El primer día de debate de CELAC acaba sin acuerdos

Cinco minutos de oración marcan el comienzo del primer debate de la Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños (CELAC) del viernes 16 de Febrero de 2012, a pesar de la oposición de algunos estados miembros. Sí, rezando. Por qué? O mejor dicho, por quién?. La razón primaria se encuentra en el carácter católico de la organización. Sin embargo, el representante de la República Dominicana, Radoslalo Zelewski, justificó este acto en agradecimiento de su comandante, como así llaman a Hugo Chavez, fundador de esta organización regional de países latino americanos y caribeños hace ya tres años.

La batalla contra las drogas
El propósito del comité Latinoamericano de estos días en las conferencias de LIMUN 2013, que tienen lugar en la City de Londres, es encontrar una solución a dos problemas que están complicando la vida de los latinoamericanos y su imagen en el exterior: el mundo de las drogas y la influencia militar del exterior en el continente.

Parece que el tema está preparado para su discusión, pero primero los representantes de los estados miembros de CELAC deberían ponerse de acuerdo en cuánto tiempo tiene cada orador para hablar. Después de los 15 minutos discutiendo el “cuánto”, se proponen las mociones: las causas del fracaso de la prohibición de las drogas y, seguidamente, la discusión de las posibles soluciones al narcotráfico.

Culpables y víctimas
Lentamente, los representantes de CELAC dan su opinión sobre cuáles son las causas del problema y cuáles sus posibles soluciones, aunque de poco sirve si no llegan a un acuerdo. Empiezan las discrepancias sobre quién consume, quién produce, quiénes son los responsables, y sobre todo, empiezan las contradicciones y acusaciones.

Brasil, Barbados, República Dominicana, México, Bolivia y Venezuela protagonizan los argumentos más contradictorios, pero a la vez más clarificadores. Al cabo de más de una hora de negociaciones, algunas de las causas del problema están claras: corrupción, demanda exterior, y problemas de política interior como la falta de recursos económicos, la erradicación de la pobreza y la escasa educación de los jóvenes. La República Dominicana, por ejemplo, pone de manifiesto la debilidad del régimen democrático y del poder jurídico en el continente latino. Por otra parte, Venezuela se siente desvinculado de dicho problema, puesto que es el continente con tradición democrática más larga de toda Latino América.




Representante de Bolivia. G. Llopart

La llamada a la unidad por parte de algunos representantes no surte efecto, y los reproches y recriminaciones entre los miembros se hacen cada vez más evidentes. La representante Boliviana, Gloria Llopart Barrera, acusa firmemente a México de régimen corrupto, proponiendo como solución un consejo de los estados latinos y caribeños, “para acabar con la corrupción política de México -por ejemplo- y todos sus problemas de carteles que hay en este país”. Johannes Federkevl, representante de México, declara en su defensa la dificultad de tratar el problema, y alega que se deje de hablar de corrupción tan airosamente puesto que “no somos corruptos”.




Representante de México. J.Federkevl

Cuando el ambiente se relaja, los miembros de CELAC proponen medidas para solucionar y aliviar estos problemas, pero el tiempo se agota. Legalización vs ilegalización, corrupción interior vs demanda exterior. Los problemas están sobre las mesa, también las posibles soluciones; pero no alcanzan un acuerdo común. En lugar de ello, continúan tirando piedras al país vecino. “El problema de las drogas no va a desaparecer tan fácilmente”, afirma la República Dominicana.




representante de Rep. Dominicana. Radoslalo Zelewski

El eterno debate
La falta de organización deja entrever que el debate de las drogas en Latino América tiene aún mucho camino por recorrer, y que esta “matanza sin sentido”, como el presidente de CELAC, Felipe Cuello define el problema, es más grave de acordar que la propia extinción del mismo.

Austerity Measures Are Not the Solution to the EU Debt Crisis

The Economic and Financial Affairs Council at LIMUN 2013 agreed that the Eurozone crisis needs global solutions. Its consequences spread beyond the borders of the EU and affect an interconnected worldwide market. The most likely solution to solve this problem is by global cooperation and trade. Additionally, there is a need for urgent implementation of the fiscal union.

The EU debt crisis is an international concern. As the delegate for China Mattias Verbergt pointed out “it is about all nations fighting against time” to solve a problem that affects everyone. The current financial market is so integrated that all nations feel the economic and financial consequences of the Eurozone. For example, India is a major trading partner of the EU and has been directly affected by the Eurozone crisis.

