|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
| Home | |
|||
|
|
|||
|
Business & Finance News Saturday, September 13, 2003 Compiled by SDNP Head Lines
S. Korean suicide farmer warned of trade disaster The Bangladesh Observer
CANCUN (Mexico), Sept 12:–A South Korean farmer who
committed suicide in a violent protest at world trade talks in Mexico
was a hardened activist who had angrily warned of the "disastrous
consequences" of globalization, says Reuters.
Lee Kyung-hae climbed onto a high security fence and
stabbed himself in the chest with a Swiss Army pocket knife at a march
on Wednesday against the World Trade Organization, meeting in this beach
resort. He later died in a hospital.
On Thursday, colleagues said Lee staged a hunger strike
at the WTO headquarters in Geneva earlier this year and stabbed himself
in the stomach at the same building in a 1993 protest.
He was angry at what he said was the devastation caused
to farmers by the growing global trade in agricultural products.
"Uncontrolled multinational corporations and a small
number of big WTO official members are leading an undesirable
globalization of inhumane, environmentally degrading, farmer-killing and
undemocratic policies," Lee wrote in an article for a Korean farming
magazine in March.
"The false logic of neo-liberalism will perish the
diversities of global agriculture with disastrous consequences for all
human beings," Lee said in his article.
The article, written in English, was published on an
anti-globalization Web site and confirmed as genuine by South Korean
labor unionists on Thursday.
Lee, in his mid-50s, was held up by some as an
anti-globalization martyr, with South Korean trade unionists, U.S.
campaigners and Mexican students holding a vigil for him.
Flowers, candles and a palm frond lay at the spot where
Lee died, the main road into Cancun's beach strip of high-rise hotels
and fast-food restaurants.
"You really have to stop and say, 'This is not a game.'
We are not here because we have no other vacation spot to go to. This is
a matter of life and death for many people," said environmentalist Sue
Hildebrand from Phoenix.
World trade talks show little progress The Bangladesh Observer CANCUN, (Mexico),
Sept 12:–World trade talks near the half-way stage today with rich and
poor nations expected to be presented with a first attempt at compromise
although they remain divided over the core issue of how to slash
billions of dollars of subsidies to Western farmers.
The meeting of World
Trade Organisation (WTO) ministers aims to wrap up an accord by Sunday
to revive talks on a new trade deal, which the World Bank says could
lift millions of people out of poverty and boost the flagging global
economy.
But negotiations
have got no further than a standoff between newly assertive developing
countries and the European Union and the United States over agricultural
commerce.
"Those who subsidize
must make a greater effort to level the playing field in international
trade and generate opportunities for all," said Argentine chief
negotiator Martin Redrado.
His country is part
of a new coalition of 21 developing nations, including powerhouses
Brazil and India, which are demanding the EU and United States make more
concessions on farm trade in return for agreeing to open their own
markets.
A deal on
agriculture is central to the success of the meeting as developing
nations blame the $300 billion in subsidies doled out each year to EU
and U.S. farmers as the reason their own farmers are blocked from world
markets.
They also want the
EU and United States to bring down barriers to food imports.
Ghana's trade
minister, Alan Kyeremateng, said rich countries would not be able to
speak with moral authority about helping poor states unless they slashed
farm subsidies.
"For
us in Ghana, the important thing is with agriculture because that
fundamentally affects the majority of our
population," he told reporters.
Negotiators met late
on Thursday for talks on how to bridge the gap on the farm issue. WTO
spokesman Keith Rockwell said delegations were "playing their poker
cards close to their chest" but they will hear proposals from a WTO-appointed
mediator for a very preliminary compromise on Friday.
"When you have gaps
as wide as we have now it is very difficult to try and find a middle
ground around which consensus can be built," Rockwell told reporters.
The farm talks are
the toughest part of the negotiations, but other key issues also divide
the 146-member WTO.
The EU is pushing
hard for guidelines on foreign investment and competition to be grafted
into world trade rules, but it has found virtually no allies among the
developing nations.
The United States,
the EU's ally so far on farm matters, has also expressed doubts on the
need for a deal on all these issues.
