Globalisation

CHILE-MEXICO: Nothing Like Free Trade

By IPS Correspondents
Chilean President Michelle Bachelet’s Tuesday-Wednesday visit to Mexico will help strengthen the fastest-growing commercial relationship in Latin America - which expanded by nearly 2,000 percent between 1990 and 2006 - while giving concrete form to a strategic alliance that could also benefit neighbouring countries.

POLITICS-INDIA: ‘Neo-Liberal’ Left Behind Peasants’ Massacre

By IPS Correspondents
By ordering police to open fire on peasants trying to protect their land from being acquired for a Special Economic Zone (SEZ), the communist government of West Bengal state has indicated the crumbling away of the last bulwark in India against neo-liberal and free market policies.

AFRICA-EUROPE: Goodbye Rhetoric, Hello Political Dialogue

By Mario de Queiroz
In recent years the ties between the European Union and Africa have produced good results in terms of aid, but there has been a serious lack of political dialogue. Now Portugal, with its extensive experience in Africa and the support of the 27 EU leaders, is planning to change this.

RIGHTS-INDIA: Massacre of Peasants May Slow SEZ Plans

By Ranjit Devraj
It took the gruesome massacre of 15 peasants in police firing for the provincial government of West Bengal to suspend the forcible acquisition of farming land it wants to hand over to an Indonesian conglomerate for development into a Special Economic Zone (SEZ).

DEVELOPMENT-AFRICA: MDGs Depend on Power Relations Changing

By Moyiga Nduru
‘‘The people of Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta are poor not because they do not have resources but because they do not have political power. Those who wield power in Nigeria are building skyscrapers in Lagos and Abuja while there is nothing in the Niger Delta. It is the same at the global level.''

TRADE: Europe Grapples With the Future of ACP Sugar Imports

By IPS Correspondents
The European Union (EU) has imported sugar at preferential prices from African, Caribbean and Pacific countries since the 1970s; but, failed sugar reform within the union and the prospect of unlimited imports from Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in the near future have put a question mark over this arrangement.

JAPAN: Fair Trade Concept Starts to Sell

By Suvendrini Kakuchi
When Sonoko Iwasa, started her tiny shop selling ‘fair trade’ goods in Mitaka, a decade ago, she was in for a long struggle to survive in a wealthy, traditional neighbourhood which had little understanding of global issues, let alone marginalised communities in the developing South.

DEVELOPMENT-KENYA: Helping the Cotton Sector Turn Over a New Leaf

By IPS Correspondents
Kenya's cotton industry, once one of the country's main foreign exchange earners, declined substantially following liberalisation of the sector in 1991.

LABOUR-JAPAN: Old Is Gold as Workforce Shrinks

By Suvendrini Kakuchi
With Japan’s aging population expected to cause a severe drop in the national workforce starting this year the government plans to keep more seniors in employment and stave off having to accept immigrant workers as a solution.

DEVELOPMENT-TANZANIA: High Growth Still to Benefit the Poor

By Stephanie Nieuwoudt
Just more than a year after Jakaya Kikwete was elected president of Tanzania his name was mentioned in the halls at the Africa Union (AU) summit in January in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, as the possible new chairperson of the AU.

HEALTH-INDIA: Campaign to Stop Monopoly of Clinical Trial Data

By Keya Acharya
As public health groups await the outcome of Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis AG’s legal challenge to India’s patent law, a campaign is building up against a parallel move to obtain 'data exclusivity' on clinical trial data submitted to government for marketing approval.

INDIA: Special Economic Zones on the Backburner

By IPS Correspondents
Faced with energetic and widespread popular protests against special economic zones, India has decided to go slow on this particular model of industrialisation based on creating export-oriented tax-free enclaves.

COSTA RICA: CAFTA Not a Solution But an Opportunity, Says Oscar Arias

By Daniel Zueras
Monday marked the first anniversary of Óscar Arias' second electoral victory in Costa Rica with the National Liberation Party. During his first term (1986-1990), Arias was known as the "peace president". Today, the left are criticising him for promoting free trade with the United States.

ECONOMY: India’s Billion Dollar Bids Mark Southward Shift

By IPS Correspondents
The acquisition of Anglo-Dutch steel manufacturer Corus by India's Tata group signifies a ‘coming of age' of industrial corporations in developing countries. The fact that the two final bidders for the European steelmaker were from Brazil and India, indicates a discernible shift in the global economic power balance.

MALAYSIA: Iran Deal Clouds Free Trade Plans With US

By Baradan Kuppusamy
A free trade agreement (FTA) between the United States and Malaysia, in its final round this week, has run into opposition from trade unions and also from U.S. lawmakers opposed to an energy deal struck between this country and Iran.

HEALTH: WHO Chief’s Stand on Generic Drugs Slammed

By Marwaan Macan-Markar
Civil society and humanitarian groups slammed the new head of the World Health Organisation (WHO), on the sidelines of a meeting here, after she appeared to favour the interests of pharmaceutical giants over the plight of the sick and the poor in the developing world.

HEALTH-ASIA: Rat Race on for Clinical Trials Bonanza

By IPS Correspondents
Eyeing the expanding market for clinical research in the region, Malaysia is trying to position itself as an ideal place for pharmaceutical majors to conduct clinical trials. But critics worry about weak safeguards and poor enforceability of existing regulations.

TRADE: High Stakes in Attack on Indian Patent Law

By IPS Correspondents
As a legal battle launched by the Swiss pharmaceuticals multinational Novartis against India's patents law warms up, health activists are gearing up to mount a campaign against drug monopolies and the people's right to medicines at affordable prices.

HEALTH-THAILAND: Junta Defends Cheap Generic Drugs

By Marwaan Macan-Markar
Thailand's military-appointed government appears set to insist on the right of a developing country to save the lives of its people rather than protect the profits of Western pharmaceutical corporations.

HEALTH-INDIA: Anger Grows at Novartis’ Bid to Hog Cancer Drug

By Keya Acharya
A public outcry has followed the challenge offered by Novartis AG in the Madras High Court to the Indian Patents Act as violating international trade laws and restricting the Swiss pharmaceutical giant's trade.

JAPAN: Petty Crime Linked to Working Poor

By Suvendrini Kakuchi
Two years ago, a 34-year-old single mother, in dire straits, did something that had never crossed her mind before - steal money from a friend's purse.
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