There are other alternatives

Greece is one of the countries most strongly affected by the crisis. The solution depends on what changes are made to the financial system. The delegate of Greece pointed out that “Alternative solutions have to be explored. Austerity measures will only cause more social unrest”.

Delegate of China

Delegate of China

The delegates from Saudi Arabia and China expressed their concerns on the situation saying that “austerity simply does not work for the EU” and that “these measures are not the only way”. Stimulating measures are necessary to revive the Euro currency.

The United Nations must come up with specific solutions that will not include the disintegration of the single currency. The delegate for Greece explained clearly that the 170% GDP in the country must be addressed, and if not, “Greece will be more like to leave the Eurozone”. Austerity measures have been implemented in Greece without any positive results. However the delegate for Greece acknowledged that “the EU has supported Greece with financial assistance of €34.4bn in the second bailout, and this shows the commitment of the EU for Greece to remain part of the Union”.

More financial investment and integration

The Eurozone is facing a double-dip  recession, where the Southern European countries of Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain are the worst affected. However, there are some positive examples too. The delegate for Italy said that the country won't ask for a bailout from the European Stability Mechanism (ESM). The delegate of Germany also stated: “Germany does not believe in the EU failing. We do not support austerity measures only, but we need control and supervision of member countries in order to see growth”.

Delegate of Germany

Delegate of Germany

All countries agreed that international cooperation is needed to face the debt default of the EU, and that protectionism and austerity are not the only solutions. What is needed is more economic and financial integration within the EU and international trading and investments with overseas countries.

Spain will give you reasons for coming back

“If you had to be reborn anywhere in the world as a person with artistic talent and creativity, 

you would want to be Don Quixote”

“In a village of La Mancha, the name of which I have no desire to call to mind...” was the place where  the famous writer Miguel de Cervantes, the creator of “Don Quixote”, was born. In this Southern country, where the sun shines 13 months a year, is where the film director Pedro Almodóvar became recognized to capture Spanish cinema in a so peculiar way.

There was also another story, as beautiful as these ones, about an American guy and a Spanish girl who met one by chance in the North of Spain, specifically in Santander. She was from Alicante and went there for an English course. He was the English professor and would live there for a while. Something special happened that day in the North of Spain, but it was too difficult to bet for it. There were many obstacles between them, however, they both fall in love and they decide to be two weeks together travelling around the country that made them fall in love.

Santander 

Santander

 They both had only a week together, what they spent it enjoying the beauty of Santander, its green cliffs next to the Bay of Biscay and the Royal Palace of La Magdalena, once the residence of Alfonso XIII, King of Spain from 1886 until 1941. After it, She had to go back to her city, in the south east of Spain, and they might not see each other again. However, the week after that, it was the 20th of June when the main festivity in Alicante begins, the hogueras. He had never heard about a tradition where people build a monument and during four days there are fireworks and firecrackers in the street, along with music and parades, so he had an excuse to go there and visit her. They stayed together until the 24th of June, when the monument is set on fire on the night of San Juan.

Nevertheless, he had to move to work in Cuenca, in Castile-La Mancha, closer to Alicante. Cuenca, a city on the inner plateau of Spain where the hanging houses are, the only remaining samples of this type of building. He promised her that if she went to Cuenca to visit him, he would show her on of the oldest and the most beautiful villages in Spain, Albarracín, in the province of Teruel, part of the autonomous community of Aragon. He took her hiking and climbing on the mountains until the birth of the Tagus River in the Sierra de Albarracin.


Something else was born there, on the banks of the river Tagus, but they only had two weeks left before he went back to the States. So, why not steal the time and create a secret between she, he and Spain. The next day, they were driving aimlessly, only with a map of Spain and some recommendations of places to visit.

San Sebastián

Zaragoza

Spain, a country to discover together

After a couple of hours driving, they stopped in Zaragoza, the capital of Aragon. They had something to eat in the Pillar square, admiring the Pillar´s church on the banks of the river Ebro. Then, they continued their trip to Pamplona, capital city of Navarre, where at that time of the year were the San Fermines or bull running festivity of the city. The day after, they start driving to the Basque country, specifically to San Sebastian, city that will be the European Capital of Culture in 2016 (along with Wrocław in Poland).

