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| CHINA: China Vows To Protect Markets
by Mure Dickie, Financial Times
July 5th, 2004
China wants to make greater use of World Trade Organisation market protection measures, including the use of anti-dumping cases against foreign companies, as its economy and domestic industries adjust to increased competition brought by membership of the WTO. |
| UK: Oxfam Hopes To Stimulate Taste For Fair Trade
by Simon Bowers, Guardian
May 14th, 2004
The charity, backed by a loan from Glasgow-based coffee supplier Matthew Algie, yesterday said it hoped consumers' appetite for fair trade-certified coffee will attract new customers and draw others away from the mainstream chains. |
| Iraq: Amec Deal Saves UK from Embarrassment
by Terry Macalister, Guardian (London)
March 25th, 2004
Amec has won part of a $1bn (550m) contract to rebuild water and sewerage networks in Iraq. The deal is the biggest so far by a UK company for reconstruction work in the war-torn country, but otherwise British firms have lost out. |
| Nigeria: Shell Revamp to Cost Jobs
BBC News
March 22nd, 2004
The oil company Royal Dutch Shell has said it plans to cut jobs in Nigeria, so it can invest more money in better production methods. The aim is to raise output by 500,000 barrels a day within two years, says the head of Shell's Nigeria operations, Chris Finlayson. |
| EU: Microsoft's Last-Ditch Offer Is Rejected
by Daniel Dombey, Financial Times
March 18th, 2004
The European Commission said it had been unable to reach a settlement with Microsoft after considering the software group's last-ditch offer to end the long-running antitrust battle. |
| US: FERC Claims Jurisdiction on Gas Plant
by Deborah Schoch, Los Angeles Times
February 27th, 2004
The federal position on a proposed liquefied natural gas terminal in Long Beach sets up a possible conflict with state regulators. |
| Iraq: Occupation, Inc.
by Pratap Chatterjee and Herbert Docena, Southern Exposure
February 4th, 2004
Bechtel's projects are examined by freelance journalists. Locals complain of shoddy work, problems with schools, sewage, electricity, gas lines, and low wages. |
| Chile: Santiago Signs Free Trade Deal with US
by Elliott Gotkine, BBC
September 17th, 2003
On 3 September, eight days before the country was due to mark 30 years since the military coup that ushered in 17 years of rule by General Augusto Pinochet, the United States approved a long-awaited free trade agreement with its South American neighbour. |
| World: Rich and Poor Clash Over Farm Aid
BBC
September 12th, 2003
The Group of 21 (G21), which includes China, India and Brazil, has threatened the traditional dominance of rich countries during world trade talks in Cancun, Mexico. The G21 is demanding the complete abolition of subsidies paid by rich countries to their farmers which, they say, locks the developing world out of international markets. |
| SWITZERLAND: Transnationals Urge Flexibility from Rich Nations
by Gustavo Capdevila, Inter Press Service
August 22nd, 2003
An organisation of transnational corporate executives urged the United States, European Union and Japan to cede to some of the demands of developing countries -- particularly in regards to agriculture and drugs patents -- in order to jump-start the WTO trade liberalisation talks |
| WORLD: A Month from Cancun, WTO and Critics Rev Their Engines
by Gustavo Capdevila, lnter Press Service
August 12th, 2003
International trade negotiations this week enter the final stretch before the Fifth WTO Ministerial Conference in Cancun, Mexico, with the first signs of progress in the otherwise troubled agricultural talks and announcements of new mobilizations by groups opposed to the multilateral trade system. |
| China: US Bosses Step Up Yuan Row
BBC
June 18th, 2003
A powerful industrial lobbying group is calling on the US government to take China to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) over its fixed exchange rate policy. The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) has said it plans to file a trade complaint with the US Trade Representative, which would force trade officials to consider an official response. |
| Brazil, India and South Africa: Form G3 to counter G8
by Reuters, The Hindu
June 7th, 2003
Brazil, India and South Africa have formed a trilateral bloc to boost trade and pool their political muscle in talks with rich nations. The new grouping follows soon after the G8 meeting of major industrial nations failed to act on a proposal for subsidy cuts to help Africa and a Brazilian plan to create a global fund to fight hunger. |
| FRANCE: The G8 Summit: Leaders Paper Over Cracks on WTO Talks
by Robert Graham, James Blitz and Guy de Jonquires, Financial Times
June 3rd, 2003
The Group of Eightmembers yesterday committed themselves to concluding the stalled Doha world trade round on schedule by the end of next year, but hinted at no shifts in negotiating positions that could lead to progress in the talks. |
| Latin America: Churches Call for Alternative to Free Market
by Marcela Valente, Inter Press Service
May 2nd, 2003
BUENOS AIRES-- Leaders of Protestant churches of Latin America, tired of alleviating social problems that they blame on neo-liberal free market policies, have decided to advance their own alternative proposals to governments and the multilateral lending institutions. |
| Middle East: U.S. Hopes to Pry Open Region's Economies
by James Sterngold, San Francisco Chronicle
April 16th, 2003
Bush administration officials have been clear in saying that as the war winds down and they begin their campaign to bring political reform to Iraq and the Middle East, a critical step will be opening the region's markets to trade and investment. |
| Central America: Free Trade Deal a Dud, Activists Say
by Emad Mekay, Inter Press Service
April 10th, 2003
WASHINGTON, Apr. 10 (IPS) -- Activists from labor, development, human rights and farm groups are calling on the United States and five Central American countries not to rush a trade agreement that they say is undemocratic and would drive farmers and other vulnerable groups deeper into poverty. |
| PHILIPPINES: People's Congress Urges Land, Food Without Poisons
Envinroment News Service
April 7th, 2003
Agricultural workers and their families are being poisoned, rural lands, forests, oceans and waters are devastated, biodiversity is being destroyed, and food is unfit for human consumption. With these words, 140 participants from 17 countries at the First Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific Congress in Manila last week warned the world that industrial agriculture as conducted by transnational corporations is undermining the resources needed to sustain food production. |
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