Bailouts can hit developing countries, WTO chief warns

April 24th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The global financial crisis is imperilling the UN Millennium Development Goals and could hamper development, warned an International Monetary Fund (IMF)-World Bank report released Friday. Most of the eight globally agreed goals are unlikely to be met by the targeted 2015, including those related to hunger, child and maternal mortality, education and combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other major diseases, the report said.

April 9th, 2009 BONN - India has told the UN that there is no such thing as an 'advanced developing country' - a category that was sought to be introduced by Japan at a just-ended inconclusive global meet on climate change. The 10-day meet was the first in a series organised by the UN leading up to a December summit where countries will seek to hammer out an agreement on how to tackle climate change.

April 4th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The global recovery package agreed at the G20 summit must not be used as artificial life support for a dying economic model, warns international NGO ActionAid. 'There is a risk that this $1 trillion breathing space will be used to carry on with business as usual,' Soren Ambrose, ActionAid's development finance adviser, said in a statement issued Friday, a day after the summit closed in London.

April 1st, 2009 BONN - China has urged the developed countries to help the developing world in fighting climate change. Su Wei, the head of the Chinese delegation at the UN climate change talks in Bonn, has urged the developed countries to make 'substantial arrangements' for transferring funds and climate-friendly technologies to the developing nations.

March 23rd, 2009 BEIJING - Developing countries deserve more say in the decision-making process for the reform of the international financial system, World Bank Vice President James Adams has said here. 'Developing countries as a whole are much more important to the overall functioning of the world economy...

March 14th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The global financial crisis is forcing developed countries to put off plans to build projects to curb greenhouse gases emissions in developing nations, an industry lobby report said Friday. The study by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) said this would affect many renewable energy projects in countries like India and China which need huge investments for their implementation.

March 12th, 2009 NEW YORK - The world population is expected to reach seven billion by 2012, from the current 6.8 billion, with the additional population increase coming mostly in developing countries, the UN said Wednesday. By 2050, the world population is projected to reach over nine billion people based on an annual average gain of 78 million people.

March 4th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India Tuesday warned against the dangers of protectionism and asked developed countries not to stop the flow of funds to developing countries due to the global economic downturn. 'Developed countries should not resort to protectionism to resolve the crisis,' External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who is also acting finance minister, told reporters here when asked about the impact of global financial meltdown on developing countries.

February 21st, 2009 UNITED NATIONS - China has called for a greater representation of developing countries, in particular those from Africa, in a reformed UN Security Council. 'In the reform of the Security Council, priority should be given to the greater representation of developing countries, in particular African ones,' China's UN Ambassador Zhang Yesui told an informal plenary of the General Assembly Thursday.

February 19th, 2009 UNITED NATIONS - China has called for a greater representation of developing countries, in particular those from Africa, in a reformed UN Security Council. 'In the reform of the Security Council, priority should be given to the greater representation of developing countries, in particular African ones,' China's UN Ambassador Zhang Yesui told an informal plenary of the General Assembly Thursday.

February 19th, 2009 UNITED NATIONS - China has called for a greater representation of developing countries, in particular those from Africa, in a reformed UN Security Council. 'In the reform of the Security Council, priority should be given to the greater representation of developing countries, in particular African ones,' China's UN Ambassador Zhang Yesui told an informal plenary of the General Assembly Thursday.

February 19th, 2009 UNITED NATIONS - China has called for a greater representation of developing countries, in particular those from Africa, in a reformed UN Security Council. 'In the reform of the Security Council, priority should be given to the greater representation of developing countries, in particular African ones,' China's UN Ambassador Zhang Yesui told an informal plenary of the General Assembly Thursday.

February 4th, 2009 NEW DELHI - A global treaty to combat climate change should not impose greater burdens on developing countries, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said here Thursday. Delivering the inaugural speech at the Feb 5-7 Delhi Sustainable Development Summit (DSDS), Mukherjee said: 'India is very concerned about climate change, but we have to see the issue in the perspective of our imperative to remove poverty so that all Indians can live a life of dignity.' DSDS, on the theme of equity and ethics on the road to a new global treaty that is expected to be finalised by the next climate summit in Copenhagen this December, comes at a time of global economic crisis, when there are question marks on the willingness of industrialised countries to pay developing countries to cope with adverse effects of climate change.

January 22nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - World Bank President Robert Zoellick has urged US President Barack Obama to do more to help fight global poverty, The New York Times reported Friday. Zoellick said fighting poverty was 'much cheaper than bailing out AIG (American International Group)'.

January 5th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The global economic turmoil poses a grave threat to developing nations even though their contribution to the cause of the crisis is negligible, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said here Tuesday. 'Given the magnitude of the global financial and economic crisis today, the developing countries may become its worst victims even though they were not the cause of the crisis,' Mukherjee said while delivering his address at the general session of the Afro-Asian Rural Development Organisation (AARDO).