The street protests
which marked the first day of the meeting, including the suicide of a
South Korean
farmer on Wednesday in protest against the WTO, have died down. But aid
groups were still urging the EU and United States to move as much as
possible in the direction of developing countries.
"Given the patent
unfairness of the rules, anyone who looks into it objectively cannot but
be shocked at the way the rules are rigged," said Mary Robinson, head of
aid group Oxfam. Blood cancer drugs manufacturedfirst time ever in BangladeshThe Bangladesh Observer Orion Laboratories
Ltd. has manufactured and marketed blood cancer drug Imatinib mesylate
under the brand name of Enliven first time ever in Bangladesh. Ebadul
Karim, Executive Director, Orion Laboratories Ltd. presented this
information on a launching programme and clinical discussion at Hotel
Sonargaon on Wednesday, where renowned doctors including cancer
specialists were present. Orion is dedicated to the betterment of
humanity and will continue this social commitment going on-expressed
Karim, says a Press release. It is to mention
that this drug is the latest in the world for the treatment of blood
cancer. Dr. ABM Yunus, famous blood cancer specialist and Asst. Prof. of
BSMMU, while briefing various aspects of Enliven in his keynote speech,
said that launching this drug is a blessing for the cancer patients of
Bangladesh. Vice-Chancellor of BSMMU and BMA President Prof. MA Hadi was
present as the chief guest on the occasion. 'I'm really happy to know
that such drug is manufactured in our country'–he said. He thanked Orion
Laboratories Ltd. cordially for this. Chairperson of the
programme Prof Dr. MA Rashid said, 'Marketing of this anticancer product
at an economic price reveals the social commitment of Orion Laboratories
Ltd. He requested other drug manufacturing companies to take steps like
Orion Laboratories Ltd. to serve distressed mankind. It is also
mentionable that more than one million people are affected by cancer in
our country each year of which 50-60 thousand is blood cancer. Still
now, drugs manufactured by foreign companies are imported at a high rate
to use to treat blood cancer. Enliven, manufactured by Orion
Laboratories Ltd. is only one-third regarding price than that of
imported foreign drugs. This cost benefit will expand the opportunity of
the cancer patients in a poor country like ours. Kamrul Hasan, VP Marketing, Orion Laboratories Ltd. thanked all doctors to make the programme successful. Software & ITES industry:growing beyond all bordersThe Bangladesh Observer In mid
2003 as the global ICT industry from North-America to Europe & the
Far-East is still reeling under recessionary pressures, the outsourcing
business is experiencing a growth spurt that is baffling business
analysts and forecasters. In Bangladesh the number of Software and IT
Enabled Services (ITES) companies grew more than 100% from November 2001
to December 2002. Today there are more than twenty software & ITES firms
here that are certified to ISO 9001 quality. Bangladeshi software and
ITES firms today serve clients in more than 15 countries of the world
including: LDCs under pressure to agree on S'pore issues UNB, Dhaka,
The Daily Star But things are still hanging on the balance, leaving the LDCs lot uncertain until the last day of the meet on Sunday. "LDCs issues are being addressed. However, it is not certain whether there will be any forward movement," one official of the Bangladesh delegation to the WTO meet told the news agency from the meeting venue in Cancun, Mexico. "Seemingly, negotiations are centered on agriculture and the Singapore issues," he said, commenting on some of the major issues discussed during negotiations over the last two days. He added that some of the negotiators indicated that if there was a positive movement in agriculture, they might agree to initiate negotiations on the Singapore issues. "There is overall pressure to agree on the Singapore issues." The negotiators were clearly divided on removing subsidy from agriculture. However, the official said, all countries would be reiterating their earlier stand at the proceedings of the third day. "Seemingly," he said, "agreement on the Ministerial Text (of Cancun declaration) will be reached on the last day. "Before that it is very difficult to prejudge the outcome." Commerce Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, the leader of the 17-member Bangladesh delegation, prior to his departure for Cancun on Sept. 7, termed the Singapore issues as an added burden on the LDCs, when other issues such as Doha agreement still remained unimplemented. He said developed countries were bringing the issues to the forefront to arrest corruption in the LDCs. "Even then, our position is not to entertain the issues." The Singapore issues include investment policy, trade and competition