Interestingly, an internal Pentagon memo, states that Afghanistan could become the “Saudi Arabia of lithium,” a key raw material in the manufacture of batteries for laptops and mobile phones. It also reports that the country is home to previously unknown deposits — including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and large deposits of niobium, a soft metal used in producing superconducting steel, besides lithium.

The memo compels to probe, what is Pentagon’s task in Afghanistan? Is it mining, peace-keeping or capturing the elusive terrorists? The timing of the announcement also induces the misgivings on the veracity of the study as well as the US interest in the country. Is the US trying to stay longer in Afghanistan on this pretext to thwart the increasing presence of the regional powers, China and India, by providing business options to the county?

In November, a 30-year lease, to start mining copper in the Aynak valley, southwest of Kabul, which holds one of the world’s biggest untapped copper deposits, was sold to the China Metallurgical Group for $3bn, making it the biggest foreign investment and private business venture in Afghanistan’s history. Likewise, post-Taliban, India is also heavily involved in the re-construction and development of Afghanistan’s infrastructure.

The retrospective chronicling of the events on the recent discovery compel to call for more queries. Why Russia did not show much interest in Afghanistan despite having the cognizance of country’s rare mineral wealth?

According to the study, while leaving Afghanistan in 1989 after nearly a decade-old occupation the Soviets left behind a horde of old charts and data hinting on the massive mineral deposits in the country. Incidentally, it says, it was with these data, the US Geological Survey began a series of aerial surveys of Afghanistan’s mineral resources in 2006.

Consequently, it establishes a fact that the US entered Afghanistan with prior knowledge of potential mineral wealth in the country. If there is truth in the find, then the Afghanistan’s new found fortune fuels the perception that any ‘offensive’ war includes an exploration agenda for natural resources or knowledge treasure trove behind it whenever any country initiates a war in a foreign land, especially a far-off one.

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The report recommends reducing the number of large industrial fishing vessels and redirecting counter-productive subsidies. It identifies human activities has dire effect on the world’s oceans and seas.

The vulnerable marine ecosystems, such as corals, and important fisheries are being damaged by over-exploitation, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, destructive fishing practices, invasive alien species and marine pollution, especially from land-based sources. Besides, increased sea temperatures, sea-level rise and ocean acidification caused by climate change also pose a greater threat to marine life which will eventually impact the lives of coastal and island communities and economies.

It is estimated that 11 to 26mn tons of fish or one-fifth of the global reported catch annually fall under the category of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. Similarly, only about 25 percent of commercial stocks are in a healthy or even reasonably healthy state. Some 30 percent of fish stocks are considered collapsed and 90 percent of large predatory fish like the blue fin tuna, so prized by sushi aficionados have almost disappeared since the middle of the 20th century.

Nonetheless, the five-day conference on fish conservation opened at the UN Headquarters in New York on Monday gives hope on taking stern measures to contain all kinds of man-made oceanic hazards. The review is held every four years to address the declining numbers of fish stocks under the UN agreement, which took effect from 2001.

The conference is reviewing implementation of the UN Fish Stocks Agreement that establishes a legal regime for long-term conservation and sustainable use of straddling and highly migratory fish stocks. It will provide an opportunity for countries to consider new measures to tighten implementation of the legal regime.

The day one of the conference witnessed the UN Ambassador for the tiny Pacific nation of Palau, Stuart Beck, condemning the killing of 73mn sharks a year, for shark fin soup alone. “The slaughter of sharks for their fins to make soup is as needless and cruel as the killing of elephants for their tusks to make ornaments,” he said.

Sharks are susceptible to overfishing because of their low fertility rates and long life spans. But shark fishing has boomed since the 1980s triggered by demand from China and other nations for shark fin soup, a prized symbol of wealth.

The global seafood consumption has doubled over the past 40 years with many switching to seafood diet as it was found healthier than other meat products. With the UN estimation of about 20mn boats with fishing capacity of 1.8 to 2.8 times larger than the oceans can sustainably support, the industry leaders as well as governments may have to make grave compromises on ocean management to see a sustainable ocean in the coming decades. The UN lists the top 10 nations with the biggest fisheries hauls as China, Peru, the US, Indonesia, Japan, Chile, India, Russia, Thailand and the Philippines.

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The report has clarified that though the term “infrastructure” could denote a wide range of facilities and systems including economic and financial infrastructure, social infrastructure and physical infrastructure, the study has centred on physical infrastructure. As per the report, the projections for the future infrastructural development have been drawn from a study by the consulting firm, Booz Allen Hamilton.

In a 2007 report, Booz Allen Hamilton has estimated that investment needed to “modernize obsolescent systems and meet expanding demand” for infrastructure worldwide between 2005 and 2030 was at about US$ 41 trillion. It said the North American (the US and the Canadian) share of the infrastructure needs alone would be around US$ 6.5 trillion through 2030.

While the PIR finds both involvement by public sector as in the case of China and a broad-based public private partnership (PPP) seen in India has country-specific successful models in the speedy development of infrastructural projects. The report highlights the Eleventh Five Year Plan for Energy development by the National Development and Reform Commission of the People’s Republic of China as an example of one such plan which sets specific goals for the development of energy infrastructure in China. The PPP-based National Highway Development Programme of India which aims to deliver about 55,000 kilometres of highways is cited as one good example with a clearly well-defined role for the private sector.

