Asia Leaps Forward in Regional Economic Integration

As the United Nations continues to intensify the promotion of South-South cooperation among member states, Asia plans to take a great leap forward in regional economic integration during the next decade.

Bolivia Takes the Leap into the Big Pond of Mercosur*

To go down fighting in the Andean Community (CAN), with a combined market of 92 million consumers, or move up to the big leagues of Mercosur, with 275 million? This was the dilemma faced by Bolivia’s foreign trade strategists when it came to pursuing full membership in the bloc formed by its neighbours to the south.

Reviving Family Farming in Angola, Carrot by Carrot

"We never used to eat carrots, but now we like them," said Rebeca Soba, admiring her vegetable garden, an island of diversity in the midst of a vast sugarcane plantation. Vegetable gardening has been introduced at the Capanda Agroindustrial Pole (PAC) as a source of income for local small farmers.

BRICS Seeks New Dialogue with Africa

South Africa plans to boost links between Africa and its partners in the Brazil, Russia, India and China alliance at a landmark summit, which will be held in this country in March, Xavier Carim, deputy director general at the Department of Trade and Industry, told IPS.

BRICS Tracking Where the Money Flows

The five leading developing nations grouped in the BRICS alliance – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – are planning to intensify efforts to collect accurate trade data, so they can get a better picture of trade flows.

South-South Political Alliances Yet to Influence Business

Politicians in the leading developing nations have been active in boosting mutual ties, as one way of counterbalancing the influence of the developed world. But the economic success of the Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa and the India, Brazil, and South Africa groupings will depend on the extent to which businesses take advantage of the new opportunities which are being created.

China’s Tops in South African Trade

South Africa has experienced a significant shift in trade with a new emphasis on links with developing nations, at the expense of traditional partners in the developed world, according to a leading South African economist.

Brazilian Firms Bring Water and Power to Angolans

The Kwanza river in the heart of Angola will be a symbol of Brazilian partnership in African development when power stations along the country's main source of water are fully operational.

Investments Into, Out of Developing Countries at Record Levels

Foreign direct investment (FDI) both into and out of developing countries is at or nearing record levels, an arm of the World Bank reported on Thursday.

Wine to China

South Africa and China are partners within a club of leading emerging markets, and it would seem natural that exports of South African wine to the Chinese market should be surging.

Chinese and Brazilian Firms Building the New Angola

"In Luanda there are no matches." This was the first line of a report written by Nobel Literature laureate Gabriel García Márquez in the Angolan capital in 1977.

Women Using ICTs to Change the World

New technologies can transform society, and the role of women in using these tools to promote change was clearly seen at the first ICT Congress for Peace in this city in northern Spain.

Regional Trade Key to African Food Security, World Bank Says

The World Bank is urging African countries to strengthen regional food trade, suggesting that food security could be greatly enhanced simply by allowing farmers to trade more easily across the continent.

Q&A: “There Is No National Boundary for Medical Care”

For millions of people in developing countries, having cataracts means permanently impaired vision or even blindness. While treatment can fix the problem, the cost is well beyond most sufferers' reach.

Brazil Frustrated with European “Backtracking” on IMF Reforms

In the aftermath of last week’s elections to the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s executive board, Brazil and others are expressing frustration that a reforms process aimed at increasing the representation of developing countries is being stymied by European countries.

South-South Cooperation Transcends Sharing Technical Knowhow

When the United Nations commemorated the Day of South-South Cooperation last month, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon singled out a new development that transcends sharing technical know-how: coordination of government policy among developing nations.

Will India Still Supply Cheap Drugs to the World?

India may be famous for the Taj Mahal, its religious ceremonies, Bollywood films and one of the highest economic growth rates in recent years. But more importantly, India has had a positive global impact through its supply of vast quantities of low-cost, good-quality generic medicines, which have saved or prolonged millions of lives.

South Invited to ‘De-Grow’

“We should find the way, with our small degrowth movement in the global North, to align ourselves with the environmental justice movement originating with indigenous peoples from the South,” Catalan ecological economist Juan Martinez-Alier said at the third international degrowth conference in Venice, Italy.

Q&A: Brazil Invited to Join U.N. Palestinian Refugee Agency

The policy of pacification of Rio de Janeiro’s violent favelas, or shantytowns, could serve as a model in some respects in Palestinian refugee camps, says Filippo Grandi, commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestine refugees, in this interview with IPS.

Rights Issues Mar Sri Lanka-EU Trade

Sri Lanka is in for some hard bargaining when it negotiates a new aid pact in 2013 with the European Union (EU), which withdrew a key trade concession  two years ago over this country’s human rights record.

Free Trade with China? No, Gracias

There is little likelihood that South America’s Mercosur trade bloc will take up China’s proposal to establish a free trade agreement, at least in the short term. Experts and industrialists fear an invasion of cheap Chinese goods, and unequal competition.