For the next destination, they wanted to explore the interior of Castile- Leon, its meadows, its castles and, of course, Burgos and Salamanca´s cathedrals. After this walk through history, there was one more stop before the end of the trip; Segovia. There, they got into the history of the Catholic kings of Spain with the famous Alcázar, they ate its main dish of pork, cheese and cured sausages and enjoyed its wine, before arriving to the airport, at the capital of the country, that would keep them apart.

Segovia

Salamanca

After this short ten days, they arrived to Madrid where their destinies would be separated. But, there were still some hours left, so they decided to go to the centre of the city and walk on the Retiro park and perhaps see the Prado museum. But then, it was time for him to leave. To leave the country he loves, and the woman with whom he shared and discovered it. She left him in the airport and started driving back to Alicante and her Mediterranean sea, always remanding those cities, those secret places on Spain that brought them together the love.

They know there are many beautiful places in Spain, but they were more than that, they were special cities to them, because now those places were theirs. This romance between three is still as alive as the first day, and every now and then he went back to Spain, to explore with her these exclusive and beautiful places of the warm southern European country. And every time, in a new city around Spain, he fell in love again to this country, and its woman.

Alicante

Alicante provincia

Opportunities behind adversities
This was a true story that at the beginning no one invested a penny on it. Nobody thought it was worthy, “to complicate it”, they said, “to many problems”, or “to weak to resist the circumstances”... That was what people were saying when they said they wanted to be together. What would happen with the distance, and the age difference? But the couple did not care, because they knew that they wanted to be together and they believe Spain will bring them what they needed. Maybe, they will need some time to be together but, as they always say, if there is a will, there is a way.

Maybe this can also be applied to other areas, as the finances. Give it some time, believe on it, and Spain will recover. Perhaps, it also needs somebody else who loves it too, and build a new momentum with it...

Can the 2013 achieve the economic targets?

After more than four years fighting against the economic recession, it seems that 2013 can be the turning point for some countries. United Kingdom is expected to get out of the recession this new year, as forecast announces an economic growth of 1.2% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). However, the hit European countries, in which Spain is part of, will continue into stagnation. Spanish prevision of growth in the next year is still downturn, with a minus 1.2% decrease of the GDP in 2013.

UK´s economic strategy “is focussed on reducing the deficit, restoring stability, rebalancing the economy and equipping the UK to compete in the global race”, as the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, explained in the Autumn Statement to Parliament on 5 December 2012. On the other side, Spanish austerity measures have only contributed to increase unemployment (up to 25%) and to provoke more social unrest.

However, it it necessary to remark that neither UK nor Spain are likely to kept their forecasts of deficit reduction in the year that has just entered. The objective of Spanish deficit was 6.3% of GDP at the end of 2012, “but it could be (above that),” as the Bank of Spain governor, Luis Maria Linde, said last December 2012; although estimations yet predict Spanish deficit to drop to a 4.7% of GDP in 2013. On the other side, UK will also miss its deficit target from the 2013-2014 financial year, as the Autumn statement announced an escalation to 5.9pc of GDP, or £98bn, as Mr. Osborne indicated (hm treasury, Dec 5th, 2012). This data would indicate that the UK deficit next year could be higher than the Spanish's.

Therefore, new cutting measures will be necessary to reduce deficit and the extensive public debt. UK budget cuts are not significant, only 1.5% real cuts during 2012, if compared with Spanish ones where the most striking difference is that Spain does not include any measure to support growth as UK has setting up. For example, UK new policy includes increasing funding for UK Trade and Investments or helping smaller and medium-sized businesses access finance and support “from £25,000 to £250,000 for two years” as Mr. Osborne set out in the Annual Autumn Statement. This strategy can probably be the best solution to alleviate the financial situation; something that the European Union also instituted in its programme 2007-2013 “new funds, better rules”.

Lewisham hospital in the spotlight

The South-East London hospitals are running through a process of transformation to improve the South London Healthcare Trust system because of the financial problems they are suffering. The government-appointed administrator, Matthew Kershaw, from the Trust Special Administrator (TSA) has sent some recommendations to the Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt, to alleviate these problems.

Although this area includes six London NHS Trusts and five major hospitals, the public discussion has been about the Lewisham hospital and the closure of  several key departments. Lewisham south-east London hospital is threatened for the selling of a sixty percent of its buildings due to a closure of  the Accident and Emergency (A&E) and maternity units, paediatric services, the ICU and all acute admission if these recommendations are approved next 1st of February.

This closures will cost large sums of money to the National Health Service over many years; more than a hundred and ninety million pounds.  SaveLewishamhospital.com campaign will organize a demostration next 26th of January to stop the recommendations.


