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About this event: African Youth Business Forum
Related to country: South Africa

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Global trade talks began a third day on July 23 after emerging economies such as Brazil and South Africa said a US offer to cut its farm subsidies was not enough to justify reciprocal moves by them. Without a breakthrough in the coming days, the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Doha negotiations risk further years of delay. On July 22, the United States said it was ready to cut its annual ceiling on trade-distorting farm subsidies to USD 15 billion -- a level lower than its spending in seven of the last 10 years -- in order to kick-start the talks. But India, Brazil and other big developing countries said Washington had to make deeper cuts before they would offer concessions of their own because the ceiling represented virtually double the level of US farm subsidies last year.

The EU began crucial global trade talks July 21 with an offer of reducing its farm tariffs by 60 percent - the highest figure it has yet offered - in a challenge to developing countries to make concessions. The offer from the European Trade Commissioner, Peter Mandelson, was intended to spark several days of vital discussions on the stalled trade round, begun seven years ago. Until now, the EU has offered a maximum of 54 percent tariff reductions, but Mandelson's spokesman, Peter Power, said the higher figure could be achieved by including a range of tropical products.

Fourteen states have been selected as the first developing country members of an innovative partnership and international financing mechanism to combat tropical deforestation and climate change. The 14 developing countries include six in Africa (the DRC Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar); five in Latin America (Bolivia, Costa Rica, Guyana, Mexico, Panama); and three in Asia (Nepal, Lao PDR, and Vietnam). They will receive initial funding from the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF), an innovative approach to financing efforts to combat climate change. The FCPF aims to reduce deforestation and forest degradation by compensating developing countries for greenhouse gas emission reductions. The 14 tropical and sub-tropical countries will receive grant support as they build their capacity for REDD and tap into future systems of positive incentives for REDD.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said on July 22 that central banks in emerging were moving too slowly to combat the threat of oil and food inflation, which it warned seemed to be seeping into the broader economies of the region. It said timely action by policy makers was needed to maintain emerging 's healthy growth rate, which it forecast at 7.6 percent for both this year and next, otherwise the region risked a damaging upward spiral of wages and prices. In its latest Asia Economic Monitor report, the Manila-based lender warned that while previous food price surges were “cyclical and temporary," the higher prices now being seen were caused by permanent changes.

Foreign ministers of the 10 ASEAN nations and their counterparts from , and other key dialogue partners agreed Tuesday on the need to improve crop productivity in the region to overcome the looming food crisis and create a mechanism to deal with rapidly growing energy consumption amid soaring fuel prices. They agreed to launch a USD 3 million ASEAN-plus-three Cooperation Fund, in line with plans endorsed by the nations' leaders last November under the 2nd Joint Statement on East Asia Cooperation, the official said. The fund will finance cooperation in such fields as politics and national security, business and finance, energy and the environment, and social development as stipulated under the 10-year guideline.

The World Bank (IBRD) for the first time has disbursed a loan in one of Africa's local currencies The 58.2 million South African Rand (ZAR) loan is to support the Government of Namibia in its educational improvement program. The South African and Namibian currencies are equivalent. The transaction is part of the World Bank's ongoing efforts to respond to requests from its borrowing member countries to provide flexible financial products in support of their risk management objectives.“This is particularly the case in Middle Income Countries, like Namibia, which are looking for additional flexibility from the World Bank in terms of lending instruments. Borrowing in Rand represents a lower risk for the country," said Mmantsetsa Marope, World Bank Team Leader for the Namibia lending operation. The loan was possible thorough a conversion of the originally dollar denominated USD 7.5 million loan which took place on July 15, 2008 and is the first time the World Bank has provided a Rand-denominated financing to any country.

July 25, 2008 | 10:22 AM Comments  0 comments

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