The Positive Infrastructure Initiative was launched in 2009 in response to a clear mandate provided to the Forum at the Annual Meeting 2009 in Davos by the CEOs of the leading infrastructural organizations to ensure that the massive fiscal spending on infrastructure not only generates the employment to restart the global economy but also creates infrastructure assets that foster long-term economic competitiveness, and are environmentally and socially sustainable.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging leaders in partnerships to shape global, regional and industry agendas. The official website of the WEF in its latest press release has made available details about the report.

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The world body should lay emphasis on reducing the growing divide between the rich and the poor rather than pushing for trade to please some of the business powerhouses. If increasing world trade through global action means prosperity for all, the WTO has to address problems of the workforces that comprise of about 70 percent excluding self employed involved directly or indirectly in global trade.

It has to press for regulations which will bring in all workforces under one umbrella of organized sector as majority, particularly in developing countries are forced to work incognito. The workers of unorganized sector are deprived of employment protection such as paid leave, sick leave, healthcare and other perks; and are almost enslaved by their employers.

Similarly, even workers of organized sector are exploited by overloading with work schedules that may go up to 20hrs per day without any rest or extra allowance. Especially the workforces from countries without minimum hourly wages have been largely put to this hardship by calibrating it as a day’s work.

At a glance, it may seem like how on earth the strengthening of organized sector of workforce will improve the living standards of the poor and marginalized workers without developing other key areas such as free right to education, healthcare and other civic amenities. But by elevating the dignity of workers by providing reasonable earnings for what they work is likely to boost their confidence, and thereby prod themselves to meet all immediate needs without any administrative influence.

As far as trade is concerned, the atrocities perpetrated on workforces should also be given equal care like that of other aspects of trade agreements to avoid social unrests stemming from socio-economic asymmetries. The absence of minimum wages for workers or potentially running unorganized workforces, perhaps even with the backing of governments, should be given serious re-look as it is implied in individual trade deals as grievous human rights violations.

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The US consumes nearly a quarter of the world’s oil production but just produces about 10 percent. It buys around $400bn worth of foreign oil or about the same as last year’s balance of payments deficit with its trading partners.

One of the companies that has established itself in used cooking oil energy domain is Minnesota-based Restaurant Technologies (RTI), the leading provider of bulk cooking oil management services to the restaurant industry. RTI has generated $240mn revenue by collecting used cooking oil, and more than 100mn gallons of used oil have been sold to biodiesel manufacturers, animal feed and other buyers.

Likewise, the Shakopee Mdewakanton Dakota Community has recently celebrated its first anniversary of producing bio-diesel from waste soybean oil used in frying chicken, French fries and other foods. The bio-diesel is used to fuel shuttle buses that transport guests and employees among properties around the community. The success of the tribal community on implementing the bio-diesel program indicates that it made economic and environmental sense virtually practical even for small communities to engage in such initiatives.

The Dakota community extracts bio-diesel by pumping 100 gallons into the BioPro 380 processor at a time. Twenty gallons of methanol (wood alcohol) and small amounts of potassium chloride and sulphuric acid are added to the machine with minimal usage of vinegar late in the process. About 48 hours later, around 95 gallons of biodiesel and 25 gallons of glycerine are produced.

Last week, East Ridge, Tennessee has decided to utilize a self-produced new biodiesel blend to fuel its city operations fleet. It is estimated that this clean alternative to conventional fuel not only would make the air cleaner in East Ridge but also expected to provide revenue, eventually helped to lower taxes.

As per the program, the residents may pick up or drop designated or non-designated collection containers at any East Ridge Swap Center. These containers, once full with cooled used cooking oil—may be exchanged for an empty one. By switching to a biodiesel blend, the city of East Ridge is expected reduce its operating costs on civic amenities such as garbage collection, mowing, roadway maintenance, fire/rescue and street sweeping.

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As per the latest updates on volcano, many of Europe’s busiest airline routes will remain closed until Saturday. Furthermore, if one goes by the volcanologists warnings, the eruptions could continue on-and-off for months, potentially meaning continued delays and closures. It is estimated just three days of air traffic closure alone will take months for the aviation industry to recover from the mammoth losses.

The Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation or CAPA figures show that some six million passengers could be affected world-wide if the closures continued for up to three days. The volcanic clouds spewed above 30,000 feet have forced air travel virtually impossible as the jet engines could be shut down if they sucked in volcanic debris.

High-flying volcanic ash consists of extremely fine silica particulates that could easily enter jet engines, which operate at temperatures of about 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit. Silica melts at about 2,000 degrees, and at that point it fuses to turbine blades, nozzles and other critical engine parts, causing the engine to clog, overheat and eventually shut down.

It is now evident that the losses to the aviation industry and auxiliary ones would run into billions of dollars. London’s Heathrow Airport, which is the worst affected due to the second Iceland’s volcanic eruption, itself clearly supports to that logic since one of the world’s busiest airport manages more than 1,200 flights and 180,000 travelers per day. And any delay to the resumption of air travel and cargo movement is bound to create grievous financial problems to the industry which is showing some signs of revival along with global trade after the meltdown.

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Women’s Bill recommends 33.3 percent or one-third of seats in the decision making bodies starting from the Lok Sabha, down to state and local legislatures. The sympathizers of the bill claim that such legislation will increase women’s participation in political affairs of the country by diluting gender inequality in the social system.

Though the draft has passed the first hurdle by getting a nod from the Rajyasabha, upper parliamentary house, underscores women emancipation and empowerment, it is believed to have constructed to serve a larger need of the country, i.e. population control. India’s policy makers envisages such a need as all inclusive growth in the past two decades have facilitated increased life expectancy and reduced infant mortality spiking population growth. They also perceive even 10 percent plus GDP growth would not suffice if the population growth is left untamed.