Interview:

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The recommendations report from the Trust Special Administrator is about how to improve the efficiency South London Healthcare NHS (National Health Service) Trust or colloquially SLHT. Three hospitals are part of this single government entity: the Queen’s Elizabeth  hospital at Greenich, the Queen Mary hospital in Sycup in Bexly and the Princess Royal hospital in Bromly.

Most of the recommendations of the TSA report look at the long term solutions to the financial problems of that Trust, since it is losing a million pounds a week. However, the controversy has focused on another South-East hospital Lewisham.

Mark Palin, communication’s consultant for the Office of the Trust Special Administrator (OTSA) explains why it is necessary to look beyond that Trust and to look at the wider health economy of South-East London, which includes Lewisham.

The Health economy of South-East London is twenty percent of London and it serves a population of nearly two million people. The recommendations address the problems of the Private Finance Initiatives (PFI) within South-East London Healthcare.

On the other side of the story, Jos Bell, a spokeswoman for the Save Lewisham hospital campaign, says that this issue is beyond politics but for the people of Lewisham. She says that dismantling Lewisham hospital will cost one hundred and ninety million pounds and it will mean more losses than gains.

People al Lewisham have now signed a petition against the proposal to close A&E and maternity units,  paediatric services, the ICU and all acute admission, and they are organizing demonstrations, as the one on the twenty six of January, to keep Lewisham hospital untouched.

The final report is now on the Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt, who is expecting to make his decision about these recommendations on the first of February, in terms of solving the issues to the Health economy of South-East London.



Sources:
Jos Bell, spokeswoman for the Save Lewisham hospital campaign
Mark Palin, communication’s consultant for the Office of the Trust Special Administrator

Buenos Aires steak house - A different business story

“The financial crisis has helped us to grow”, said the Chief Executive of Buenos Aires, an Argentine steakhouse restaurant, the second group enterprise steakhouse in London

The ultimate Argentine experience is the motto of Buenos Aires steakhouse restaurant. With six restaurants around and in London, this company has learned how to expand itself amid the global financial situation.

Cristian Barrionuevo, chief executive of Buenos Aires says that in 2011 sales fell 10%, however this did not stop him from opening one restaurant per year. 2012 was the big bet. Buenos Aires opened last summer its sixth restaurant in The City. To rent a building in this area costs around £400,000 per year, however, Mr. Barrionuevo explains this has been possible because when many pubs are closing the situation changes and “now landlords give you more opportunities to let the premises”. For example,  Mr. Barrionuevo obtained 18 months for free in the rent of the last building, what it means a total saving of £300,000. In this sense, “the financial crisis has helped us to grow”, continues Mr. Barrionuevo.

The greatest challenge for Mr. Barrionuevo was that he did not have initial capital to invest in his new business. With the revenue of one restaurant, he invests in the next one. “This way of acting always makes you feel in tension, you have to work harder to success since you have invested everything you have”, describes Mr. Barrionuevo.

Since in 2007, when Buenos Aires steakhouse restaurant opened its first restaurant in London, many things have changed. Now, banks give Mr. Barrionuevo loans because they see a continuity in his businesses. In the first restaurant there was more drawbacks to borrow money or to negotiate the contract clauses with the landlord. Once your business has developed a brand, name and logo, “you are the one to impose the conditions”, Mr. Barrionuevo explains. Nowadays, Buenos Aires is a Group Company with a turnover of more than £4m. Here, it is easier for them to expand their business.

Nevertheless, it has not been always that easy. Mr. Barrionuevo, Argentine by birth, had to move to Spain because his son had a skin disease and he needed the Spanish climate. There, in Valencia, he decided to open his first of all restaurants in 2006. His experience was definitely different if he compares Spanish and English (UK) businesses. As Mr. Barrionuevo specifies, “the expenses are higher and the benefits are lower in Spain because you pay the same amount to the suppliers as you would do in UK, but you earn less benefits” because the price costumers pay in Spain is lower. In other words, in Spain there is more work to do, and less benefits to earn. In these circumstances, Mr. Barrionuevo had to close his business in Spain one year later.


