NRI industrialist Lord Swraj Paul on Thursday said G8 countries should abolish subsidies to their farmers in order to stop undermining the interests of farmers in developing countries like India. (more…)
Filed by Tina Park under Development
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has called upon the Group of Eight, G8, to press international institutions such as the World Bank to take action on a growing crisis in global food prices, which have increased by an estimated 55 percent since June.
In a letter to Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, who is hosting the G8 summit this year, Brown asked his counterpart to push for a “fully coordinated response” from the international community to rising food prices and their effects, particularly on the world’s poorest people.
(more…)
Filed by Tina Park under The Environment
Democratic opponents of US President George W Bush have accused him of putting off tough decisions on Iraq until after the presidential elections.
The criticism follows Mr Bush’s announcement of a “major strategic shift” that includes suspending troop withdrawals after July.
He says this would allow senior commander General David Petraeus to assess the next step in Iraq.
But his opponents say the people want answers from this president, now. (more…)
Filed by Tina Park under Other
With the threat of political violence looming in Zimbabwe, southern Africa’s heads of state were summoned Wednesday to an “extraordinary” weekend meeting to address the crisis that has gripped the country since a disputed presidential vote last month.
(more…)
Filed by Tina Park under Regional Security
Vladimir Putin yesterday told NATO that it would become a “direct threat” to Moscow if it expanded further east.
Emboldened after routing the alliance’s plans to offer membership to Ukraine and Georgia, the Russian president yesterday gave warning that the countries must be locked out permanently.
(more…)
Filed by Tina Park under Regional Security
“How can the EU back away from its commitment to increase aid?” asked Karen Hoehn, Vice Executive Director and Director, European Affairs for the German Foundation for World Population (DSW). “Women in childbirth, people infected with HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, and families struggling to survive cannot wait.”
Filed by Tina Park under Development
Development ministers from the world’s rich nations on Sunday threw their weight behind a call for action to reduce soaring food prices, which they say hurt developing nations as well as donors’ efforts to help them.
(more…)
Filed by Tina Park under Multilateral Trade
The Group of Eight rich nations vowed Sunday to step up cooperation with emerging donors such as China and India and said they remained committed to a goal to double their own aid to Africa by 2010.
Underscoring the growing role of fast-growing developing economies in global aid efforts, Brazil, China, and India and other emerging donors were invited to talks here that aim to lay the groundwork for the G8 summit in July.
(more…)
Filed by Tina Park under Development
Negotiators here are working on the world’s most ambitious pact yet against global warming, but questions are growing about how to force governments to live up to the promises they make.
Week-long talks in Bangkok are aimed at laying the groundwork for global action after the Kyoto Protocol’s commitments run out in 2012 for rich nations to slash greenhouse gas emissions blamed for heating up the planet.
(more…)
Filed by Anita Li under The Environment, Climate Change
Japan lamented the expected fall in its overseas aid ranking on Thursday, saying that its dire finances was to blame but citing the need to continue helping developing nations.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development is set to unveil official development assistance (ODA) figures for 2007 on Friday, in which Japan’s spending among aid donors will slip to fifth place from third, Kyodo news agency reported.
(more…)
Filed by Anita Li under Other, Global Financial Crises, Development
European Union finance ministers and central bankers will grapple with how to steer the bloc’s economy through slower growth and rising inflation when they meet Friday in Slovenia for their twice-yearly summit.
The policy makers also will discuss how to handle the strong euro and new financial-market regulations ahead of a meeting of the Group of Seven countries starting April 11 in Washington. At previous G-7 meetings, Europe has pushed the U.S. to pursue a stronger dollar, but with little success. The euro currently is hovering above $1.56, just below record highs.
(more…)
Filed by Anita Li under Global Financial Crises, Financial Supervision, Corporate and Public Governance, Exchange Rate Management and Monetary Policy
Japan came in fifth on the OECD list of official development assistance providers in 2007, down from third the previous year, it was learned Thursday.
Japan’s dwindling presence stems from reduction in its ODA budget amid severe fiscal conditions and hefty increases in ODA outlays by France and Germany, sources said.
(more…)
Filed by Anita Li under Other, Development
French Economy Minister Christine Lagarde said on Thursday she expected G7 finance ministers would coordinate closely when they meet next week, and she added that she would prefer that they concentrate on a few key issues.
Finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of Seven industrial nations will meet in Washington on Friday, April 11 for their regular spring gathering as they try find a solution to the credit crunch.