Nonetheless, there are many misgivings about as to how the bill would address the issues of women such as access to education, healthcare and even food, and above all the decision making rights including child-bearing. It should be noted that the Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh stated before the bill was put to vote in the upper house “What we are going to enact today is a small token of homage to the sacrifices our women have made in nation building, in the freedom struggle, in all other nation building activities.”

Incidentally, the government seemed to be hoping the benefits of the bill to trickle in over a period of time than in immediate future. The exercise of effecting a policy change is an effort to expedite women empowerment through a governmental process rather than awaiting a social change as many countries with higher women parliamentary participation have experienced. Rwanda ranks first among the list of countries with female representation in the decision making body followed by Nordic states including Sweden and Finland.

The bill has to undergo two more phases for its approval, one at the lower house of the parliament and other at the state assemblies. Reservation within the new bill for minorities and lower castes as demanded by the opposing parties will be discussed once again in the coming sessions.

Prior to the approval, it is hoped, rather than reserving fixed constituencies for women, a rotating system covering all constituencies should be included in the bill for the outreach of all sections of the country. The new legislation to bear the desired results needs to include well chalked out responsibilities to the female representatives for the upliftment of the women of each constituency they represent. Unless these key elements are not looked upon, the fourteen-year old proposal may not be able to fulfil its very goal.

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Germany’s non-committal on bailing out Greece after initially declaring support also signals that the EU would not hesitate to jettison its family member as there are already differences in using tax-payers money. On account of several polls and going by the words of Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the Eurogroup of ministers that oversee the Eurozone, Germany, Belgium or Luxembourg are not prepared to correct Greek fiscal policy mistakes.

The economic woes of Greece began after it hit upon a budget deficit of 12.7 percent of its GDP in 2009, four times more than the allowed EU limit. Though the government claims that it would slash 4 percent by the end of this year to eventually reach the EU limit of 3 percent by 2012, with current measures it seems insurmountable.

This year Greece needs about €54bn, and until now, it has raised around €13bn. The country has about €23bn in debt payments to be made in April and May. As counter measures, Greece has announced austerity initiatives and sale of another €3bn to €5bn debt.

However, in January, Greece sold five-year bonds amounting to €8bn, and within days the value of the bonds fell dimming hopes of future such offerings. Unless the government rolls out some tangible financial support mechanism, even this door will be perpetually shut.

Greece to avoid being outlawed and to tide over the crisis, it is learned that it has to shrug off its false pride and formally seek assistance from the EU or even the IMF without engaging in blame game. The Papandreou administration has accused the past regime’s mismanagement of finances and failed policies as major factors for the snowballing of the current crisis.

Starting from the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens to the previous government’s decision to dismantle its anti-fraud department were pointed out to be some of the areas send the country crashing with debt. Furthermore, the country’s defence outlay beyond threat perception and unnecessary expenditure on expensive eaves-dropping street cameras were also blamed.

Incidentally, though the Greek economy is not large enough to cause any damage to the EU economy, but it is feared any SOS response from the Union may set precedence to other countries including Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Italy which are in similar situations. It has been understood through recent turn of events, unless an effective, efficient and transparent roadmap to rescue Greece is not made available soon under the tutelage of the EU, not just the collapse of a nation but also the unity of the region and its currency would be at stake.

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During the Soviet era, Russia was a gross grain importer and over the last few years the country has grown as the largest grain exporter. Through the new food policy Russia seemed to have set an achievable target as grain exports to other countries are expected to reach 38mn tons by 2015.

Russia during the World Grain Forum in June, 2009 had initiated a food security tie up with the largest wheat consuming states such as India, China and Turkey to build wheat reserve stocks as well as to cushion future price slides, which has been faced by Russian farmers today. Despite the second-best year for exports and increasing demand from livestock farmers, grain prices still remain low on account of high domestic grain inventory.

Viktor Zubkov, the first Deputy Prime Minister of Russia during the Forum had urged foreign investors to develop the 20mn hectares of unused arable land in Russia. The country’s wheat production has crossed 65mn tons, and has set eyes at producing 100mn tons this year despite sinking wheat prices.

In a last week’s report by RIA Novosti, it stated meat production in Russia was also witnessing significant growth over the past few years. Agriculture Minister Elena Skrynnik while she met Medvedev informed domestic meat production grew 14 percent to 3.3mn tons last year, reducing imports by 20 percent.

Similarly, though Russia is short of poultry production, the recent ban on the US poultry is intended to stimulate domestic poultry production. Russia banned imports of the US chlorine-treated poultry as of 1 January on non-compliance to country’s safety standards, a decision likely to hike domestic poultry prices.

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Penelope Borland, CEO of the Screen Production and Development Association of NZ (SPADA) said the success of Avatar would resonate around the world and alongside NZ’s huge advances in intellectual property in the film industry. She added Criticism of Avatar’s box office success relative to the NZ Large Budget Screen Production Grant (LBSPG) it received was short sighted.

Since the inception of the LBSPG in 2003, overseas movie and television productions have spent more than $1bn in NZ, which has resulted in grant payments of $134mn. The industry has received total revenues of $384mn from overseas film companies in 2008, and makes NZ number 3 in the world for foreign exchange revenues behind Canada and the UK.

Under the LBSPG scheme, a 15 percent rebate on total qualifying production expenditure is allowed for movies crossing $10.6mn on expenditure in NZ. The Economic Development Minister Gerry Brownlee says “Attracting large budget film productions here offers wider benefits to the economy, including increased opportunities for citizens as well as tourism benefits from having NZ locations shown to an international audience.”

