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Since the 1980s, developing countries have signed numerous bilateral investment agreements, yet they receive less than one-third of the world's total foreign direct investment flows.

Last week, the Agriculture Committee met in the WTO to see if the current deadlock on all aspects of the agreement on agriculture (AoA) can be bridged.

In Palermo, the European Union is supposed to decide on its position for the next WTO Ministerial that will take place in Cancun, Mexico, from 10 to 14 September.

The European Union agriculture ministers last week agreed on measures for reform of their common agriculture policy.

The laws set out stringent requirements for labelling GM products, reflecting the view held by the European Commission that the GM issue is one of consumer choice and not of food safety.

The 'evil' generated by this misdirected welfare policy affects poor-country farmers who are financing the social welfare doled out to rich-country farmers, according to Ricupero.

Some of the groups present: National Wildlife Federation, OXFAM U.S., FoE, WWF, Consumers Choice Council, Sierra Club, AFL-CIO, CIEL, Humane Society, Bread for the World, Public Citizen. The meeting lasted for about one hour and was basically a question & answer session.

An eclectic crowd of nearly 1,000 filled the Crest Theater Monday night for the only public debate in conjunction with this week's international agriculture conference at the Sacramento Convention Center.