SPAIN: Rock Stars Collect 600,000 Signatures for Fair Trade with Africa

Several popular Spanish rock groups helped collect 600,000 signatures and delivered them to the government Tuesday in support of an international campaign calling for the Spanish government to modify its trade policy towards Africa and eliminate restrictions on imports from that region.

TRADE: Only a Handful Are Lords of the Food Harvest

The food and beverage industry is experiencing a high degree of concentration, with 10 distributing companies controlling 24 percent of the world market, according to a report being studied this week by workers’, employers’ and government representatives gathered by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

TRADE: North Africa a Launch Pad For Auto Markets

When French car company Renault SA and its Japanese partner, Nissan Motor Co., announced their intention to build a joint assembly plant in Tangier, Morocco at an estimated cost of 1 billion euros, it was a substantial enough investment to make auto industry analysts take notice.

TRADE-EU: This Is the Way Some Agreements Should End

Elaborate funeral rituals were performed in central Brussels over the past week to show how a planned free trade accord between the European Union and the Korean government should, in the view of anti-poverty campaigners, be buried.

TRADE: &#39EU Stands Between Poor and Poor&#39

Caribbean governments have alleged that the European Union is trying to prevent them from signing trade deals with other poor countries on their own terms.

NORTH-SOUTH: China, India, Brazil, South Africa Tilt Global Power Balance

Four developing countries - China, India, Brazil and South Africa (CIBS) - are poised to become new southern engines of global economic growth with increasing potential to provide prosperity to other developing countries, said prominent economics researchers here.

TRADE: It’s Not Just About Tyres

Old tyres might sound like the unlikely cause of a diplomatic row over potential implications for the level of protection poor countries can offer to the environment or public health.

MIDDLE EAST: Bridging the Shia-Sunni Divide With Free Trade

While Iran and the United States exchange aggressive statements, the Arab countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have been busy building trade relations with Tehran and charting an economic course with a potential of mending ties in a tough neighbourhood.

CLIMATE CHANGE: APEC Leaders Get Off With ‘Aspirational Goals’

An agreement by 21 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum leaders on Saturday to adopt ‘’aspirational goals’’ to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions has been criticised by voluntary agencies as grossly inadequate for saving the world from the effects of climate change.

DEVELOPMENT: Threat of Turmoil in the Midst of a Boom

Regional financial cooperation in the developing world can help safeguard poor countries from financial crises, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) says in a new report released Wednesday.

AUSTRALIA: NGOs Have Long Wish List For APEC Summit

As 21 world leaders representing three billion people living in the Asia Pacific Economic Forum (APEC) nations meet here, civil society groups are calling for an instant end to poverty, the war in Iraq, and immediate action on climate change.

HEALTH: EU Opposes Cheap Medicines for AIDS in Thailand

The European Union's top trade official has called on Thailand to revise its efforts to provide cheap medicines to people with AIDS over concerns that the country could be undermining global rules on intellectual property.

HEALTH-INDIA: Activists Will Continue to Push Boycott of Novartis

Activist groups campaigning for affordable drugs will continue their boycott campaign against Swiss pharma major Novartis AG, whose controversial petition arguing that Indian patent laws violated World Trade Organisation (WTO) provisions was rejected by the Madras High Court in southern Chennai city.

CENTRAL AMERICA: Taiwan on the Prowl for Diplomatic Support

The president of Taiwan, Chen Shui-bian, is visiting Central America, fearful of losing more allies in the region, as occurred with Costa Rica which broke off diplomatic relations with Taiwan in order to reestablish them with China.

HEALTH-INDIA: Novartis Patents Case Far From Dead

Cancer patients in India have reason to be relieved at a high court ruling this week which dismissed a petition by Swiss pharmaceuticals multinational corporation (MNC) Novartis challenging an Indian law which denies patents for minor or trivial improvements to known drugs.

TRADE-PAKISTAN: Smugglers Profit From Landlocked Afghanistan

Taking advantage of the United Nations-facilitated Afghan Transit Trade Agreement (ATTA), a massive contraband trade has grown around goods imported into Afghanistan and smuggled back into the markets of this frontier town in Pakistan.

DEVELOPMENT: Small Island States Stand Up To EU

Governments in the Pacific region have reacted furiously to a threat by the European Union that it will reduce the amount of development aid they receive if they delay on signing a free trade deal with the 27-nation bloc.

Q&A: South-South Cooperation &#39Can Change the Geography of the Planet&#39

Brazil's Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, who also heads his country's delegation in multilateral trade negotiations, believes cooperation among developing countries can change the way people perceive the world.

TRADE: EU On Its Way To What It Wants

As European trade officials prepare for their summer holidays, they have good reason to be satisfied with the latest efforts to revive the Doha round of talks on global commerce. Their counterparts from poor countries, however, are unlikely to be so cheerful.

TRADE: United They Talk, So Far

Unprecedented unity among a large majority of developing countries has put paid to aggressive attempts by rich countries to tilt the balance in the precarious Doha trade negotiations in their favour.

MIDDLE EAST: Pegging Debate Climbs as Dollar Declines

As the dollar continues its decline against the sterling, the euro and a host of Asian currencies, central banks in the Middle East are under pressure to consider revaluation of their currencies.