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 News
on Policy Developments
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WTO members pledge to help poor countries tame crisis,
eastandard, 30 April 2009
Poor countries, including Kenya, would get financial
support to develop and diversify exports when the on-going trade negotiations
under the WTO are concluded.
WTO members pledge to help poor countries
tame crisis, eastandard, 30 April 2009
Poor countries, including Kenya, would get
financial support to develop and diversify exports when the
on-going trade negotiations under the WTO are concluded.
WTO members reappoint Lamy for a second term,
WTO, 29 April 2009
The General Council, on 30 April 2009,
agreed to reappoint Director-General Pascal Lamy for a second term
of four years as from 1 September 2009.
Strengthening the WTO as the global trade
body, WTO, 29 April 2009
Director-General Pascal Lamy, in presenting
to the General Council his vision for the WTO for the next four
years, said on 29 April 2009 that “the WTO, as a living organism,
should continue to improve its capacity to rapidly react to global
challenges, as we are seeing in the current crisis, and to
contribute to devising solutions to those challenges.
Food prices remain high in developing countries,
FAO, 24 April 2009
An analysis of domestic food prices for 58 developing
countries shows that in around 80 percent of the cases food prices are higher
than 12 months ago, and in around 40 percent higher than three months ago. In 17
percent of the cases, the latest price quotations are the highest on record.
UN food agencies to join G8 agriculture ministers in
Treviso, FAO, 20 April 2009
International agencies on the front lines of the effort to
increase food security will bring concerns on the impact of the economic crisis
on small-holder farmers and on people's ability to afford food to the meeting of
the Group of 8 Agriculture Ministers in the Italian province of Treviso on 18-20
April.
Belgium and FAO link to help African farmers,
FAO, 15 April 2009
Around $ 2.6 million of the latest contribution from the
Belgian Development Cooperation will go to directly support farming households
whose livelihoods have suffered from the conflict in the DRC.
Africa’s North-South Corridor “perfect example” of Aid for
Trade in action, WTO, 6 April 2009
Director-General Pascal Lamy, on 6 April 2009 in Lusaka,
Zambia, hailed Africa’s North-South Corridor Pilot Aid for Trade as an example
of “how to put together all the elements necessary for trade to flow, creating
the conditions necessary for the private sector to diversify from exporting a
narrow range of raw material and add more value.”
FAO extends sympathy to Italian quake victims,
FAO, 6 April 2009
"This is a terrible tragedy and the thoughts of FAO staff
are with the people who are suffering as a result of this cruel catastrophe,
especially those who have lost loved ones or who still do not know the fate of
someone close to them," said FAO Director General Jacques Diouf.
Food Security Still A Problem As Hunger Rises,
World Bank, 31 March 2009
“A fall in grain prices has led to the impression that
food security is no longer a concern, but the number of people without enough to
eat is still rising in a world facing recession, the UN said on Monday. ‘The
level of prices is still 19 percent above the average of 2006... so we're still
in a period of high prices,’ FAO's Director-General Jacques Diouf told reporters
at a conference in Bangkok….”
China and FAO sign historic $30 million deal,
FAO, 26 March 2009
The People’s Republic of China has agreed to make
available to FAO a $30 million trust fund to support developing countries in
improving their agricultural productivity to achieve the Millennium Development
Goals.
WTO sees 9% global trade decline in 2009 as recession
strikes, WTO, 24 March 2009
The collapse in global demand brought on by the biggest
economic downturn in decades will drive exports down by roughly 9% in volume
terms in 2009, the biggest such contraction since the Second World War, WTO
economists forecast today (25 March 2009). “Trade can be a potent tool in
lifting the world from these economic doldrums.
Brazil, Chile and Caricom countries back FAO's proposal
for a World Summit on Food Security, FAO, 22 March 2009
The Heads of Government of CARICOM countries as well as
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil and President Michelle Bachelet of
Chile are putting their support behind a proposal by FAO Director-General
Jacques Diouf for a World Summit on Food Security next November in Rome, on the
occasion of the 36th Session of the Conference of the Organization.
Future of water is in agriculture says Diouf,
FAO, 20 March 2009
FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf has
called for more attention to be paid to water management in
agriculture and for increased support and guidance for farmers in
developing countries to tackle water scarcity and the related
problem of hunger.
New FAO food price database launched,
FAO, 19 March 2009
As part of its
response to high food prices, FAO has developed an interactive
database of staple food prices on national markets in 55
developing countries from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe.
Committee
focuses on monitoring agriculture commitments, WTO,
12 March 2009
EU and
US domestic support featured among delegations’ questions in a 12
March 2009 committee meeting devoted almost entirely to monitoring
how WTO members are implementing their present commitments in
agriculture.
“Ministers
continue to attach highest priority to the Round’s conclusion”,
WTO, 4 February 2009
Farming must change to feed the world,
FAO, 4 February 2009
World's farmers must quickly switch to more sustainable
and productive farming systems to grow the food needed by a swelling world
population and respond to climate change.
Director-General Pascal Lamy, in his report to the General
Council on 3 February 2009, said that at an informal gathering hosted by Swiss
Minister Doris Leuthard last week on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum
in Davos trade ministers “recognized the major progress made in 2008...provides
a sound basis for an early resolution of the remaining differences”.
UN warns of more food shortages without strong action,
FAO, 26 January 2009
The FAO Director-General called for an investment of $30
billion per year in agriculture of developing countries to double food
production by 2050 and ensure the basic right to food for all people.
WTO provides flexibilities for developing-country farmers,
WTO, 26 January 2009
Deputy Director-General Harsha V. Singh, in a statement at
the High Level Meeting on Food Security on 26 January 2009, said that the WTO
provides flexibilities to developing countries in addressing food security,
including domestic policy initiatives such as seeds, fertilizers and focus on
small farmers.
Lamy urges Arab region to “prioritize” Doha talks,
WTO, 20 January 2009
Today as the economic crisis bites into our economies, and
as protectionist pressures knock on our doors, we must recall the importance of
the insurance policy against protectionism that the WTO offers through 60 years
of global rule-making, and its dispute settlement system. Now is the time to
strengthen the rules of international trade by concluding the Doha Development
Round of negotiations.
Russia wants common agriculture
policy with EU, EUbusiness, 19 January 2009
"We are going to try and direct a common agricultural
policy between Russia and the European Union," Gordezhev said at a summit of
some 30 fellow agriculture ministers in Berlin.
Obama Should Make Doha a Priority, The
Wall Street Journal, 13 January 2009
It is no exaggeration to say that U.S. leadership will be
the deciding factor in a deal in 2009. A deal will only happen if the crucial
trade dossier is close to the top of the White House pile.
Doha Talks To Restart After Obama Takes Office,
easybourse.com, 12 January 2009
"I don't expect to see any political steps being taken
until the new administration takes office," Lamy said at an event in Paris. He
added that it is difficult at this stage to say how long this will take, but
negotiations are continuing at a technical level.
Protectionism to rise after Doha talks fail,
warns WTO, The African, 3 January 2009
Failure by the World Trade Organisation to
secure a deal in the Doha round of negotiations by December 2008
is raising fears of an increase in protectionism among developed
countries, whose economies have been hard hit severely by the
current global economic crisis.
[news archive]
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