking shop (a G11) for the world economy’s main policymakers. The invitation shows how far Brazil has come since Fernando Henrique Cardoso launched the Plan Real and ended the country’s hyper-inflation in mid 1993. Between 1968 and 1993, inflation in Brazil, cumulatively, was 1,825,059,944,843%. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under International Financial Architecture Reform, Macroeconomic Policy, Multilateral Trade

25 October 2007
For Personal Use Only

• Author: Federal Chancellery of Germany
• Source: News Press

Chancellor Angela Merkel met with Al Gore, former US vice president and Nobel Peace Prize winner, at the Chancellery in Berlin. The Chancellor praised Mr. Gore’s efforts, saying that “Over the years, he has shown exceptional commitment to the climate change cause and to spreading the word about its effects.” (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under The Environment, Climate Change

25 October 2007
For Personal Use Only

• Author: Anthony Rowley
• Source: Business Times Singapore

JAPAN’S trade surplus surged by a much sharper than expected 63 per cent to a record 1.64 trillion yen (S$21 billion) in September, and although this came despite an export decline to the United States, it is certain to add to a growing clamour among business lobbies there for yen appreciation, analysts said yesterday. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Exchange Rate Management and Monetary Policy, Macroeconomic Policy, Multilateral Trade

25 October 2007
For Personal Use Only

• Author: Anthony Rowley
• Source: Business Times Singapore

Singapore’s Temasek and GIC are spared flak as Chinese and Middle Eastern governments face calls for greater transparency of their investments overseas (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under International Financial Architecture Reform, Macroeconomic Policy, Investment and Competition Policy

25 October 2007
For Personal Use Only

• Source: Kommersant International

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi and India’s Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee met in Harbin, northeast China’s Heilongjiang province, October 24, 2007. The ultimate purpose of the event was to manifest to the world at large that a strategic triangle of Moscow-Beijing-Delhi is gaining momentum to time of creation of the U.S.-Japan’s missile defense shield in the Pacific Ocean and the U.S. attempts to take root in Middle Asia. The tricky point is that Delhi doesn’t seem to share the saber-rattling attitude of its partners towards the United States. (more…)

Filed by Amadeus Domaradzki under Regional Security