Already the recently concluded Canada-Columbia FTA has adversely impacted the US wheat exports. The agreement has given Canada an immediate price advantage over the US wheat, which hitherto enjoyed a dominant market share in Columbia. The thaw in Columbia-Venezuela ties with a visit by Santos to Venezuela signals that the number of players in the Columbian marketplace is bound to rise rapidly in the coming days.

The business team is understood to have held meetings with the Bogota Chamber of Commerce and the Ministry of Commerce; and would proceed to Cali, Medellin, Barranquilla, the coffee region, and other key industrial areas of the country. The US commercial representative in Colombia, Margaret Hanson earlier had expressed a desire to see the stalled FTA between Colombia and the US ratified since the Latin American nation already had open access to the US market for almost all its products but the US did not have backwards – so in terms of common sense, it was hoped that the FTA should happen soon.

Likewise, Colombia’s new ambassador to the US Gabriel Silva said that one of his first tasks would be to kick-start the FTA talks, and added that his country regarded itself as an economic force in the medium term as Colombia’s exports were put at $40bn. The trade deal, which involves the reduction of customs duties and other obstacles to trade, was signed by the former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and the former US President George Bush in 2006. While Colombia’s Congress was quick to pass the treaty, the Obama administration has yet to ratify it.

During his presidential election campaign, Barack Obama opposed approving a trade deal with the Andean nation since crimes against the Colombian trade-union leaders remained unprosecuted. As president, Obama has expressed a willingness to push the deal through, provided that Colombia meets certain human rights conditions.

Colombia is believed to provide scope for investments in sectors including plastics, textiles and food stuff. According to Hanson, the delegation comprises of representatives from the security sector, construction, food, plastics, and also a financier who funds companies, particularly the SMEs.

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Iran’s Oil Minister Massoud Mirkazemi met the Chinese vice Premier Li Keqiang in Beijing last week, and agreed on enhancing relations between the two nations, especially in the oil and gas sector. Li Keqiang is reported to have told the visiting Iranian oil minister that Beijing would maintain co-operation with Tehran on existing projects.

It should be recalled that last month, the Deputy Oil Minister Hossein Noghrekar Shirazi told the state-run Mehr news agency the Chinese companies were already involved in energy exploration and production projects in Iran worth about $29bn, and in refining and related activities at about $10bn.

Interestingly, some reports say that even Russia is not far behind China in cashing in on Iran embargo. Rajab Safarov, head of the Iran Commission of the Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry informed Russian companies were discussing “serious deliveries” to Iran in late August or September.

The US and the EU had made repeated requests to China and Russia to comprehensively honor sanctions against Iran. However, despite approval to sanctions both countries have differences on the scale of punitive measures slapped on nuclear interests of Iran.

“Sanctions are not considered an effective tool… and they will only complicate the situation” was the reaction from foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast last month as quoted by the state news agency IRNA. Likewise, Mirkazemi has also told at that point “European oil companies has no presence (in Iran’s energy sector) and so they cannot have any impact on us”, in a response to the EU’s recent oil sanctions.

If China and Russia continue trade with Iran, sanctions not only become meaningless but also jeopardize business prospects of other countries, including that of India which has massive ongoing and some in the pipeline oil trade deals with Iran. Bloomberg reported sanctions were forcing refiners such as India’s Reliance Industries to pay higher costs to ship gasoline to more distant markets. According to Simpson, Spence & Young Ltd., the world’s second-largest shipbroker, India to the US shipping costs, at $1.9mn, are almost five times higher than those to the Persian Gulf.

“It’s boom time for Russian and Chinese oil traders,” said Michael Swangard, a London-based international trade lawyer at Clyde & Co., which counts BP and Lloyds of London among its clients. It’s “practically impossible” for Europeans to buy Iran’s oil or sell it, he said.

According to Chinese customs data, in the first half of 2010, Iran held its place as China’s third biggest supplier of crude with shipments of 9mn tons of oil, putting it behind Saudi Arabia and Angola.