The NZ industry is agog with particularly Avatar’s success as many such projects will now move to the country not only for its locales but also to seek technical talents. NZ’s acclaimed visual effects company Weta Digital (WD) is behind the technology that has created the new generation 3D special effects for the movie which, according to the global film fraternity, is the biggest event in the history of film-making since colour film.

WD is already popular with their works in Hollywood blockbusters such as Lord of the Rings and King Kong. WD’s senior visual effects supervisor Joe Letteri claimed that Avatar was the first major international film came to NZ purely for the technological filmmaking knowledge built up there, rather than primarily because of country’s advantages as a location for shooting.

WD’s general manager Tom Greally said around 60 percent of the $218mn spent on Avatar in NZ would have gone on crew costs, with the rest going towards “technical infrastructure”. While Film NZ acting CEO Sue Thompson said for the Kiwi industry to continue growing it had to keep marketing itself as a destination for high quality filmmaking.

The success of Avatar and several other movies shot in NZ is expected to give a fillip to the country’s tourism industry too as its tourist destinations are showcased to the global audience in a very tempting manner. However, the NZ film industry feels that any attempt to withdraw grants will discourage overseas film projects coming to the country, and may go elsewhere as some countries offer 30 percent grant upfront whereas NZ paid after the project completion.

Brownlee feels “NZ’s connection to the success of Avatar will continue to deliver huge benefits to the country and will help to attract larger budget productions here in the future.” He adds “it is unlikely these productions would have decided to film in NZ if this grant had not been available as most locations offered an incentive to film in their territory or country”.

Recent PriceWaterhouseCoopers research: Economic Impact of the Film and Television Industry (2009) in NZ found that the film and television industry contributes $2.5bn to the New Zealand economy and contributes additional financial benefits to the country by enhancing international awareness and equity in the NZ brand.

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The reopening of this route means the distance between India and China will considerably reduce from about 6000kms to less than 1750kms. China’s Yunnan province and India’s Assam state are likely to benefit through this decision though it opens up trade potential to Myanmar and Thailand.

The historic 1,726 km road, built by the Allied and Chinese forces under the supervision of the US Army General Joseph Stilwell, was used to transport the first supplies to the beleaguered Chinese Army during World War II in 1945 when Japanese troops invaded China. The Stilwell Road starts from Assam, in the heart of India’s North-east, and cuts through the Pangsau pass in Myanmar to Kunming in South China.

Nyan informed that China had already constructed the road up to Tanai and there was a balance portion from Tanai to the Indian border which could now be completed with the support of India. The Stilwell Road on the Indian side is about 61kms and the major stretch of 1,033kms lies within the jungle-covered mountains and swampy valleys of northern Myanmar’s Kachin State, while in China it is 632kms.

In the past three years, China has taken proactive measures to cash in on the trade opportunities in Myanmar and India by constructing several stretches of the Stilwell Road. Moreover, Myanmar and China have an MOU to supply gas from Myanmar to China, and with the new discoveries of gas fields in Myanmar, India too nurses similar ambitions.

The re-opening of the road is expected to make the North-east region of India to become a major hub for almost all its neighbours to obtain Indian automobile components, fruits, grains, vegetables, textiles and cotton yarn. On the other hand, the Indian traders will have easy access to electronic gadgets, synthetic blankets, teak, gold and semi-precious stones from its South-east Asian neighbours.

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Krugman said he envisaged 30-40 percent chance of the US recession in 2010 as inventory bounce, which was driving things right now, would fade out as inventory bounces did. Similarly, Stiglitz, a former White House economic adviser under President Bill Clinton was skeptical about job creation because the real-estate and finance industries created jobs during the housing boom, a non-entity now.

Feldstein, a former president of the National Bureau of Economic Research said there was reluctance in spending, and thrift in the long run was a very good thing, but increasing thrift as you come out of a recession was going to be a drag. Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Donald Kohn during the same meet opined Banks’ hesitation to ramp up lending would restrain the recovery.

Krugman and Feldstein further argued that there would be a fade-out effect on the $787 billion stimulus program with unlikely additional economic boosters. However, the low crude prices which factored in minimizing the impact on downturn did not feature in any of the economists’ comments while the world is in for another round of crude price rise in the coming months.

On the other hand, Maki, the most-accurate forecaster in a Bloomberg News survey had stated last month that the world’s largest economy would expand 3.5 percent in 2010. He predicts the unemployment rate to reach about 9 percent by the end of 2010 triggering consumer demand.

Similarly, Soss, the second most-accurate forecaster of GDP over the first three quarters of 2009 projects the economy will grow 3.3 percent in 2010. And MacIntosh agrees with Maki that the economy will rebound in 2010, forecasting growth of 3.5 percent, and that the jobless rate will average 9.5 percent.

The figures from the manufacturing sphere, one of the key drivers that pulled the world out of 1930’s depression substantiate the optimistic economists. Manufacturing expanded in the US during December at the fastest pace in more than three years. The complementary economies of the US such as Europe and the Asian emerging economies including, China and India showed promise with similar uptrend in manufacturing sector.

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The Chilean-born Valenzuela’s statement enraged a slew of lawmakers and high level officials including Interior Minister of Argentina Florencio Randazzo and Argentine Ambassador to the US Héctor Timmerman. Nonetheless, the US envoy’s comments found favor with the Argentine Rural Society president Hugo Biolcatti and a Socialist stalwart and Santa Fe governor Hermes Binner.

