Images of the Beijing sky-line, seemingly bathed in a soup of smog and haze have been never far from the world’s TV screens over recent days and weeks.
International reporters with hand-held air pollution detectors have been popping up on street corners checking the levels of soot and dust.
Everyone seems keen to prove that the city’s […]

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The failure to reach an agreement in Geneva has severely weakened the Doha round. What could be the consequences of a collapse of the Doha negotiation from the perspective of developing nations?

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Last month, I spoke to a group of British parliamentarians who sit on something called the International Development Committee.  Their role is to scrutinise the work of the Department for International Development. ”DFID” – as it is known - is the arm of the British government concerned with promoting development, supporting the alleviation of poverty […]

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The fourth conference of francophone ministers of justice has just been held in Paris.  One of the two themes was “justice and development” and notably economic law and control in French-speaking states. 
Discussion focused on the increase in new IT and financial crimes as well as on regional integration via organisations like OHADA, which I mentioned […]

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Sorry that it has taken me a bit of a while to get back to you on the issue of Aid for Trade. I have just been able to sit down after a busy week discussing with WTO members and Heads of International Organisations on this topic.
It was never going to be easy to bring […]

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Watch the video of the press conference held on October 21st in Washington (French and English).

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For many years now, academics have debated whether regional trade agreements are ‘building blocks’ or ’stumbling blocks’ for development and free trade.  Regionalism has recently returned to the forefront of attention, as the slow progress in the Doha Round of negotiations has led many countries to increasingly pursue regional agendas. 

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1.               Twenty years ago, 22 members of the OECD/DAC accounted for 95% of total aid to developing countries. Today, aid to developing countries is delivered via more than 150 multilateral agencies, 33 bilateral members of the OECD/DAC, at least 10 non-DAC governments and a growing number of global Vertical Funds. 

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Global Growth and Income Distribution between Countries:
Rapid Global Income Expansion Propelled by and Accruing to Developing Countries.
The global economy has been especially strong in recent years. World-wide per capita income is growing as rapidly as ever before.

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