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The Finance Minister Tendai Biti admitted “Under the current multi currency regime, the inadequacy of smaller denominations has posed a number of challenges in transactions.” Nonetheless, the economic commentator Bekithemba Mhlanga told VOA Studio 7 reporter Gibbs Dube that the country needed to adopt the rand as its principal currency to hold down large importation costs of notes and coins. “Zimbabwe will fail to import all these required small denominations if it does not adopt the rand,” Mhlanga suggested.

The Zimbabwean government dumped the local currency last year in favour of the US Dollar, the South African Rand and the Botswana Pula as the political crisis and economic meltdown triggered record-breaking hyperinflation. Even though the currency situation improved after it adopted multi currency system the cash flow got impeded in view of US embargo pressure and poor returns from investments.

The acute shortage of foreign currency in the country has even deterred many Zimbabweans from depositing their money in banks. Some reports claim that people are literally washing the dirty US dollar bills to extent their lives in circulation.

The US Federal Reserve destroys about 7,000 tons of worn-out notes every year, and it is estimated, the average $1 bill circulates in the US for about 20 months. Though larger denominations are less dirtied since they are either from banks or international trade, smaller denominational US currencies outlive the estimated circulatory cycle in Zimbabwe.

Interestingly, the retailers have resorted to requesting shoppers to take other goods in exchange of change, and in some cases ‘credit notes’ replaced the balance of small change. Such credit notes even entitled shoppers to redeem them at a later stage for more goods from the issued shops.

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Both the US and Russia have military bases in Kyrgyzstan and a stake in the country’s stability. The Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, speaking to reporters after the recent G20 summit in Toronto, voiced concern that a parliamentary system would make Kyrgyzstan vulnerable to extremists.

But the unexpected criticism from Russia, Kyrgyzstan’s closest ally may make the whole process of referendum seem farcical. The two month period of a country, which witnessed a bloodless coup d’état usurping an autocratic ruler, the reinstatement of a new leader, the turbulence that followed and the eventual referendum all indicate Kyrgyzstan’s stability will continue to rely on the US-Russia ties.

Over the past two weeks, southern Kyrgyzstan has been plagued by ethnic clashes between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks. The violence have left about 2000 dead, and more than 400,000 Uzbeks were displaced and forced to flee from violent rampages to overcrowded refugee camps in Uzbekistan. The allegedly Russia sponsored coup d’état is believed to have set ablaze the volatile relations between the less fortunate Kyrgyz majority and the generally rich Uzbek minority.

The referendum is expected to usher in a parliamentary system of governance, making Kyrgyzstan the first of Central Asia’s former Soviet republics to shed a tradition of strong presidential rule. All of the other Central Asian states – Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan – have presidential forms of government. Under the new referendum, parliamentary elections will be held in October this year.

As of now, Kyrgyzstan is in the middle of a tug of war between the US and Russia to take direct or quasi control over the Kyrgyzstan’s Manas international airport, the only prime location for transporting NATO soldiers and supplies to Afghanistan. As both parties have interests beyond strategic to prospecting trade opportunities in the country as well as the region, the camaraderie seen during the G20 meet between Obama and Medvedev only holds complete solution to the present crisis of Kyrgyzstan.

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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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A recent research from the Institute of Personal Care Science of Australia finds that the global cosmetics market is worth $334bn (Dh1.2tn) and the global halal cosmetics market is estimated at $13bn. According to another research from Euro Monitor International, the beauty and cosmetics industry is expected to increase globally by 8.5 percent by 2014, representing one of the few sectors that continues to grow despite the global meltdown.

While a Malaysian study described that the global halal business worth $635bn a year, had expanded from the Islamic countries to the Western nations with growing Muslim populations. In France, which is home to about five million Muslims, sales of halal food are set to reach $7.2bn by the end of this year.

Mah Hussain-Gambles, Founder, Saaf Pure Skincare, one of the first halal cosmetics companies in Europe, said “The industry has also benefitted from a rising concern about the use of harmful ingredients in cosmetics and 75 percent of my customers are non-Muslims.” She further added “The principles are the same – they want something that does not harm the body, the purity and that is exactly the same as the halal movement.”

