Brudirect.com - News Headlines

BruneiDirect.Com

Prince Mohamed Arrives In HK

Hong Kong - His Royal Highness Prince Mohamed Bolkiah, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Her Royal Highness Pg Anak Isteri Pg Anak Hjh Zariah arrived in Hong Kong, where His Royal Highness will lead Brunei Darussalam's delegation at the 8th World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial Meeting Conference.

Trade ministers from nearly 150 countries are meeting in Hong Kong from Dec. 13-18 to try to push forward slow-moving World Trade Organisation talks to liberalise trade in goods and services.

The World Bank estimates that a successful conclusion to the talks could mean the following for the world economy:

By way of illustration, ending all tariffs, subsidies and domestic support programmes would boost global incomes by US$287 billion a year by 2015, with $201 billion of that going to high-income countries.

The number of people living on less than $1 a day would drop by 32 million, a decline of five per cent.

The biggest winners would include Vietnam, Thailand, South Korea and Taiwan.

The impact on the United States and China would be marginal.

Because poor countries stand to gain most from freeing trade in farm goods, poverty levels could actually increase if countries are allowed to label just two per cent of their tariff lines as sensitive products and exempt them from liberalisation.

That's why farm protection is key to the talks. The 30 industrial democracies that make up the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development provide gross support for their farmers of $280 billion a year, the Parisbased forum says.

Farm free trader Australia charges that each cow reared in the European Union enjoys a subsidy of $2.20 a day, more than 1.2 billion of the world's poorest people. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

Click Here To Have Your Say On This Story

Brudirect.com News

Back to News Page

Write to Us

Brunei's Fastest Growing Website with