(more…)
Filed by Anita Li under Global Financial Crises, Financial Supervision, Corporate and Public Governance, Exchange Rate Management and Monetary Policy
The government and the ruling coalition parties plan to propose a new nominee for the post of Bank of Japan governor soon so that Japan can send the new central bank head to the Group of Seven finance officials’ meeting scheduled on April 11 in Washington, the government’s top spokesman and lawmakers said Thursday.
(more…)
Filed by Anita Li under Financial Supervision, Corporate and Public Governance, Exchange Rate Management and Monetary Policy
Group of Eight ministers in charge of development will meet in Tokyo for two days from Saturday to discuss aid to developing nations at a time when the impact of global warming on such countries has been becoming more visible.
At the meeting, to be chaired by Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura, participants will discuss whether donor countries need to review their aid programs to better help recipient countries cope with the effects of global warming, such as drought and rises in sea levels.
(more…)
Filed by Anita Li under The Environment, Climate Change
The government will set up this weekend a climate change subcommittee under Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda’s panel of experts on global environmental issues, sources familiar with the matter said Thursday.
The subcommittee is to delve into details of measures to fight global warming, such as an emissions trading system and environmental taxes, the sources said, adding that its establishment will be endorsed Saturday at the second meeting of the panel at a hotel in Hokkaido, the venue of this year’s Group of Eight summit.
(more…)
Filed by Anita Li under The Environment, Climate Change
European Union finance ministers face pressure during their two-day meeting in Slovenia starting on Friday to devise concrete measures for tackling the financial crisis amid internal divisions on the best strategy.
Huge new writedowns this week by Swiss bank UBS AG. and Germany’s Deutsche Bank AG. added to the sense of urgency ahead of the informal gathering, which will also include central bankers.
(more…)
Filed by Anita Li under Global Financial Crises, Financial Supervision, Corporate and Public Governance, Exchange Rate Management and Monetary Policy
The world economy faces grave risks and its leaders must put aside national interests to take firm, coordinated steps to restore confidence and support growth, a powerful bank lobby group said on Thursday.
“The range of options available to policy-makers is becoming narrower and the required response time shorter,” said Charles Dallara, managing director of the Institute of International Finance, in a letter to the governing committee of the IMF.
(more…)
Filed by Anita Li under Global Financial Crises, Financial Supervision, Corporate and Public Governance, Exchange Rate Management and Monetary Policy
The World Bank has offered loans totalling US$5 billion for developing countries to invest in projects to combat and adapt to climate change. The bank announced its new Climate Investment Fund on the second day of the Bangkok Climate Talks yesterday.
About 1,200 delegates from 163 countries have gathered to begin engineering a new international pact on climate change to replace the Kyoto Protocol.
(more…)
Filed by Anita Li under The Environment, Climate Change
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Thursday he had discussed with U.S. President George W. Bush how world powers could address problems in the global economy when they met at a NATO summit.
“We were also talking about one of the major issues that will feature on my visit to the United States: what we can collectively do about the world economy. And I think that is an important issue that we are addressing,” he told reporters.
(more…)
Filed by Anita Li under Other, Global Financial Crises
Leading international banks on Thursday called for a coordinated response to steer the global economy safely through a credit crisis that is braking growth.
The Institute of International Finance (IIF) said “multiple and coordinated” policy measures were urgently need to confront credit market turmoil that has persisted for nearly a year.
(more…)
Filed by Anita Li under Global Financial Crises, Financial Supervision, Corporate and Public Governance
The Bank of France said Thursday that the younger brother of IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn had been named to a post with the US Federal Reserve Board in Washington.
Marc-Olivier Strauss-Kahn was named March 14 as the Bank of France’s representative in the United States and would have the position of “visiting senior advisor” to the Federal Reserve.
(more…)
Filed by Anita Li under Other, Financial Supervision, Corporate and Public Governance, Multilateral Trade
Despite a commitment to substantially increase foreign aid to fight extreme poverty, US funding has dropped for the second year in a row. The US made the commitment to increase aid at the 2005 Gleneagles G8 summit.
(more…)
Filed by Anita Li under Other, Development
While the bouts of dollar strength seen this week
have largely been driven by position unwinds of long-held short dollar
positions and furtive renewed confidence in U.S. prospects, event risk
stemming from next week’s G7 meeting is said to be another contributing
factor.
(more…)
Filed by Anita Li under Global Financial Crises, Exchange Rate Management and Monetary Policy
British charity Oxfam released Friday figures on aid spending showing that rich countries had broken promises made to substantially increase assistance to developing countries.
The figures showed that in many of the Group of Eight (G8) richest nations, aid spending as a percentage of gross national income (GNI) had dropped significantly.
(more…)
Filed by Anita Li under Other, Development