Ahmed Pauwels, CEO of Epoc Messe Frankfurt, organisers of Beautyworld Middle East 2010 apprized that with growing consumer awareness and the drive for quality ingredients, halal personal care products were a high-growth segment with tremendous potential. Similarly, Elaine O’Connell, Senior Show Manager of the beauty trade show opined customers in the prosperous and high-growth markets of the Middle East were becoming increasingly selective of the quality and content of the products they used, and this was reflected in the surge in demand for halal-certified beauty products.

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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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Head of Iran’s Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines Mohammad Nahavandian said “Europe’s economy is seriously interested in the expansion of co-operation with Iran for different reasons, including energy security, but political obstacles have caused some problems.”

Nahavandian observed that his country’s effort to establish and strengthen relations through the chambers of different nations played a key role in the expansion of Tehran’s ties with the European states. He also reminded that after the downturn despite political pressures, Iran has maintained and expanded its ties with many European companies, and also has developed relations with 40 chambers and joint councils of countries from different parts of the world.

It should be noted that in February, Nahavandian has said the West’s sanctions against Iran has helped to expand trade with non-western countries. He is of the opinion that sanctions increase the economic costs not only to those under sanctions but also to those impose them.

Nahavandian claims are well corroborated by the open and tacit support Iran is getting from within Europe and rest of US. While most EU countries reduced commercial activities with Iran over the past year, Austria expanded them, and several German firms too continued to maintain trade.

Iran which has the world’s second largest reserves of both oil and gas is facing US sanctions over its civilian nuclear program. However, the Iranian president Ahmadinejad’s strong defence at the ongoing conference of signatories of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) is likely to weaken the US stance on any fresh sanctions against Iran. Ahmadinejad said that Washington has offered not “a single credible proof” that Iran was seeking nuclear weapons, and reiterated that Iran’s intention was to produce nuclear power but not weapons.

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Mary Lascelles Relocation Director at Moving Links 4 You commented “My son recently went to Kashmir, India where he spent three months working on a project. So many folks advised against it as it was an unsafe place, and the newspapers certainly lead us to believe it was nuts for going. He has now returned and he said he never felt unsafe while there. Goes to show that a lot of times fear is instilled by media hype. Still, it’s important to use your intuition – while still living life and not shutting out important experiences.”

Barbara Holtzman, Executive Consultant & Management Coach said she would follow her intuition and did not avoid any place based on an alert alone, and also endorsed Lascelles’ view. While Sally Shiff Social Network Coordinator at Maoz Inc. opined “I live in the Middle East (Israel) and have learned to be aware of safety. What we don’t have here is the theft and harm that I used to see on the streets in the US or as a traveler abroad.” She later added that the places which were unsafe to travel were often found barricaded, and was glad rather to comply with such warnings.

However, some participants in the poll are of the opinion that it would be unwise to overlook these advisories. Similarly, those in the travel and transport industry are also found to be paying attention to the alerts as they feared it would hurt their businesses.

The poll clarification on as to why ask this question read – It is observed that advisories are used these days as foreign policy. Instead of pinpointing the terror strike areas, and helping those countries to nab the perpetrators before the event, most governments just release a terror alert to put that country/ies and administration/s in all kinds of trouble.

The recent terror advisories issued by the US, Britain, Australia and Canada on the Indian capital has forced the government to turn New Delhi into a fortress with heavy deployment of security forces and also increased security checks. Furthermore, some analysts believe operatives under the guise of crank callers could be involved in hoax calls (the recent series of anonymous calls about bombs being planted at various locations in New Delhi) to destabilize day to day business of the city.

It should be recalled that in February the Home Minister of India P Chidambaram had said about a US advisory then “I don’t think it was based on any new information nor do I think that it was intended to send any alarm signal. I think it was a routine advisory and it should be seen as such.”

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Today, the international trade committee of the Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry has signed a MoU with the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce and World Business Chicago, in an attempt to promote economic activity between the two nations with an accent on industry, trade and technology. Similarly, GE too renewed its seven decade old business ties by signing a MoU with Ministry of Commerce & Industry to fuel Kingdom’s vision for sustainable economic growth and job creation.