Businesses in UK
Mr. Barrionuevo opened his first restaurant in London in the area of Purley in 2007, what eventually becoming the “Steak Palace” of the area. A year later, the second restaurant was opened in Maidstone, which was the only Argentine steakhouse in Kent. In 2009 was the time of the Argentine steakhouse restaurant in Croydon. This time, a market study was already necessary to know the area and the public with the purpose to define his product and to build a particular style of restaurants. Next year, another restaurant was opened in Fulham, the first London based venue. In 2011, Mr. Barrionuevo decided to expand his business in the area of Wimbledon. In the new one (2012), Mr. Barrionuevo bet for the City, where he needed different strategy; or as he explains, “each area needs different inversion, because it has different clientele, and the one in the City has more bookings” since it is the biggest one among the sixth of them.


Know-how
Cristian Barrionuevo has worked in gastronomy since he was 15 and his experience, first as a employee and later as an employer, has made him to value his own business. As he relates, “the skill for success is to concentrate in the details”. 80% of his staff are Spanish-speakers with knowledge of Argentina’s traditions. The atmosphere, the quality of the food and human contact are essential attributes in Buenos Aires steakhouse restaurant. Mr. Barrionuevo points out that the most important thing is a good management of the product, “knowing every time what it is happening in your business”.

“Steakhouse business is on fashion and the Argentine steak is different”, explains Mr. Barrionuevo. All the products in Buenos Aires restaurant are Argentinian; from the wine, to the meat until the cook. “Everything can work if you know how to organize your business”, says Mr. Barrionuevo. Some products need more management than others and to know what everything costs and how much earnings it produces it is fundamental to maintain the business line. “We have to work harder to maintain what we have”, Mr. Barrionuevo says. He works from Monday to Monday and the secret is to be always available, definitely to be present.

This kind of restaurants has a specific target and the competence is still low because there is not one Argentinian restaurant next to another. Buenos Aires steakhouse restaurant has a strategy of innovation in menus, specialty dishes, or tango night!. Besides, Mr. Barrionuevo is thinking to introduce again some tapas menu in his next restaurant in 2013 as he did in his restaurant in Spain.

Nowadays, Mr. Barrionuevo has developed a sense of business, and he does not open a restaurant everywhere. Mr. Barrionuevo´s purpose is to continue growing but maintaining the same style, developing a brand identification and recognition of all his businesses.

A familiar chain
Buenos Aires steakhouse restaurant has grown, but it has not lost its identity. Mr. Barrionuevo identifies his company as a “family business”. Mr. Barrionuevo appreciates his employees as his friends. Some of them has stayed with him since he opened his first restaurant six years ago. In 2007,  he needed some support for the initial capital to open his first restaurant in Purley, what it received from his friend and wine supplier. “He helped with in the worst moments and he is still working with me”, Mr. Barrionuevo mentions this behavior as a principle to maintain a business and to build strong relationships with the staff.

When you come in to Buenos Aires Argentine steakhouse restaurant, the local´s elegance grabs you. The informal style regarding quality/price, the Spanish language and music along with the quite atmosphere make you feel in another place out of the hustle of the city of London. Their objective is “to establish a place out of the business routine, where costumers can come here and relax”, specifies Mr. Barrionuevo. The image of the restaurant seems expensive, but as Mr. Barrionuevo says “we are one of the less expensive, specially among the City”.

Regarding to the finances, Mr. Barrionuevo explains that everything is well distributed according to the expenses. He needs a balance between the cost of food and staff, the bills and the rent of the premises. “If we have a net benefits of 15% in the Buenos Aires restaurant at the City for example, means a good equivalence, since we have to pay £75,000 of renting per quarter of three of our buildings”, specifies Mr. Barrionuevo.

The “forgotten army”
There is no crisis if there is money. Something as clear as that is what make businesses stay afloat nowadays. UK policy about lending money to start-ups is riskier than to lend it to a business already consolidated. However, Small and Medium-sized (SME) companies accounted for “99.9 per cent of all private sector businesses in the UK”, according to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB). They are the ones that can make the economy grow, and therefore, they need backup from the government. As the UK's premier business lobbying organisation (CBI) proclaims “the British government should provide stronger support for medium-sized firms”.

Doha Round, the perpetual negotiation at the World Trade Organization

More than a decade after the first negotiations about the Doha Development Round, the agreement is still suspended. Several key issues are at stake in this Declaration, where lowing trade barriers, dealing on agricultural subsidies or improving trading conditions for the least developing countries are the most controversial factors for a multilateral agreement among World Trade Organization´s members.

Amid the current financial crisis, Kieth Rockwell, World Trade Organization (WTO) spokesperson, explains this lack of consensus is due to the reluctance of politicians to take risks. “The appetite for further trade opening diminishing when there are difficult economic conditions”, Mr. Rockwell pointed out in a conference hold at City university in London last 22nd of November, 2012.

