Multilateralism is not the panacea to promote global trade

The end-June deadline is prompted by the fear of US Trade Promotion Authority Act, expiring on July 1, 2007. The revolutionary Act allows US President to enter trade negotiations. This is however questionable as Congress finds its role limited in the process – it needs to either reject or approve such treaties within 90 days of signature, without the possibility of amending them. “The fears get accentuated by the realisation that the US is just not in a hurry to revive the sagging WTO – refusing to cut the agricultural subsidies offered to its farm lobby,” says Dr. Paroma Palit of PHDCCI, talking to B&E. And till the time US takes the initiative, other major players like EU, India & Brazil too refuse to relent on issues of reducing industrial tariff s; export subsidies & opening up the service sector.

Despite EU showing great zealousness to rejuvenate the negotiations before mid-April, the prospects don’t look bright. But what if the talks fail to revive; will the world be a loser? Certainly not. Irrespective of WTO dictates, the trade will continue to flourish because it doesn’t need crutches to trot the globe.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2006

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Ashes to ashes...

The exponential increase in pollution and garbage dumps on the higher reaches of Himalayas is an outcome of the increased tourist traffic. In Mount Everest, for example, even before Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay first successfully scaled the world’s highest peak in 1953, there were heaps of flesh, plastic, parachutes, food packets, empty cylinders splattered in this death-zone. Studies show that about 615 tonnes of waste, including poisonous elements, have been spotted across and around Mount Everest. Against this, the bi-annual clean-up program by the Nepal government could manage to get rid of merely 1,700 kg in 1996 and 2,450 kg in 2001.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2006

An IIPM and Management Guru Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri's Initiative