Saudi Arabia is planning economic diversification through industrialization, and will launch the $16bn National Industrial Strategy in May 2010 to strengthen the Kingdom’s manufacturing sector and double the industrial output of the GDP. Saudi ministers are of the opinion that the Kingdom’s future will be focused on knowledge-based initiatives and infrastructure development, emphasizing that “Saudi Arabia no longer wants to be the gas station of the world.”

According to Saudi Gazette, the meet will see the signing of several agreements covering almost all areas of trade ranging from agriculture to science and technology to financial markets. Fatin Bundagji from the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry pointed out that his country’s priority would be to draw expertise beyond oil sector particularly about venture capital and business incubation in the US.

As per the figures provided by the National US-Arab Chamber of Commerce (NUSACC), the US exports to the MENA region are expected to rebound to nearly $75bn this year, up from $63bn in 2009, and out of the total about $17bn will be Saudi’s contribution. Saudi Arabia is the second largest export destination of the US in the region after the UAE.

The trade outlook indicates that US exports to the MENA region are likely to be more than double by the year 2015, an important boost to US President Barack Obama’s National Export Initiative. He had said early this year that exports were the key to job creation and the plans of doubling exports to $3 trillion over the next five years could create two million new jobs in the US. Besides, enhancing trade with Saudi Arabia is also seen as an initiative to deepen ties with the Muslim world which the US president reiterated this week after Cairo summit.

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Although the utterances by the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Cuban National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon stand in the way of improving ties between both countries diplomatic developments in the region is likely to override those differences. Clinton told last month that Fidel Castro and his brother President Raul Castro “do not want to see an end to the embargo and do not want to see normalization with the United States, because they would then lose all their excuses for what hasn’t happened in Cuba in the last 50 years.” In retaliation, Alarcon challenged her to lift the embargo even for a year to see whether it was in his country’s interest or hers.

When President Barack Obama assumed office last year he called for better ties with Cuba if Castro executed democratic reforms and improved human rights status, an US policy widely criticized over its double standards in dealing with China and Saudi Arabia at the same time. However, the recent election in Cuba which saw almost 95 percent of the electorate exercising their franchise, technically helps Obama to put in effect one of his poll promises.

The legislation approved by the House does not lift the overall embargo, but prohibits advance payment for agricultural sales to Cuba. Likewise, this week’s election in which Cubans was able to choose between more than one candidate also cannot be termed as a major electoral reform as it does not interfere with the top leadership of the country.

The US rice sales to Cuba declined every year after the Bush administration’s cash-in-advance rules were imposed in 2005. The new provision if ratified is expected to make the US rice and other agro-commodities once again attractive to Cuba. The US Chamber of Commerce estimates the embargo costs the country about $1.2bn a year in lost business.

All trade with Cuba, with the exception of US exports of agricultural products and some essential medicines, has been prohibited since 1962. Under George W Bush, the Cuban-Americans were eligible to travel to Cuba only once every three years and were limited to sending only $300 to relatives every three months. On the contrary, the Obama administration relaxed travel and remittances restrictions that allowed Americans with relatives in Cuba to travel there more frequently with longer stay duration and to send as much money as they want to any Cuban who is not a senior government or Communist party official.

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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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Nevertheless, both Smith and NZ Prime Minister John Key, at different occasions reiterated that the ETS would take effect on the energy and transport sectors in July despite calls from business groups, farmers and Act, an agro-friendly and anti-ETS organization. The business groups fear NZ firms bearing the cost of the domestic ETS will be competitively disadvantaged compared with rivals from countries with no effective carbon pricing mechanism, a view that is shared by the Federated Farmers and Act.

According to latest reports, apart from the Federated Farmers and Act and nine other business groups including Major Electricity Users’ Group, the Employers and Manufacturers Association (EMA) has also joined the side in exerting pressure on the government to delay international commitment on carbon reduction. The EMA chief executive Alasdair Thompson said “Our financial situation is far too fragile to absorb the extra $255mn the government calculates the ETS will cost all of us.”

