Great news everyone!

[andrewducker]

The amazing news is that a WTO subgroup has agreed tariff changes that will make it far, far easier for developing countries to sell crops to the developed world, and reduce the subsidies that we pay our own farmers, lifting hundreds of millions of farmers, their famillies and villages out of poverty.

Last week, a political battle was concluded that will probably have consequences for far more people than last week's UK general election.

At a low-key meeting in Paris, a group of anonymous technocrats finally reached an agreement that brightens the prospects of - literally - billions of people.

At stake was the pressing need for a fairer international trading system - particularly in agriculture. Campaign groups like Oxfam rightly protest that farmers in the EU (and US) operate behind high tariff barriers, while receiving subsidies of over $1bn (£530m) per day.

The EU shift came only days after the WTO confirmed its ruling that subsidies to European sugar farmers are illegal. "After that, the writing was on the wall," says a European Commission official. "We faced intense pressure, not only from member states, but from trade campaigners too".

Once all member states agree, finalising detailed contracts takes at least a year. So the WTO's Hong Kong summit in December is the real deadline for Doha.

With that in mind, last week's climb-down shows the big Western powers now take the rest of the world seriously.

"Several big Asian and Latin American countries are now major commercial players," says the Commission official. "We have to adjust to that, and if we don't do it through the WTO, the alternative is far more painful".

Full article here.

Comments

[kelly-lesbo.livejournal.com]

Sadly its the first few years of our life that we are most vulnerable to social imprinting, so by age 9 you;ve already had a lot of rubbish stuffed into your head forming your world view. A lot of people fight their way out of it, many don't.

And if you truly believe that schools aren't breeding grounds of sexist sterotyping, gender re-enforcement and homophobia then we really did go to different schools. Its not just religious indoctrination, it's also cultural and historical as well as lessons of obedience.

If you re-read what I said about freedom of speech, you only get to say what you want if hardly anyone pays attention, if you come close to influencing people on a large scale then you would buffer up against the elite and if they didn't agree with what you were saying you would be dealt with as such people always are.

Of course you're failing to see the grip of corporations, you are still mired in the big illusion of freedom and democracy. The warring religious and tribal people are using weapons made by corporations who in turn give money to their political lap dogs to keep causing wars so that more weapons are sold.

We agree on the need for basic education at least, but I wouldn't make direct comparisons to the development of the developed nations because the timescales, politics and technological imperatives are totally different for developing nations in the present era.