South Korea Showcases Role as Donor at Expo 2012

When South Korea took the initiative to integrate a development cooperation programme into this year’s World Expo, it stepped up its efforts to gain credibility as a donor on the international stage.

Private Sector Debt Gnawing at Developing Countries

Twelve years after a global campaign successfully advocated the cancellation of some of the world’s poorest countries’ public debt, developing economies are again facing unsustainable debt burdens. Only this time, it is the private sector’s debt in developing economies that is inflating dangerously.

South Korea Offers Marine Technology to Developing Nations

When South Korea inaugurated a U.N. Office for Sustainable Development last October, the new research and training facility was designed to help the world's poorer nations "accelerate economic growth, improve quality of life and protect the environment".

Mexican Activists Defend Internet Freedom

Mexican advocates of internet freedom are mobilising to protest their government's decision to sign the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), a multilateral treaty whose stated aim is to protect intellectual property right through enhanced international cooperation and enforcement.

UNDP Predicts Rise of the Global South

When the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP) unveils its annual flagship Human Development Report (HDR) in mid-October, the primary focus will be on a growing new phenomenon on the economic horizon: the rise of the global South and the significant progress in South-South cooperation over the last decade.

Southern Africa’ fruit and vegetables come here

The Johannesburg Fresh Produce Market is the hub of fruit and vegetable trade in Southern Africa, with some 10 000 buyers getting their wares here. Siphosethu Stuurman compiled this sound slide.   Audio Slide Show

Biodiversity Without Borders

The protection and conservation of biodiversity figure among the most daunting challenges posed by climate change in the Caribbean islands, home to a wealth of endemic species of flora and fauna.

Venezuela’s Mercosur Entry Sparks Dissension

By simultaneously admitting Venezuela into its fold and suspending Paraguay’s membership, Mercosur has sparked dissension within the trading bloc that threatens the future legal architecture of the Southern Common Market. 

China Keen to Reverse Negative Image in Africa

The reality of Indian and Chinese investment in Africa is much more complex than the good cop, bad cop image of Asia’s two emerging economic giants.

Brazil and China, Oiling the Wheels of Business

China's voracious demand for energy has prompted it to embrace Brazil as a major oil partner, fuelling the dramatic expansion of Chinese companies in this South American country. But while some see this as a boost to the Brazilian economy, others fear that it poses a risk to this country’s future self-sufficiency.

Caribbean Courts Mexico as Ally in the G20

The Caribbean Community bloc (Caricom) is lobbying Mexico to use its influence as chair of the G20, which controls 90 percent of world trade, to promote the interests of the Caribbean and other small island developing states when it meets in June.

Russia Still Struggling to Gain Foothold in Africa

As Russia’s new president Vladimir Putin begins a new phase of economic growth, trade experts are keeping a watchful eye on Moscow’s policies with the African continent, which they see as a huge, untapped source of economic opportunity.

Brazil Drives Energy Integration in South America

Energy integration in South America will be a reality "in the medium to long term," driven by hydropower and drawing on Brazil’s experience, predicts Altino Ventura Filho, secretary of planning in this country’s Ministry of Mines and Energy.

Q&A: Less Politics, More Economic Development

Economic and social growth have become the heart of the development agenda of the bloc of leading emerging economies known as IBSA (India, Brazil and South Africa) since it began focusing less on politics.

Brazil, Emerging South-South Donor

The Brazilian government is stepping up South-South aid, to strengthen the South American giant’s status as a donor country and its international clout. It now provides assistance to 65 countries, and its financial aid has grown threefold in the last seven years.

Latin America, Testing Ground for Chinese Yuan

China is looking to Latin America to experiment with the yuan, or renminbi, to replace the dollar, taking advantage of the growth in Chinese trade and investment in this region. But because the volume is still insignificant, it is not yet clear what impact the currency will have on economies in the region.

The Dragon Goes Shopping in South America

The small restaurants and shops selling plastic sandals, tacky umbrellas, kitchen wares and paper lanterns in Buenos Aires's Chinatown do not give the impression of impending economic dominance.

SOUTH AMERICA: Mercosur Bloc – More Politics, Better Integration

The leaders of South America's Mercosur trade bloc decided to set up a committee to facilitate the incorporation of new members, adopt a mechanism to defend democracy in case of a coup, and ban vessels from the Malvinas/Falkland Islands from docking in member countries' ports.

HAITI: Open for Business – Part 2

Ever since being elected earlier this year, Haitian President Michel Martelly and his team have been betting Haiti's reconstruction on foreign investors.

HAITI: Open For Business – Part 1

"Haiti is open for business." That's what President Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelly said at a recent ceremony as he and former U.S. president Bill Clinton laid a cornerstone for a giant industrial zone being built in northern Haiti.

EU-India Deal Could Spell Disaster

As the Eighth Ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) kicked off in Geneva this week, a group of NGOs exposed the devastating potential of a free trade agreement currently being negotiated between the European Union and India. If passed, they say the deal would make a mockery of all WTO rules and regulations.