Though Smith claims an average NZ family could expect a meagre 165 NZ dollars (US$116) annual increase in expenses from July, it is estimated, particularly since the ETS would be covering transport and energy, the annual family expenditure would be manifold than his assumption. The ETS would be introduced in come July on the energy, transport and industrial sectors with a 50 percent obligation.

The NZ ETS legislation allows for a formal review of the scheme in 2011 along with an increase in obligations from Jan 1, 2013. The ETS is effective on forestry from 2008; and agriculture, which makes up the half of NZ’s emissions, will be included in the scheme in 2015. Some of the major reasons for growing opposition in NZ against the ETS are cited as the absence of consensus among many nations on paucity of time on implementation, trade disadvantages, cost escalation on essentials and stringent NZ ETS norms on all sectors.

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The Secretary to the Nigerian Government of the Federation, Alhaji Ahmed Yayale is leading a delegation comprising of top government officials and private company heads to the US to sign the agreement as well as to interact with their counterparts to explore areas of interest and profit. While speaking to THISDAY, the Nigerian Ambassador to the US, Professor Adebowale Adefuye said Yayale would sign the accord on behalf of Nigeria and the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would do the same for the US.

Nigeria envisages this pact as an important milestone in trade ties with the US especially after the country failed to take advantage of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) enacted in 2000, which enabled the country to penetrate the US market. Similarly, through the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) which is in effect again from 2000, both countries have not been able to achieve the desired results despite an uptick in some of the trade areas. However, in the wake of the restoration of democracy in 1999, the Nigeria-US relations have shown tremendous improvements in diplomatic co-operation and regional peacekeeping efforts.

According to Adefuye, the pact will cover several spheres including trade and energy, Niger Delta; electoral reforms, and peace and security. In addition, the first US-Nigeria Business Forum will be held between April 12 and 20 in three US states – Georgia, Texas and Illinois.

The Forum is expected to discuss the trade prospects for both countries in the fields of tourism & hospitality, mining, telecommunications, aviation & transport, and the SMEs development. Other areas such as banking, infrastructure, construction, agriculture, health, oil & gas, maritime, environment and insurance are also expected to be featured in the Forum.

Nigeria is the largest trading partner of the US in sub-Saharan Africa. About one million Nigerian nationals and Nigerian-Americans are believed to live, work and study in the US as against around 25,000 US citizens who live and work in Nigeria.

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Many species of popular aquarium fish come from West Africa, specifically from the Lower Guinean rain-forest in Cameroon, reported VOANews. Europe, the US and Japan are regarded as the largest importers of pet fishes.

The WFC has set up a network of fishing communities around the Southern and Central Cameroon, and imparted training programs to improve the handling of all kind of fishes. Subsequently, the centre ensured that the fishers in the ornamental fish industry received fair wages. Species such as the shimmering epiplatys, striped barbus jae and the red-toothed pungu are collected in streams and river basins with hand-held nets, and fishers received up to 20 cents for each fish.

Randall Brummett, a senior scientist in Cameroon with the WFC said he came up with the project after a veterinarian at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris informed him that 90 percent of the pet fish shipments arrived dead. The project is understood to have overcome a major hurdle by extending the survival rate of the fish by 90 percent at the port of entry as against the two weeks’ shelf life of the aquarium companies of Cameroon.

However, he admitted that current storage facility, operated in conjunction with the sustainable aquarium fish company Gulf Aquatics was not big enough to hold the amount of fish supplied. He further added the WFC was trying to increase the storage facility to reach out to all remote rural communities in Cameroon to optimize their profits by getting rid of middlemen from the business process.

It has been understood that the project has yielded good results as many companies those paid lower wages have vanished from the markets owing to the WFC’s longer survival package. Brummett claimed “The fishers make about five or six times more than they used to, the main reason being that our survival rate is up to over 90 percent now.”