Randazzo said that Argentina was no longer a country where foreign officials could lecture it as to its interests. Timmerman expressed concern and said that Argentina would have to analyze what were the underlying factors behind his words; whether there had been a change in stance or if the country was been demanded to state a new position.

Timmerman also described the US envoy’s comment as “a complete ignorance of Argentine reality”, and observed that they could be seen as a personal interest to block dialogue. Agustin Rossi, the head of the Victory Front bloc in the Lower House shared similar views by stating that he thought the time in which a foreign official came to give us lessons had passed.

On the contrary, Biolcatti seconded Valenzuela by saying that he was right; there was indeed an enormous legal uncertainty to invest in Argentina. While Binner said he agreed with Valenzuela’s comments as every businessman in his province was concerned about legal uncertainty.

Most lawmakers perceive the controversial statements as political posturing by the US despite Vilma Martinez, the US ambassador to Argentina making it clear that in spite of what might have been appeared in the newspapers, our relations remained very positive. Martinez also told that Argentina was a key ally in the fight against terrorism, drug trafficking and nuclear non-proliferation.

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The five-day trip will largely focus on non-oil exports from Iran as such products are in great demand in Iraq for its quality and low prices. Iraq imports a wide variety of goods from Iran, including air conditioners, construction materials, office furniture, carpets, clothes, medicines, fish, spices and fruits.

Mousavi said that the 45-member delegation comprised of merchants of repute from various fields including food industry, home appliances, medical equipment and technical and engineering services. According to him, exports from Iran to Iraq reached $2.5bn during the first eight months of the Iranian calendar year (ended November 21).

Since the collapse of the Saddam Hussein regime in 2003, exports from Iran to Iraq have witnessed massive growth, and currently Iraq is Iran’s second-largest, non-oil export market. It should be noted that even vegetables are being imported from Iran as well as poultry, meat, canned foods, carbonated drinks, and dairy products particularly as they are cheaper and offer better quality than the local stuff.

Post Saddam era was also able to open up a wide range of trade opportunities between both countries providing a lopsided advantage to Iran through its exports and several contracts including $1.5bn housing construction in Basra and electrification of several cities and towns of Iraq. Apart from non-oil exports Iraqis sought healthcare facilities of Iran since that country offered cost efficiency against other nearby countries such as the UAE, Jordan and Egypt. Religious tourism is something which Iraq largely benefits through the exchanges; around 500,000 Iranian Shi’ite pilgrims visit Iraq every year.

The trade representatives besides meeting local merchants were also expected to meet Iraq’s acting minister of trade Safaa Al Deen Al Safy, said Mousavi. It is forecasted that Iranian exports of products to Iraq will soon go up to $4bn and exports of technical and engineering services and energy will reach $2bn.

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Russia is often called as an energy blackmailer due to its muscle-flexing prowess during the winter season of Europe by snapping supplies to the region. Though Russia’s share of total EU gas imports is just above 40 percent as compared to 80 percent in the 1980s, the emergence of the new formation is likely to reduce competition from the group members to the European markets for it.

The GECF comprises of Algeria, Bolivia, Brunei, Egypt, Guinea, Indonesia, Iran, Libya, Malaysia, Nigeria, Venezuela, Qatar, Trinidad and Tobago and Russia. While Norway and Kazakhstan have observer status, the UAE and the Netherlands were attendees to the formation meet held in Qatar.

Though Iran, Egypt, Nigeria and Trinidad and Tobago put forward nominations for the renewable two-year post of General Secretary, Russia’s prominence in the energy domain helped it to see its candidate get elected. The GECF will be funded through equal share from its group members, and has set aside a budget of about $6m for the first year 2010.

The primary aim of the gas group would be to ensure stable price for gas by preventing oversupplies to the regional markets. Sergei Pravosudov, director of the National Energy Institute, a think tank said that Russia, the largest gas exporter plans to capture a greater share of the market of the US and Asia through its state-owned oil firm, Gasprom. He also stated the goal of the forum would be to divide the markets to each member, and eventually avoid price friction among forum-member producers.

For instance, Iran would be asked to direct its future supplies to India by almost exiting from the European markets. As to balance Iran’s supplies, Gasprom has shown interest to take part in the ambitious pipeline gas project between Iran and India.

Bokhanovsky said the forum would develop its own research team to facilitate new technology for gas exploration, production and transportation. He added that it would also gauge the supply and demand time to time, and gather information regarding the demand of gas and other energy sources to push the growth of global gas consumption.

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According to the statement, some of the key export products particularly from Kenya would attract re-introduction or increase in tariffs. The EPA was supposed to be concluded by July 31, 2009 – but missed the deadline due to lack of consensus on rules of origin – most favoured a clause on agriculture, trade in services and sustainable development.

The head of the union’s delegation to Nairobi Eric van der Linden said that he was looking forward to the success of the EPA soon. Likewise, the head of EPA unit at the trade directorate-general of the European Commission Jacques Wunenburger said that talk should now move from the “cost of EPA” to talk about the “cost of non-EPA.”

The Daily Nation reported that the Kenyan horticulture and floriculture exports currently enjoy no taxes to enter the EU markets. The Kenyan exports of fruits and vegetables to the European bloc are pegged at around 450,000 tonnes per annum.

A decision to tax EAC exports by the EU would be death knell to the future of cut flowers from Kenya as it is the largest exporter to the bloc. Besides, the country’s floriculture industry has been spending a lot of money to modernize its facilities for the past decade.

