WTO's assault on India

The US has serious problems with India, mostly related to programmes providing a lifeline to vulnerable farmers and ensuring food security of …

How not to save WTO

The WTO mini-ministerial held in March in New Delhi showed a poverty of ideas on how to protect the multilateral trade bloc from US assaults

Civil society asks WTO members to raise concerns about ‘lop-sided’ Nairobi agreement

Organisations write letter calling on developing member nations to raise issue at General Council meet on Wednesday

Waking up to ACTA

Let's also protest at WTO

Discriminatory WTO regime towards India is responsible for the farmers' plight

Addressing internal and external market challenges key for supporting India’s apple farmers

Measures like market intervention schemes for remunerative prices, improved institutional support & comprehensive strategies to resolve value …

Globalisation and its discontents: Why there's a backlash and how it needs to change

The electoral victory of Donald Trump, the Brexit vote and the rise of an aggressive nationalism in Europe are all part of a backlash to globalization

Big Pharma and intellectual property: Why is India afraid of compulsory licences?

While rich nations are discovering the virtues of compulsory drug licences, India has resolutely turned its back on this tool despite nudges from …

Intellectual property and COVID-19 medicines: Why a WTO waiver may not be enough

A waiver might not allow all developing countries to secure medicines and other anti-COVID technologies in a timely way

Rein in dairy exports to our continent: African farmers to EU

African dairy farmers protested outside the European Union HQ to demand that they don’t over-produce milk and then flood African markets

Energy in news on May 4

Here’s a round-up of today’s news reports and debates on energy

Africa reinforces its position few hours before WTO Ministerial Conference

Africa would not adopt rules and decisions that would restrict governments from formulating policies to industrialise, create jobs and move up in …

Stopping subsidies will be fresh blow for India’s struggling small fishers: Experts

Fisher community claims already vulnerable fishermen will not be able to access subsidises even if WTO negotiations turn in their favour  

The war for intellectual property

Stockholm+50: How do we prepare for the next half century

When we mark the 50th anniversary of the 1972 Stockholm conference, we need to discuss consumption and production in a globalised world

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala: How global and local experience would play out in WTO top job

Okonjo-Iweala would be in a position to use her multifaceted experiences to energise the WTO’s 164 members to work harder to achieve the …

Can vaccines become as cheap as generics?

Unlike with drugs, freeing up patents will not make it any easier to manufacture vaccines for COVID-19, says Cipla’s Hamied

Dummy’s guide to how trade rules affect access to COVID-19 vaccines

The WTO is considering whether to temporarily waive certain rules about TRIPS, to allow more countries access to vaccines, drugs needed to …

Geopolitics of Europe and the Iron Law of Evolutionary Biology

Any alternative to the current European Union is the grand accommodation of either France or Germany with Russia

WTO Ministerial Conference: India objects to agriculture draft text

India believes that some members are pushing for an accelerated phasing out of agriculture export subsidy

Coronavirus vaccines: Tech transfer is the new mantra

A tech transfer hub for mRNA vaccines is being set up in South Africa, a first for the continent; but will the pharmaceutical companies play ball?

Proposed WTO reform aims to bully developing nations: Civil society members

Reform proposed at Ministerial Conference of World Trade Organisation will undermine participation & say of developing countries, feel experts

Unfair fields: Asymmetric WTO rules let US inflate cotton subsidies must be reformed

Cottton farmers in India and other Global South countries, like the Afican C-4 of benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, at peril …

New ruse in Big Pharma's old game

Drug multinationals are lobbying for a devious patent linkage system to block the entry of competitive generics

Unfair trade barriers will hinder climate consensus

Carbon border agreements are in many ways modern instruments of imperialism that punish developing nations for making slower progress towards …