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Starting from the arrest of 10 US missionaries who tried to kidnap children after the quake in Haiti down to the recent apprehension of another man linked to the US missionaries by the Dominican police are seen as a prelude to exploitation and predation yet to jolt the Haitian coast. The quake that has killed more than 200,000 people has left thousands of children orphaned, and consequently vulnerable to being preyed upon by child sex traffickers.

Although millions of dollars have flown into Haiti in Aid and another $11.5bn expected to be spent by the UN in the next three years for socio-economic reconstruction of the country, an Al Jazeera report shows there are widespread misgivings among the Haitians about the rich nations’ participation in the whole re-building process. In a feature presented by Sebastian Walker in Al Jazeera elaborates that many Haitians see the expansion of foreign companies as a way to take advantage of the rampant poverty plaguing the nation, where the unemployment rate is up to 80 percent.

Miguel Angel Torres, a factory manager of one of the largest garment factories of the famous American brand, the Levi Strauss & Co told Al Jazeera that Haiti’s competitive factor of growth was its lowest salary. In the feature, Walker said with the promise of economic incentives for Haiti many multi-national companies were exploiting the cheapest wages in the world to make extra bucks, or in other words, “profiting from poverty”.

Walker pointed out that the sale of just one pair of jeans could pay off two weeks of a Haitian garment worker’s salary, $4 per day. It has been noticed that these low wages would not bring needed change to the Haitian economy unless stricter rules to raise the wages were enforced. He blamed the US president Barack Obama and former presidents, Bill Clinton and George Bush for their plans of promoting the US clothing companies in Haiti which took all the profits back home.

Yannick Etienne, a garment worker said the clothing firms were helping themselves under the garb of shaping the future of Haiti. She added that she couldn’t see any improvement in the economy through these projects rather than reproduction of poverty.

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Furthermore, there was concerted effort from a broad-based coalition of organizations in Nova Scotia, a Canadian province, with similar demands urged its premier Darrell Dexter to immediately take actions to counter a number of water issues. The coalition with ‘Turn on the Tap and Ditch the Bottle’ slogan presented the provincial government, a costless three-pronged formula to protect water resources of the province.

The coalition head Danny Cavanagh lashed out at the commercialization of water by saying there is simply no excuse for using bottled water where perfectly good tap water is available. Likewise, Jocelyne Rankin of the Ecology Action Centre said Groundwater was inextricably linked to surface water and over-pumping could cause dramatic declines in water levels, affecting wildlife habitat and recreational and fishing opportunities.

Both groups have identified that water should be made as a human right which would empower citizens to contest on every abuse of this rare depleting resource. The recognition of water as a human right in international law would allow the United Nations (UN) to monitor the progress of states in realizing the right to water, and to hold governments accountable. The Canadian government has consistently opposed the recognition of water as a human right at various UN venues in the past.

According to sources, about 90 Canadians die every year from water-borne diseases, and it is feared if government continues to allow water exports citizens will be deprived of safe and clean water. Bulk water exports and diversions would leave Canada’s water vulnerable to environmental depletion and international trade challenges, which could permanently open the sluice gates to some of the parched US states. In water parlance, a country like Canada which is built on the myth of abundance of fresh water has in fact just one percent renewable water resources, and this seemed to have worked in favour to draw such a huge support for the cause.

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The US government is understood to have responded to the call by Google to include Internet Access Freedom (IAF) as an international trade policy of the country. Nicole Wong, Google Vice President and Deputy General Counsel had urged earlier an open internet should be part of the US trade agenda as economic impact of censorship was huge on e-commerce as well as other companies which used Web services.

In January, Google.cn, the China version of the Google search engine announced it was considering pulling out of China after its portal along with some other 20 tech companies including Adobe, Yahoo and Intel was attacked by allegedly state-sponsored hackers. Though China has denied any such interception, but some companies who were victims of these attacks claim they have ample evidence to prove the government’s hand in this deplorable crime.

Google felt betrayed by the attacks, which resulted in the firm losing some intellectual property, despite compromising on internet freedom during the time of launch by signing an agreement with China in 2006. Under the controversial bargain, Google agreed to censor search results by prompting the users at the bottom of censored pages that results were withheld at the request of the Chinese government.