As on December 31, 2008, Horticulture remained Kenya’s leading foreign exchange earner, by recording an impressive performance of close to $1bn of the overall exports. Nonetheless, a report by the EU-ACP Impact Assessment on EPAs stated the absence of the duty-free and quota-free access to the EU market, the sector would collapse.

The EU has been negotiating an EPA with African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries since September 2002 with the aim of replacing non-reciprocal trade preferences granted under the Cotonou Agreement. However, the EAC, which comprises Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda has been negotiating since then as a separate entity, and went on to sign an interim framework on the EPA with the EU in November 2007.

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The lack of topics beyond the existing issues at the WTO ministerial meet provided trade representatives from developing countries a platform to discuss the likely fallout of the forthcoming Doha talks and evolve strategies like the deal they had at the end of the meet. However, China’s absence in signing the agreement was conspicuous since the country has vented similar concerns as that of the other developing nations over Doha discussions until recent past.

The Doha Round was launched in late 2001 with a paramount aim of helping poor countries to prosper by removing all trade barriers. However, the aftermath of global economic meltdown has forced developed countries not to budge from subsidies to tariffs as it is feared to create losses to their farming, manufacturing and service sectors.

After several missed deadlines, the WTO members have set a new deadline for concluding the negotiations in 2010. But the recently concluded ministerial summit, appear to have made little progress, reinforcing skepticism that the 2010 target would be out-stretched as it had happened in the past.

The Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute observed the global trade and the global economy had changed profoundly since 2001. It further added that a study showed that commodity market strains and environmental pressures were not part of the original Doha agenda then.

Lately, many countries are getting into individual FTAs and PTAs to ward off the likely trade talk failure at Doha Rounds next year. This week alone witnessed the launch of feasibility studies on PTAs between China and Switzerland, and between India, the Mercosur group of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, and the SACU.

The countries participating in the agreement are Algeria, Chile, Cuba, Egypt, India, Iran, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR) nations – Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay – Morocco, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam and Zimbabwe. The agreement provides special treatment for Iran and Algeria, which are yet to become WTO members. The details of the tariff reduction will be made available by the end of September 2010 after extensive negotiations in the coming months.

The 22 countries represent a market of 2.6bn people accounting for 13 percent of world GDP, 15-18 percent of trade, 43 percent of farm and 16 percent of industrial production. Supachai Panitchpakdi, secretary-general of the UN Conference on Trade and Development who was instrumental in materializing the deal said it was estimated that the tariff cut would bring an additional trade of $8bn for these countries.

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The online survey that was conducted between July and November with more than 3,000 respondents from 54 countries regarded asset misappropriation during the past 12 months as the number one enemy of corporate growth. The report stated that economic crime was intractable because of the many kinds of fraud and the broad range of employees involved in it.

Asset misappropriation or theft at 67 percent topped the economic crime chart, is the most pervasive, followed by financial statement fraud, at 38 percent, and bribery and corruption came third with 27 percent. Other reported crimes included intellectual property infringement, money laundering, tax fraud, insider trading and espionage.

The survey with assistance from the Fontainebleau, France-based INSEAD business school found economic crime remained rampant among organisations of all sizes, in all countries and industries despite increased regulatory action and anti-fraud controls in place. Of those respondents that identified underlying business pressures or incentives as the main reason for rising incidence of fraud, 47 percent said difficulty in achieving business targets and resultant job losses was the motivation for breaking the law.

71 percent of the respondents voted, Russia has the highest level of economic crime, followed by South Africa, 62 percent, Kenya, 57 percent, Canada, 56 percent and Mexico, 51 percent in the crime top 5 list. Low levels of economic crime were reported from Japan, 10 percent, Hong Kong (and China) 13 percent, and the Netherlands and Turkey, 15 percent each.

The most startling find was the change in internal fraudster profile with economic crimes committed by middle managers witnessing sharp rise at 42 percent of all internal frauds, up from 26 percent of 2007. On the contrary, the number of frauds involving senior execs declined over the same period from 26 percent to 14 percent. Tony Parton, a partner in forensic services at PwC said that increase in so-called “cappuccino crime,” or offences committed by middle managers, made sense because that cross-section of the workforce had felt a particular pinch during the downturn.

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The World Food Program (WFP) Executive Director Josette Sheeran highlighted the campaign in a statement issued on the second day of the World Summit on Food Security taken place in Rome. She said food security was not only a matter of humanitarian assistance and agricultural development but also of national security, peace and stability.

Sheeran opined that the world it at critical crossroads due to food shortage that could spark off uprising, migration and death. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon too raised similar concerns by saying that it was a vicious cycle that impoverished not only its immediate victims but all people. He was speaking at the backdrop of the political unrest that followed since severe food shortage and famine hit some parts of Africa and Asia.

As aid experts predicted, the summit began with the rejection of annual agricultural development aid. Besides, the participants devoid of G8 heads except the Prime Minister of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi did not commit on any time-frame on the promises they made during the summit.

The resentment was more obvious while the UN literature distributed in the summit calling for FDI in farmlands of poor countries was rejected outright. Libyan leader Muammar al-Gadhafi called it the ‘new feudalism’ and groups representing farmers termed it as ‘land grabs’.

According to some peasant watchdog groups, the ‘land grabs’ are found to be violating the rights of poor farmers, who are either thrown out or evicted by making them farmless and homeless after their plots were taken over for a pittance by foreign investors. Moreover, the produce from these farms are exported directly to the investors’ home country without leaving anything for the produced nation. As a result, it is feared, instead of hunger eradication it would only add to the misery by creating more food shortage and political unrest in these countries.

