South Centre in Media: Africa: U.S. Farm Subsidies May Survive WTO Doha Round

South Centre gets mentioned in the Inter Press Service:

"According to an analysis by the non-governmental research and advocacy organisation South Centre, the NAMA 11 developing countries will have to reduce their tariffs by between 54 and 60 percent while the developed countries reduce their tariffs by only 30 percent. "

Read the complete press clipping at: http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=42939

South Centre in Media: Equitable Development- The Risks of Inaction

Here is the recent column piece from the South Centre appearing at the Inter Press Service.

MAY 2008 (IPS/South Centre) - There is much to celebrate in the growth and development of the South in recent years, from the ability of certain Latin American countries to avoid dependence on the North to the growth of the economies of certain Asian countries whose increasing sovereign wealth is now being tapped to bail out distressed banks in the North. While there are signs of growth in Africa too, the continent is worse off than the rest of the South, writes Yash Tandon, Executive Director of the South Centre.

Complete piece is available at: http://www.ipsnews.net/columns.asp?idnews=42330

South Centre in Media: EU Sugar Reform a Bitter Pill for Poorer Producers

This piece written by David Kleimann while working at the South Centre appears in the IPS Columnist Service.

(IPS/South Centre) - For more than three decades, the European Union has maintained an extremely costly supply management scheme for its domestic sugar market which insulates domestic producers from international market forces with price supports and tariffs and has resulted in domestic prices triple world market prices and a major production surplus. At the same time, the EU has granted duty free market access for guaranteed quantities to some of its former colonies at guaranteed prices, writes David Kleimann, a German expert on international law and international relations.

In February 2006, the EU adopted a radical reform programme of its sugar regime which is having severe effects. Some ACP high-cost producers are very likely to cease production because of the price reductions, while others will face a sharp reduction in their export earnings, and only a small group of competitive LDCSs will be able to comfortably continue to supply the EU market after the price reductions have been implemented and the preferences terminated. The EU has the moral and legal obligation to provide the small and vulnerable ACP economies with market access for sugar that is worth no less than the previous trade arrangement and that continues to contribute to the realisation of their economic development and poverty reduction.