Archive - jun 2009 - Article

There is a rather odd interview Anand Sharma has given to Reuters. He is off to Washington and the interview comes just before the visit. Part of the interview is about India being keen to break the deadlock in WTO negotiations.

TRIPS and FTAs have adverse impact on access to drugs

Geneva, 3 Jun (Kanaga Raja) -- The WTO TRIPS Agreement and the TRIPS-plus
provisions in Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) have had an adverse impact on
prices and availability of medicines, making it difficult for countries to
comply with their obligations to respect, protect and fulfil the right to
health, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health, Mr Anand Grover,
said on Tuesday.

Non-governmental organizations are urgently asking Canadians to write to senators, MPs and the Prime Minister to express their outrage at the police massacre of peaceful Indigenous protesters in Peru, and to demand that the Canadian government halt its implementation of the Canada-Peru Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that is now before the Senate as Bill C-24.

Eight torturous years of talks over a new global trade pact should reach a conclusion next year after changes in the US and Indian governments, WTO chief Pascal Lamy said on Tuesday.

New Delhi: A Parliamentary Standing Committee has recommended a blanket ban on foreign investment in retail and has opposed even big domestic corporate entering the sector saying that it will lead to unemployment.

The following represents four key goals that our organizations agree should guide US trade policy and practice with regard to intellectual property (IP) and health matters.

The International Labour Organization's ninety-eighth tripartite conference gets under way from 3-19 June amidst the latest ILO labour market projections showing a further increase in the number of unemployed, working poor and those in vulnerable employment

In his special address to the Cairns group, in Bali today, Shri Anand Sharma, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry has reiterated the Indian commitment to the successful conclusion of the Doha process through a constructive engagement.

Geneva, 28 May (Kanaga Raja) -- The United Nations on Wednesday downgraded its economic forecast for 2009, projecting the world economy to shrink by 2.6% this year, with the poorest countries to be hit the hardest.
 
The downgrade comes on top of an already pessimistic UN estimate five months ago, when it had projected a decline by 0.5%.
 
The even grimmer economic picture has been outlined by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN-DESA) in its mid-year report "World Economic Situation and Prospects 2009".
 

WTO chief Pascal Lamy (left) will attend a meeting in Bali next week as part of attempts to restart global trade talks