However, Ban informed the meet that more than 1bn people go hungry every day and 6mn children die of hunger every year, 17000 every day. He added the ‘food crisis of today’ was a wakeup call for ‘tomorrow’.

“A Billion for a Billion” slogan was evolved from the idea that more than a billion people go hungry, but more than a billion people are on the internet. The campaign intends to make a link between the ‘on-line haves’ and the ‘offline have nots’.

The WFP will need $1bn to provide food aid in the next six months to famine-hit countries that includes Ethiopia and Somalia. More than half of those hungry are in Ethiopia, and include some 4mn to 5mn children under five.

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The political instability of the country has already reflected on its exports by showing drastic decline post coup d’état. Mauricio Diaz Burdett, the co-ordinator of an NGO focuses on economic policy, poverty alleviation and corruption eradication, projected that the Honduran economy would shrink by 4.5 percent in 2009, while exports would diminish by $1bn – roughly a 15 percent drop from previous year. According to World Bank, Honduras is the third poorest country in the region behind Haiti and Nicaragua.

The country witnessed a huge slide in tourist traffic at major tourist destinations including Copan Ruins Archaeological Site, the famous Mayan site and the diving hot spots off the Bay Islands. In light of the crisis, the Copan Ruins Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Tourism has published under ‘Important Information’ in its official website that “All tourist services are working normally. And the large cities curfews are NOT affecting the Municipality (county) of Copan”.

Honduras, a predominant catholic state largely depends on its tourism industry, but the repeated listing it as unsafe through advisories by its potential countries of Honduran tourists have seriously impacted the industry as well as its subsidiaries. A local priest, Father Daniel Correa told Catholic News Service that the living standards had improved over the past decade due to increased tourism that provided employment in one of Honduras’ most impoverished regions. However, he added that the current lack of visitors was creating economic hardships for many of his parishioners.

The Tegucigalpa-based Chamber of Commerce and Industry estimated that more than 100,000 jobs were lost nationwide from mid-July to mid-October. An editorial by the Tegucigalpa newspaper Diario Tiempo termed the situation “worse than Mitch,” a reference to the 1998 hurricane that stormed through Central America which Honduras has yet to fully recover.

After the coup, for the past 4 months businesses suffered huge losses particularly due to curfews being clamped as protest erupted often in support and against the ousted leader. Analysts say the forthcoming elections in November are expected to bring political stability provided neutral observers from the international community are involved in the hustings to ensure free and fair elections.

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When the democratic government assumed office after a long gap of military rule last year, the Pakistani government under the leadership of Asif Ali Zardari had to swallow straight the fact that there was no money in the treasury to run the government machinery. Soon after becoming the president of Pakistan, Zardari made a whirlwind trip around the world seeking aid, but along with some aid from well wishing countries, his trip brought back home the bad name of indulging in a begging spree.

Lately, Pakistan is forced to depart from the old mantra of seeking aid, every now and then, as international monetary help is becoming difficult to come by particularly due to deteriorating brand name of the country. In such a scenario, the new administration has eventually realized economic growth is the only contraceptive to terrorism, militancy and quasi-military rule the country is facing today.

In a recent meeting between Federal Minister for Commerce of Pakistan, Makhdoom Amin Fahim and the Cuban Ambassador, Gustavo Machin Gomez has agreed to remove bottlenecks in relations to promote trade between both countries. In addition, the Pakistani minister received an invitation from the Cuban Ambassador to participate in the forthcoming International Trade Fair to be held in Cuba, a platform that would help Pakistan to engage with other Latin American countries.

Likewise, the Chairman, Board of Investment (BoI) of Pakistan Saleem H Mandviwalla informed that the country had received a nod from the Italian government in providing a credit line equivalent to $10bn for Italian investors willing to invest in Pakistan. Mandviwalla said that this credit line had been promised by the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in response to a request by the President Zardari during a bilateral meeting in Rome.

Besides, the chairman said his talks with the leading South Korean firms including Daewoo, Hyundai, LOTTE and K Water were fruitful, and they were keen to invest in Pakistan. The LOTTE has shown interest in investing about $10bn in Pakistan by way of acquisitions in next five years while K Water will construct dams and Korean Electric Power Company (KEPCO) will be generating and distributing power.

Pakistan after distancing a prospective huge trade partner, India by not taking appropriate action against the perpetrators of last year’s Mumbai attack and alleged abetting of non-state actors, who engage in terrorist activities in India, is in a haste to find new trade partners to keep its economy ticking over. Pakistan’s upcoming FTA talks with the EU which will take place after repeated requests from the former, is a strong indication that Pakistan is serious about prioritizing trade over aid especially after losing its neighbouring trade potential.

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The findings are expected to jeopardize the future of Doha Rounds as China and India bloc would bring in this added argument point to include stringent formal employment policies in the comprehensive world free trade accord besides imposition of curbs on subsidies. ILO Director-General Juan Somavia said that these outcomes were likely to worsen as a result of the global financial crisis. Nevertheless, Razeen Sally, a senior lecturer at the London School of Economics told Reuters that labour problems reflect weak domestic employment policies and not the nature of globalisation itself.

The job creation in the developing world has been in the informal economy, about 30 percent of the manpower in Latin America to more than 80 percent in some sub-Saharan and South Asian countries. While international trade grew to represent more than 60 percent of global GDP in 2007, from less than 30 percent in the mid-1980s, the number of informal workers has stayed constant or even grown in poorer countries.