policy, transparency in government procurement, and trade facilitation. Bangladesh, however, would discuss the Singapore issues with other fellow LDCs to determine the strategy, Khosru indicated. WTO critics thought that the issues were designed as an added barrier to the LDCs trade to further marginalise them. As apprehended earlier, agriculture became a very strong debating issue at the meet, which was one of the major issues for Bangladesh and other LDCs. Issues of Bangladesh, as also of other LDC concerns, still expected to be discussed in the Cancun meet include non-agricultural market access, special and differential treatment, services, TRIPS and public health, rules, dispute settlement, trade-related capacity building, and implementation issues. Trade ministers still search for headway at WTO talks AFP, Cancun, The Daily Star WTO ministers on Thursday got down to the nitty-gritty in a bid to break a deadlock blocking progress toward a new global trade pact amid few signs of headway. The streets of downtown Cancun were relatively calm after violent anti-WTO protests and the suicide of a South Korean farmer marred the opening day of the talks on Wednesday. Dozens of South Korean militants turned out to mourn the suicide and demand a halt to the five-day meeting, attended by about 4,600 delegates from the 146 WTO member states. Ministers from members of the World Trade Organisation will be holed up in this Caribbean resort until Sunday, trying to salvage a multilateral deal to lower barriers to trade in farm products, industrial goods and services. The broad outlines of the pact were worked out by WTO ministers in Doha, Qatar in 2001. Agriculture is the key sticking point, with some countries still entrenched in years-old positions. In addition, fresh demands are emerging from newly-formed alliances that are growing on a daily basis. Singapore's Minister for Trade and Industry, George Yeo, who has been tasked with trying to close the gaps, reported earlier Thursday that divergences were still apparent after two days of meetings, WTO spokesman Keith Rockwell said. Yeo told delegates he had started to see signs of flexibility, Rockwell said, adding: "The flexibility that has been seen is not of a great substantive nature at the moment." Ministers endorsed the admission of Nepal and Cambodia into the fold on Thursday, making them the first of the so-called least-developed countries to complete negotiations to join the WTO. They are expected to become full-fledged members in the coming months. Countries also clashed over whether to launch talks on new WTO rules on cross-border investment and the three other so-called Singapore issues, revealing a stark division between developing countries on the one hand and the EU and Japan on the other. Yoriko Kawaguchi, Japan's foreign minister, said of the issues, named after the venue where they were first taken up, that "new rules would benefit us all, including developing members". Views are so divergent that a draft ministerial declaration currently offers two opposing options -- either to begin negotiations now or setttling for a statement that "the situation does not provide a basis for the commencement of negotiations." The issue appears to be lining up behind agriculture as one of the hardest nuts to crack at the Cancun meeting. But at a closed-door meeting, US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick told his colleagues Thursday that unless the Cairns Group of major farm exporters and the Group of 21 developing countries made some concessions, the talks would collapse, one of the delegates said. While the United States and the European Union have pledged to work for the reduction of farm subsidies, they are still far apart on how quickly such measures should be implemented. Two other alliances, the 17-strong Cairns group led by Australia and the Group of 21 developing countries headed by Brazil, China and India, are pressing for deeper and faster cuts in subsidies. The G-21 met the US and EU delegations for the first time in Cancun Thursday. Brazilian Agriculture Minister Roberto Rodrigues said the meetings showed that the group of developing countries had become "an important actor" but added that the EU and US stance on export subsidies was not what they wanted to hear. "But there is a dialogue going on. We are still hopeful that we can have some positive results," he told reporters. But for its part, EU Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler's spokesman said the G-21 had not shown any flexibility over its demands on farm subsidies, market acccess and export subsidies. |
|||
|
|
|||
|
| About us | Bangladesh | Success Stories | Documents | SEMP | Links | News | Partners | Environment | Tech.Info | |
|||
|
© Copyright and
Fair Use . SDNP Bangladesh holds the ©
copyright to its publications and web pages but |
|||
