28 April 2000 : news summary:

Inter. Organisations, Agencies & Partnerships

‘Seattle comes to Washington‘, The Economist, 15-21 April 2000, pp53-54
~ Looks at the protests at the annual meeting of the World Bank and the IMF.
Also: ‘Business as usual‘, The Economist, 22-28 April 2000, p93
~ Report from the WB and IMF meeting.

‘Globalisation under fire‘, FT, 24/4/00
~ Assesses the common protests against WTO and financial institutions.

‘EU and China resume talks on WTO entry‘, FT, 27/4/00
~ China attempts to conclude talks.

Economic Development

‘South advised to exercise financial policy autonomy‘, TWNF, April 2000
~ UNCTAD advises developing nations to use policy autonomy as protection against instability of global markets.

‘Let the good times roll‘, The Economist, 15-21 April 2000, pp97-99
~ Despite current protests against the evils of the World Bank and the IMF, emerging markets appear to be enjoying a pleasant upturn.

‘The gloom of a year ago…‘, FT, 24/4/00
~ Report on the improving fortunes of the S. E. Asian markets.

‘No easy victory in Hanoi’s war on poverty‘, G, 27/4/00
~ Feature on the challenges facing Vietnam as it "opens up to global economic competition".

‘Anger in the Andes‘, FT, 26/4/00
~ The diverging fortunes of the economies of Latin America is highlighted by the political instability suffered by the weaker economies of Bolivia and Peru.

Various, FT, 26/4/00
~ Financial Times survey on Brazil.

‘City makes it big as Brazil looks inwards‘, G, 27/4/00
~ Feature on the rapid growth of Brazilian city Palmas.

Aid & Debt

‘MoD criticised over African floods‘, HER, 22/4/00
~ International Development Committee report to criticise MoD response to Mozambique floods.

‘US$ 450 million needed for Mozambique reconstruction‘, UNDP Press, 27/4/00 ~ Mozambique to ask for $450m from donors for reconstruction.

‘Aid conflict‘, TS, 20/4/00, p9
~ UN criticised for Ethiopian relief.

‘Hunger versus politics in Horn of Africa‘, FT, 25/4/00
~ Relief efforts in the Horn of Africa hindered by conflict and insecurity.

‘EU aims to reform aid policy‘, FT, 27/4/200
~ EC plans to reform ‘vague’ EU aid policies.

Health

Various, 25/4/00
~ WHO reports malaria has economic impact on affected countries.
Also: ‘Mosquito nets: so simple, yet unused in Africa’, IND, 26/4/00
~ African leaders meet to discuss ways of combating malaria and managing the strain it places on economies.

‘The Caribbean: The Deadly Silence‘, The Economist, 22-28 April 2000, p57
~ The impact of Aids in the Caribbean is second only to Africa.

‘Brazil banishes leprosy with education and hard currency‘, IND, 27/4/00
~ Latin America’s largest public sanitation programme cleans up Salvador.

Education

‘The education crisis is a global political problem‘, IND, 24/4/00
~ Examines the challenges faced at the World Forum on Education.

‘World summit clash on education of poor‘, G, 26/4/00
~ Governments & NGO’s set to clash over funding for global education.
Also: ‘Sold into a modern slavery with broken promises‘, G, 26/4/00
~ Read the world campaign: charts the history of failed promises since the 1990 World Conference for Education for All.

‘Girls will not be forgotten, Annan pledges‘, G, 27/4/00
~ World leaders show lack of commitment to education by shunning the launch of the World Education Forum. Kofi Annan optimistic about UN initiative to help educate girls in poor countries

‘Hard lessons for the world’s educators‘, FT, 27/4/00
~ Developing countries face being left further behind as the "knowledge economy" places an even larger emphasis on education.

Government

‘Baroness Amos launches Financial Deepening Challenge Fund‘, 20/4/00
~ New government initiative launched designed to "engage the private sector in projects to develop financial services" in emerging markets.

Business, Trade & Development

‘Ice work‘, TS, 20/4/00, p9 ~ Will Unilever continue Ben and Jerry’s tradition for socially responsible business practices?
Also: ‘Unilever: Fat and thin‘, The Economist, 15-21/4/00, p85-88

‘Doing well by doing good‘, The Economist, 22-28 April 2000, pp 83-86
~ Looks at the current call for ethical practices to be adopted by the business community and how business are developing a formal ethics policy.

‘Rocky road to reconciliation‘, G, 26/4/00
~ Shell attempts to heal rift with Ogoni people in Nigeria and project a more socially responsible image.

‘South’s fortunes sway with commodity prices‘, TWNF, April 2000
~ Third World exporters need to organise themselves against their dependency on commodity prices.

‘The big business of human rights‘, IND, 26/4/00
~ Outlines the efforts being made by a few multinationals to incorporate human rights concerns into their corporate code but there is still a long way to go.

‘U.S., Britain and Japan block anti-tobacco convention‘, TWNF, April 2000
~ Major tobacco nations accused of hampering progress on WHO’s framework convention for controlling tobacco.
‘Farmers struggle with consequences of conflict‘, FT, 25/4/00
~ Ten years after Lebanon’s civil war, agricultural productivity has still not fully recovered.

‘Corporations poised to take over Asian rice market‘, TWNF April 2000
~ Anticipates the introduction of GM rice and corporations into the Asian agricultural market.

‘Water security should not be turned into a business‘, TWNF, April 2000
~ Discussion on water security and the case for privatisation.

Environment

Greenpeace news release, 22/4/00
~ Greenpeace pull out of protest against BP Amoco after 13% of shareholders supported the move to abandon the controversial Northstar project.

‘Restoring living rivers‘, TWNF, April 2000
~ Governments must recognise the link between the building of dams and the degradation of rivers.

‘Excitement at CITES‘, The Economist, 15-21 April 2000, p117-8
~ Report from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

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