Informal employment involves private, unregistered enterprises which are not subject to national law or regulation, offer no social protection and involve self-employed individuals, or members of the same household. Somavia stated the study confirmed that by promoting fair working conditions together with national labour market, trade and financial policies, developing countries would be much better placed to benefit from trade openings.

The Geneva-based organisations have found that around 60 percent of employees in developing countries working in the informal economy, large parts of society are stripped off adequate income and career opportunities. This report is most likely to cause room for serious deliberations on poor execution and interpretation of labour policies while world trade grew without sharing the benefits to the less fortunate unskilled workers.

The report has confirmed that various bilateral and regional accords had principally benefited skilled workers, with little gains for physical labourers. The “Globalization and Informal Jobs in Developing Countries” study has concluded that reducing informality could release additional productive forces, enhance diversification and strengthen the capacity to trade internationally.

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Mulcahy said that findings from an ABARE survey showed a 3 percent fall in vegetable farm incomes on average in 2007-08 were an indication that rising farm input costs and competition from China were affecting the bottom line of Australian vegetable farmers. He pointed out China’s input costs such as labour was significantly lower, and apart from Chinese imports, New Zealand imports too posed serious threat to processed vegetable growers.

ABARE, a professionally independent government economic research agency highlighted in its survey that besides high input costs, marketing costs, low vegetable prices and availability of irrigation water as other impediments to future viability. However, compared with the previous survey, access to and cost of labour was no longer regarded by the majority of vegetable growers as an impediment facing future viability.

The report which was commissioned by Horticulture Australia Limited (HAL) informed that despite adverse seasonal conditions the vegetable growers were able to maintain farm incomes. Although adverse seasonal conditions in many vegetable growing regions in 2007-08 led to a fall in average yields and lower vegetable production, average farm cash incomes of vegetable farms declined by only 3 percent.

ABARE Deputy Executive Director, Dr Terry Sheales while releasing its report stated despite a rise in average prices received for vegetables in 2007-08, overall receipts from the sale of vegetables had fallen by 6 percent on average as seasonal conditions had resulted in lower yields and production. Though input costs have sunk the confidence of 86 percent of vegetable growers, the mood seemed to be upbeat with 72 percent expecting to be still engaged in vegetable growing in five years’ time and 31 percent planning to expand vegetable production in the next three to five years.

The gross value of production of the vegetable industry is estimated about $3.5bn in 2008-09, contributing around 8 percent to Australia’s gross value of agricultural production. Mulcahy felt that to compete with China the country must ensure that input costs were kept down wherever possible, and the benefits of local production for the consumer, such as safer, fresher produce, and a strong local economy that supports Australian jobs, were better understood.

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During Singhania’s visit along with a bi-partisan delegation of parliamentarians he pointed out that North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) among the US, Canada and Mexico was signed without agriculture because Canada objected to the inclusion of it. He expressed confidence in letting the Indo-US FTA to happen soon particularly on the basis of concordance shown by the US lawmakers and several US government officials to have it without agriculture for the time being.

India is looking forward to the next month visit of the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton in ironing out differences on all outstanding issues with the US, which saw last July the collapse of Doha Round talks. The Doha Development Round broke down after India, China and Brazil objected to the US farm subsidies that would inundate their markets with imports of farm and industrial goods. Thawing of Indo-US trade ties on agricultural issues is key to the success of forthcoming Doha Round talks in Geneva later this year.

Manmohan Singh’s second term sans Left Front has seen some major changes including the Left’s consensual candidate, Kamal Nath being replaced by Anand Sharma as Commerce and Industry Minister of India despite the former doing a fairly good job during his term. Last month, Sharma on the sidelines of Cairns Group’s, a coalition of agricultural exporting nations summit, while he met his US counterpart Ron Kirk has jointly agreed to take forward the multilateral negotiations and review the Indo-US bilateral ties.

However, the Indian business houses as well as the government is well aware of the fact the delayed Monsoon which is likely to play havoc to the country’s agricultural trade will thereby prevent them from engaging in any trade talks on agri-based issues for the time being. FICCI president’s words must be seen as an indicator that India is ready to conclude FTA with the US in consensual goods, and could include other items only in , the course of time.

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Kroll is the world’s leading risk consulting company which provides a broad range of investigative, intelligence, financial, security and technology services to help clients reduce risks, solve problems and capitalize on opportunities. The firm in its report has drawn data from Transparency International, the global coalition against corruption to corroborate its findings on global stimulus fund distribution process.

Transparency International has reported that the economic crises had given rise to a new wave of corruption through the current stimulus program. The corruption can raise procurement contract costs by at least 10 percent in a stable economy – an equivalent of $500bn in corrupt gains – but in emergency situations these costs could rise up to as high as 30 percent of the overall cost of the $5 trillion contract. The report comes hot on heels to FBI director Robert Mueller’s call to brace for potential crime wave involving fraud and corruption related to bank bailout money and the economic stimulus package.

Richard Abbey, MD in Kroll’s Financial Investigations practice stated all crimes needed motive, means and opportunity and in the current economic environment, it provided all the three. He further added that the huge pledged sum by governments across the world had lured fraudsters to grab the life-time opportunity to make easy money.

Blake Coppotelli, senior managing director in Kroll’s Business Intelligence and Investigations suggested that the governmental agencies which oversee the distribution of these funds should enforce robust anti-corruption policies or look for independent experts to supplement their efforts. He further clarified by saying that the nature of the projects – large sums of investment coupled with complex procurement processes have created a perfect setting for fraudsters to cash in on.

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