POLITICS: Brazil, India and China – To the G8?

China, Brazil and India, three major players in the developing world, may be invited to join the ranks of the world's most powerful group of nations, the Group of Eight (G8), according to diplomatic sources here.

DEVELOPMENT: NGOs Want Bigger Role in a Stronger UNCTAD

Civil society representatives said they are frustrated and concerned about the path of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), a critical assessment that contrasts with the rosy evaluation made by the leaders of the U.N. body, which concluded its eleventh ministerial sessions here Friday.

DEVELOPMENT: ‘New Trade Geography’ May Democratise Int’l Arena

What occurs in the larger developing countries - China, India and even Brazil - increasingly impacts the industrialised world, which will have to do more to include their poorer peers in international decisions if they are going to have legitimacy.

TRADE: Coffee Crisis a Forgotten Issue on Global Agenda

In Haiti a woman must work three days harvesting coffee in order to earn the three dollars Europeans spend on an espresso, says Luc Saintville, a technician with the humanitarian watchdog Oxfam International who is assisting coffee growers in his Caribbean country.

TRADE: Poorest of Poor Countries Ask for Help

The most vulnerable countries need to be given specific attention in all global forums because they are not receiving the official development assistance (ODA) that wealthy countries promised and are finding it difficult to take advantage of the expansion of international trade.

DEVELOPMENT: Poor Face Deadlines, But Not the Rich – U.N. Official

The international community, which four years ago approved a set of key development goals on poverty, hunger, health, education and environment, set deadlines for the poor but not for the rich, says a senior United Nations official.

DEVELOPMENT: An Unlikely Alliance to Pursue Biotrade

An apparently incongruous alliance between an oil company and a programme for sustainable use of biodiversity was announced at the eleventh sessions of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) taking place here this week.

DEVELOPMENT: Brazil’s Lula Stakes Bets on South and Anti-Hunger Fight

Rich countries will not make trade concessions merely because the countries of the South demand them - what is needed is a political force that can change the face of international relations, said Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as he explained his foreign policy to social activists Tuesday.

CHILDREN-BRAZIL: Hunger, Poverty Create Breeding-Ground for Social Ills

Every time Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva speaks at an international forum, he underlines that his main objective is to fight hunger and poverty.

TRADE: Convergence on Agriculture Matters

The ''convergence'' achieved by the informal group that has been dubbed the ''Five Interested Parties'' (P5) - the leading actors in international agricultural trade - marks historic progress, says Brazil's Foreign Minister Celso Amorim.

POLITICS: Will Development Aid Follow in Dinosaurs’ Footprints?

When United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan addressed a press conference here Monday, he was asked why no speaker on the opening day of a major U.N. meeting had thought fit to address the problem of declining official development assistance (ODA).

DEVELOPMENT-TRADE: Coherence Is the Word, Says U.N. Chief

Coherence is the theme of this meeting, and ''countries which press others to liberalise trade should be willing to do the same themselves,'' said U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan as he officially inaugurated the eleventh ministerial sessions of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development here Monday.

TRADE: Nations of the South Unite in Face of Pressure

Further consolidation of the unity of nations of the South was the principal outcome of the ministerial meeting of the Group of 20 developing countries (G20) opposed to distortions of agricultural trade in the WTO, held in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo.

DEVELOPMENT: NGOs Want Trade Put to Human Rights Test

''We don't want an UNCTAD instrumental to World Trade Organisation agreements,'' is the message that hundreds of non-governmental organisations and social movements will tell the government officials gathered for the eleventh United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

TRADE: Once Again, the Imbalances

World trade is booming. Food, goods and services move across the globe with astonishing speed. Money is made.

DEVELOPMENT: G77 Doggedly Follows Its 40-Year-Old Principles

Defence of multilateralism remains a priority of the Group of 77 developing countries (G77), but there are challenges, old and new, said the bloc's chairman Friday, marking its 40th anniversary with a special two-day ministerial meet in this Brazilian city.

DEVELOPMENT: Time Has Come for South-South Trade

Trade expansion for developing countries has only just begun and potential for reciprocal exchange within the South is "enormous" said government and business sector representatives participating in an international forum on regionalism and South-South cooperation Wednesday in this Brazilian city.

TRADE: UNCTAD and Civil Society in Dialogue, but Differences Remain

Civil society will be an opposing but cooperative presence at the eleventh United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD XI) next week in Sao Paulo, not mere naysayers, according to activists.

TRADE: ‘Incoherent’ Rules Put Poor Nations at Disadvantage

Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali have achieved high quality cotton production at lowest cost, but what was supposed to be a success turned into a catastrophe because of the "incoherence" of international trade.

AGRICULTURE: Trade Negotiations Head to Brazil

Agricultural trade talks this week at the World Trade Organisation reflected an attitude of compromise but differences remain quite marked, said a negotiator from a developing country.