Globalisation

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: What They’ll Talk About in 2007

By IPS Correspondents
With dozens, if not hundreds of organisations likely to attend next year's World Social Forum (WSF) - and almost as many issues clamouring to be addressed there - nailing down a programme for the Jan. 20-25 event promises to be a daunting task.

TRADE-LATIN AMERICA: New Context Helps Economic Drivers Face Threats

By IPS Correspondents
Shifting world dynamics mean that a proposed overhaul of the U.S. tariff preference system threatening to exclude Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela - the three main countries currently driving trade within Latin America - needs to be examined in a global context.

DEVELOPMENT: Countries of the South Urged to Reclaim “Policy Space”

By Gustavo Capdevila
UNCTAD's Trade and Development Report for 2006 urges countries of the South to implement more autonomous policies, and also to further strengthen the global partnership for development to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) adopted by the United Nations for 2015.

ARTS: The Grape War

By IPS Correspondents
Two years ago, filmmaker Jonathan Nossiter shook up the arcane world of wine-making with a documentary portraying the struggles of small vineyards around the world to compete in an increasingly homogenised and cutthroat marketplace.

DRUGS-PERU: Traffickers Do Not Live by Tinned Vegetables Alone

By Ángel Páez

DRUGS-PERU: Mexican Cartels Dig in Their Heels

By Ángel Páez
Police in Peru have captured 25 Mexican drug traffickers in the last 18 months. According to the authorities, this unprecedented number of arrests of Mexican nationals is due to the fact that five of the main Mexican drug cartels have set up operations in this country to supply their customers in the United States.

TRADE-COSTA RICA: Companies Eye Pull-Outs if CAFTA Flounders

By Daniel Zueras
Weary of the snail's pace ratification process of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), which continues to dominate Costa Rica's political and social agenda, some companies are weighing the idea of moving to other Central American countries should Congress reject the treaty.

DEVELOPMENT-AFRICA: Obama to the Rescue?

By IPS Correspondents
"Obama must come now; we need help," 75-year-old William Onyango told IPS about four months ago*, at his store in a remote, western village of Kenya. While the senator from the U.S. state of Illinois may not have arrived as quickly as Onyango was hoping, he is in Kenya now as part of an official tour that also encompasses South Africa, Djibouti and Chad.

ECONOMY-CHILE: A Bridge Between Asia and South America

By Daniela Estrada
In the last few months, Chile has made it clear that it intends to become a trade platform between the vast Asia Pacific region and the Andean countries, by means of trade treaties and political integration. Prompt re-entry into the Andean Community of Nations (CAN) would be a step in that direction.

MIGRATION-LATIN AMERICA: Job Offer Too Good to Be True?

By IPS Correspondents
The marriage or job offer abroad sounds too good to be true? It very well might be. Tens of thousands of people in Latin America fall victims to human trafficking every year. Claudia, a 28-year-old Colombian mother of two who has experience as a computer systems technician, was just one of them.

DEVELOPMENT-KENYA: From Value Added to Income Gained

By IPS Correspondents
Over 80 percent of Kenyans depend directly on agriculture for their livelihood, according to government statistics. But, certain farmers in the East African country find themselves hard pressed to derive the full benefit from their produce, because they cannot add value to it.

COLOMBIA: Casualties in Battle Against Free Trade Pact with US

By Constanza Vieira
Indigenous and campesino protests against the free trade deal that Colombia is negotiating with the United States drew a harsh military response from the government of rightwing President Álvaro Uribe, leaving an as yet unknown number of people dead, injured or missing.

GUATEMALA: Fears and Hopes Raised by Free Trade with US

By IPS Correspondents
With just a few days to go before the removal of trade barriers between Guatemala and the United States, social organisations are afraid that living standards in Guatemala will decline, while the government and the business community predict an influx of investment, economic growth, and the creation of thousands of new jobs.

ENVIRONMENT: Quick Action Planned Over Early Warning

By IPS Correspondents
Former U.S. president Bill Clinton will address a global conference Monday in Bonn stressing the need for imbibing a 'culture of prevention' to minimise the damage and misery caused by natural and man-made disasters.

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: Different Continents, Similar Problems

By Moyiga Nduru
There is much that separates Africa and Asia, not least ethnicity, culture and language. But, as the third and final leg of this year’s World Social Forum (WSF) gathers momentum in the Pakistani financial centre of Karachi, the hope is that civic groups will build on common aspirations for the two continents.

TRADE-GHANA: The Chilling Effect of Frozen Poultry Imports

By IPS Correspondents
It is only mid-morning in Ghana's capital, Accra, but the day is already hot - and business brisk at the Beyeeman Freezing Company Limited, which imports frozen poultry products.

ECONOMY-MAURITIUS: Go West, Young Man

By IPS Correspondents
Mauritius may be one of the world's most glamorous destinations, but agriculturally-speaking, there's not that much of it to go around. As a result, the island's government and farmers have begun looking west - to the far larger, neighbouring island of Madagascar.

ECONOMY-MAURITIUS: Go West, Young Man

By IPS Correspondents
Mauritius may be one of the world's most glamorous destinations, but agriculturally-speaking, there's not that much of it to go around. As a result, the island's government and farmers have begun looking west - to the far larger, neighbouring island of Madagascar.

ECONOMY-SUDAN: Service With a Smile Not Yet a Priority, Say Investors

By IPS Correspondents
The sprawling nation of Sudan is known for many things, but delectable food is not one of them. The unofficial national dish, "foul" (pronounced "fuul") is a mixture of beans, watery cheese, tomatoes, and limp arugula.

DEVELOPMENT-KENYA: Making Money Where the Rubber Hits the (Virtual) Road

By IPS Correspondents
The three-roomed workshop in Korogocho, an informal settlement in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, is littered with pieces of old car tires. A pungent smell of rubber is in the air, but workers here have learned to ignore the odour.

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: Unaffiliated Leftist Elite Emerges

By Mario Osava
A new leftist élite is emerging at the World Social Forum, unaffiliated with any political party and made up of university-educated activists, according to surveys by IBASE, the Brazilian Institute of Social and Economic Analysis.
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