However, approaching the WTO to settle the issues related to the Chinese internet policies does not ensure any speedy outcome as trade disputes before the global trade body normally takes two or more years to litigate and appeal. Incidentally, according to the China Internet Network Information Center, a government agency that registers online domain names, China is the world’s biggest Internet market, with 384mn Web users at the end of 2009.

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In 1996, Australia was forced to impose ban on beef imports from the UK and later in 2001 for countries including the US and Canada after these beef exporting nations reported cases of mad cow disease or the BSE. People could contract this disease if they consumed portions of brains or spinal cords of infected animals.

Under the new importation laws, only imports of muscle meat, or products of muscle meat, that is not infected with the BSE will be allowed into Australia. The country of origin must apply to the Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) for permission to export beef to the region. The minimum period for the application assessment is fixed at 20 weeks, and if situation warrants, the applicant has to undergo an in-country inspection that could even delay the process beyond the normal time frame.

However, the major exporting nations such as the US and Canada do not meet the Australian stringent safety standards. But the Agriculture Minister of Australia Tony Burke said the country’s strict quarantine standards for beef and other products must not be an excuse for protectionism.

On the contrary, Queensland Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce and NSW Liberal Senator Bill Heffernan stated they would move a private bill proposing that exporting countries installed the Australian-equivalent testing regimes and traceability standards to protect citizens from eating contaminated beef. Likewise, Nationals Leader Warren Truss as well as Page Nationals candidate, Kevin Hogan voiced similar concerns over the non-labelling of the origin of beef as they felt consumers should have the option to choose what was safe for them.

According to sources, supermarkets including Coles and Woolworths have shown solidarity with the domestic beef industry by declaring that they would only sell the Australian beef. Nevertheless, a spokesman of Woolworths admitted that it would be beyond its control to identify what beef went into processed foods, such as meat pies and canned products.

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The US Trade Representative Ron Kirk and the Economy Secretary of Mexico Gerardo Ruiz Mateos in a joint press meet held in Mexico declared the differences on the pilot program would be ironed out soon to facilitate trade between both countries.

Following the ban, Mexico as a retaliatory measure has slapped higher tariffs on 90 items worth $2.4bn of the US agricultural and industrial products from 40 states. During the meet, in regards to the trade tension, Mateos said with about $400bn a year in bilateral trade between both countries, there were bound to be some problems.

Last year’s ban which violated the NAFTA clause was enacted by blaming the Mexican truckers’ not adhering to the US safety standards. At that time, Mateos had argued despite about 46000 crossings during the 18 month old pilot program no noticeable accidents were being reported.

The annulment of the program is regarded as a token to an election promise, the NAFTA will be re-negotiated and modified to preserve the US jobs, by Obama to the labor unions who gave support to him in the 2008 presidential election. The US is estimated to have spent $500mn for the pilot program since its inception.

Kirk apprised that there was fundamental shift in the language of this year’s appropriation bill by removing the clause on cutting off the funding to the pilot program. Prior to the two-day visit to Mexico, he had stated that the US farmers, ranchers and other exporters that had been subject of the retaliation had made their displeasure known to the Congress, and so there was a sense of urgency to find a solution soon.

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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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Mark Maslyn, the Executive Director, Public Policy at AFBF apprised there would be over 600 trade deals worldwide this year, including a possible Australia-Korea deal, whereas the US would have just 20. The US agriculture which has largely benefitted from the FTAs with Australia and other countries are lately facing stiff competition from the Asian and the Latin American countries.

While Australia has struck an FTA with the ASEAN, the US bilateral deals have been delayed due to political quagmire. The farmers feel betrayed by the inactivity of the government on trade deals as it is difficult to assess the damage that could be caused by such delays to the agricultural industry.

The Obama administration refused so far, to send key trade deals to the Congress to be ratified. According to an ABC report, Maslyn observes, “Our competitors are striking deals with the same countries that we’re striking deals with and we can’t get ours through Congress.”
He also blamed the US labor unions for thwarting the deals, while the unions blamed ‘bad’ trade deals for sending the US jobs overseas.

