Digest

Digest

Albania, Croatia Move Closer to NATO Membership

On October 24 President Bush signed NATO accession protocols for Albania and Croatia, bringing the two nations one step closer to joining the organization.

Senate ratification of the protocols and the presidential signature follows the extension of an official invitation to the two nations at NATO’s summit in Romania last April. All 26 NATO members must ratify before they can join the alliance, which could happen as soon as 2009.

The accession of Albania and Croatia – as well as preliminary approaches towards Macedonia, and assessments of Georgia and the Ukraine – is dependent on proof that the nations “are firmly on the path of democratic and internal reforms.” Engagement also reflects NATO’s current attempt to increase its level of cooperation in preparation for the alliance’s 60th anniversary this coming April.

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Digest

United States, Peru Announce Debt-for-Nature Agreement

A new agreement between Peru and the United States will forgive $25 million of Peru’s foreign debt in return for a commitment to pay for nature conservation.  Under the agreement, Peru can redirect its debt payments from the United States to local funds set up to administer conservation grants to protect tropical rainforests in the Amazon basin and dry forests in the central Andes, according to the U.S. State Department.

This deal is the thirteenth debt-for-nature swap signed under the U.S. Tropical Forest Conservation Act (TFCA) of 1998, legislation that aims to provide funding for forest conservation while alleviating debt pressure on developing nations. U.S. officials estimate the TFCA deals will generate $163 million over the next 10-25 years to conserve 20 million hectares of land.  Other countries, including Panama, Bangladesh, Botswana, Belize Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Jamaica, Paraguay, and the Philippines have signed similar deals.

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Digest

African Union Ministers Meeting to Discuss Impact of Financial Crisis

Dr. Maxwell Mkwezalamba, the African Union Commissioner for Economic Affairs, announced on October 29 that the African Union (AU) is organizing a conference with the African Development Bank in Tunis next month. Various AU ministers of finance and central bank governors will meet to discuss the impact of the global crisis on Africa and come up with a common African position on how to address its challenges and mitigate its effects.  A subsequent meeting is planned for January of next year.

To download the AU press release, please click here.

Digest

Attacks on UN office in Somalia

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the attacks in Northern Somalia on October 29, 2008. These attacks included a suicide car bombing at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) compound in Hargeisa which killed two UN staff and injured six others. Mr. Ban’s spokesperson states the Secretary-General “stresses the neutrality of the United Nations as well as humanitarian personnel, and urges all parties to support and facilitate the delivery of assistance to the Somali population.” Other explosions in the Hergaisa area and in Putland did not involve UN premises.

Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991.  Despite the signing of a UN-brokered peace deal to end the fighting between the Transnational Federal Government (TFG) and the rebel Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS), recent months have been filled with violence

The UN assists peace efforts in this area through the UN Political office for Somalia (UNPOS), which is lead by the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah. A Deputy Special Representative, Charles Petrie, was appointed to assist these efforts.

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Digest

Lamy: Domestic Policies-Not Trade Protectionism- Solution for Financial Crisis

On 29 October, 2008, Pascal Lamy, the Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), in a lecture at the University of California, Berkley, emphasized the need for enhancing international trade under the WTO, particularly during the current international financial crisis. Mr. Lamy advocated for changing  domestic policies rather than trade protectionism as the answer to the present recessionary trend.

Urging his audience to learn from history, Mr. Lamy referred to the enactment of Smoot-Hawley Act (Act) in 1930, as a response to crash of 1929. The Act, which was intended to protect US farming and other industries from imports, caused a chain reaction of retaliation and counter retaliation from countries across the world, that led to a global surge in import tariffs. In the process, global trade contracted sharply, increasing unemployment, depressing growth and substantially worsening the already bad economic situation. Mr. Lamy stated that imports have always been and continue to be good for the US.

He pointed out that since the establishment of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade in 1947, the share of international trade in the US GDP has increased manifold. According to him, the primary cause of job losses in the US is not international trade but an increase in industrial efficiency, which has in turn decreased the demand for labor. He admits that while international trade does reduce some jobs in the US, this effect is more than offset by the economic activity in the form of increased GDP that results from international trade.

He further argued that WTO cannot fix issues of domestic inequality, or poor health and pension systems as these lie completely outside the domain of international trade. These must be improved through domestic policies of taxation etc.

Mr. Lamy characterized the growing trend of bilateral and regional trade agreements as useful but not an alternative to the multilateral process at the WTO. He said that none of these agreements could address the major problems of global trade, such as trade distorting farm subsidies, fishery subsidies, etc.

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Digest

ASEM Leaders Seek International Cooperation On Financial Crisis

At the seventh annual Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), leaders of European and Asian nations called for international participation in a global summit on the financial crisis. The summit is scheduled to take place on November 15 in Washington, DC.

The 16 Asian and 27 EU leaders issued a joint statement saying that “long-term stability of the global and regional financial markets is key to sustainable economic growth of both regions.” They urged the international community to “take effective and available economic and financial measures in a comprehensive way to restore market confidence, stabilize global financial markets and promote global economic growth.”

President Sarkozy, who currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency, said that a pointed discussion and decisive action were needed on financial issues, including the global currency markets.

“Europe, Asia, and the US and other major financial partners need to work together to define and agree responses to the regulatory challenges,” said European Commission President Barroso at the ASEM opening. Mr. Barroso also cautioned against nations “closing the door and simply looking after our own house,” and called on member nations to “firmly resist calls for protectionism, isolation and economic nationalism.”

At a press conference, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said that all nations, “especially the developing ones, need to take decisive measures to stabilize their financial markets” through the development of “confidence, cooperation, and responsibility.”

For further information, please click here.

To read President of the European Commission José Barroso’s address at the ASEM convention, please click here.

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