As per the official website of AFBF, the climate change legislation, livestock care issues and social media tools will be at the forefront of topics to be discussed during the annual meet. Interestingly, some climate scientists have sent a letter requesting a meeting with the AFBF President Bob Stallman to discuss his federation’s “inaccurate and marginalized” position on global warming, claimed to be a larger issue than striking trade deals.

The Farm Bureau maintains that “there is no generally agreed upon scientific assessment on…carbon emissions from human activities, their impact on past decades of warming, or how they will affect future climate changes.” According to the letter, the federation’s stance completely ignores the overwhelming scientific evidence of climate change, a problem that puts Farm Bureau members at risk. The scientists’ letter stands in stark contrast to the opinions of climate change denier Christopher Horner, who will be the only scheduled speaker addressing climate at the federation’s annual meeting.

The AFBF or the Farm Bureau is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting, protecting, and representing the interests of farmers and ranchers in the US. It has about 2800, county farm organizations which in turn elect representatives to state farm bureaus.

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The EMP is a market access program that provides funding for technical assistance activities intended to promote exports of the US agricultural commodities and products to emerging markets in all geographic regions, consistent with the US foreign policy. According to the USDA, the EMP is a generic program, and projects that endorse or promote branded products are not eligible for this program.

The EMP, administered by the Foreign Agricultural Service, assists private and public organizations in improving market opportunities for the US agricultural products in low to middle-income countries with viable market potential. One of the emerging market criteria is that the per capita income should be less than $11,455, the current ceiling on upper middle income economies as determined by the World Bank.

The projects will be conducted in Africa, the Caribbean, Central and South America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Particularly in countries that falls under the other criterion to emerging markets of population greater than 1mn.

The total budget for the program can be used for technical assistance, such as activities that focus on building trade capacity, or addressing technical barriers to trade. The USDA informed that this year’s recipients of the funds included universities, state and federal agencies, trade groups, and non-profit organizations.

All applications to the program are subjected to a competitive review process that evaluates the quality of the proposal, its likelihood to succeed, and the applicant’s knowledge of the market in the region. The USDA has also funded 32 other projects totaling $831,474 during the same period, under the EMP’s Technical Issues Resolution Fund (TIRF).

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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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However, the Australian premier Kevin Rudd’s call for a broader Asia-Pacific region that includes the US was a dampener to the proposal of single currency as the US cannot approve another party spoiler to its currency besides the euro. The US always maintained and expressed that it desired to be part of the bloc which would become the largest group above the EU especially since the Asian economies are tipped as economic recovery agents by the WTO and other financial institutions.

A new EU-styled common currency community which likely to include Australia and New Zealand is an ambitious project though the bloc face far more problems than the EU in respect to border issues among members, political instability, human rights violations and so on. The ASEAN bloc is already committed in establishing a single market and manufacturing base by 2015, but Japan and China are keen to increase the size of the market to include the EAS countries including Australia and New Zealand.

Japan’s new Prime Minister, Yukio Hatoyama, has reportedly initiated the call for the single currency, which experts felt would change the global balance of power, if it ever happened. Hatoyama’s proposal immediately received support from China, which said it was ready for discussions.

On the contrary, the New Zealand Prime Minister John Key deflected the idea by saying currency union was normally the last step for any community of countries, and a lot of progress had to be made on regulation and trade barriers before moving on to currency union. However, he admitted there was no question about a growing appetite for a broader consensus on this issue, and his country was committed on the progress of a pan-Asia free-trade area.

Kavi Chongkittavorn, former assistant to the ASEAN secretary-general, said the group was divided along “ideological and generational lines” that had left it polarized on issues like human rights, political intervention and territorial disputes. The Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, the host and current chair of the ASEAN presidency, urged ASEAN countries to get closer to become more influential in the international community.

The resurfacing of the need for a common trading unit indicates that the countries have realized the need to initiate a feasibility study on this matter. Three years later, thus the summit clears the air on working on a plan to evolve a common currency unit.

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