There has been a rise in the number of trade restrictive activity that have been applied during the financial crisis. “In 2009 trade collapsed, contracted by 40% (the biggest contraction in trade since the Big Depression). However, a year later trade rose again by more than 20%”, because markets stayed open, specifies Mr. Rockwell. In accordance with this, the Dispute Settlement is a system which deals with these trade frictions. This 2012, WTO has seen “an increase of more than three times in the number of dispute settlement cases brought into the WTO”, as Mr. Rockwell announces.

This rise of trade fictions is a consequence of two elements: the economic situation and the power shift. Since China entered the WTO in 2001, the number of dispute cases has increased. Why? Power is shifting from West to East and it has been accelerated by the crisis. What matters here is that the U.S., China, EU and Japan are the world´s biggest trading nations. China is the second largest importer and exporter and it faces more trade frictions. According to Mr. Rockwell, as long as cases are coming to the WTO dispute process “is a good thing” since -Mr. Rockwell continue- “its a forum in which all types of trade can be discussed”.

However, inside the Doha commitments, there is one particular issue that have been proved irresolvable until the moment; agriculture. Agricultural subsidies and agricultural market access (mainly tariffs) are perhaps the most complicated things to solve. The WTO focuses on trade distorting subsidies. Mr. Rockwell specifies that, “there are means of supporting agriculture which are less distorting than others”. Encouraging production, for example, is what is called “trade disturbing”. Why? Because if a developed country has a super-plus production, it might sell it to a third developing country and hurt its economy.

Inside the WTO, there is a coalition of developing countries; the G-20 (not to be confused with the G-20 group of finance ministers) that tries to pressure the developed states to reform their agricultural practices, providing some flexibility for the poorest economies. This last October 31st, the WTO Director-General, Pascal Lamy, said in the G-20 trade measures report that those economies slowdown pressures on trade restrictive barriers. Although, the uncertain economic situation has made negotiations stalled.

The Doha Development Round has focused mainly on improving conditions on the developing countries. But, what has it delivered for them up to this point? Sincerely, as the WTO spokesman affirmed, little progress has been made since 2008 because they do not have agreements. Here it comes the problem of security and, lets be honest, corruption; that makes more difficult to build business there. Mr. Rockwell clarifies at this point that developing countries have to find what they call “needs agreement” to identify what they need to do to implement any agreement, as for example improving border crossing points or infrastructure. “There are a wide key issues that are important to them and we have to identify these needs and see how much will cost for them”, describes Mr. Rockwell.

This means that “trade is not a good thing all the time for everybody”, as Mr. Rochwell manifests. There are trade downsides because least developing countries need special protection,  they are fragile and their trade infrastructure is poor. The disadvantage is that they do not have the same competitive capacity to deal with free trade. Therefore,  as WTO spokesperson revels, “it all depends on each country and the country´s economic activity”. There are many factors that have to be taken into consideration, as the level of development or competitive system, to achieve fair trade, and not only free trade.

In relation to these problems, the last Public Forum (September 2012) discussed the failure of governments to reach agreements under the threshold if multilateralism can be delivered. Anabel González, Costa Rica’s Minister of Foreign Trade emphasized that, “We need to revitalize the multilateral trading system in the WTO” to be able to find global solutions for global problems as the global warming, finance or security. In the same way, Eduardo Pérez Motta, Chairman of Mexico’s Federal Commission on Competition stated that, “We are in a time of challenges […] and I think we have to reflect how the international trade system has to move forward”. The question is, can this be done in the Doha Round, or perhaps it is necessary a more open-creative path to redefine the current problems?

Editorial
What are development and developing countries defined?

The Doha Round is also known “semi-officially” as the Doha Development Agenda, since developing countries’ needs and interests are at the heart of this Declaration´s programme. It also includes the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which are eight objectives to achieve by 2015. Mr. Rockwell says, “in the most important areas, as reducing poverty, […] or access to drinking water, the goals have been met already well ahead the schedule [...] And to some extent, trade has been a key player in countries like China, Chile, India or Brazil”.

G-20 developing group includes countries as Egypt, India, China, Argentina or Nigeria. There is a question that arise here such as; can all these countries lump together into the same category? I do not think so, since there is a wide range of differences in development among countries. Therefore, how do you define development? Is China still considered a developing country? Probably not. The group of countries defined as BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China) have advantage over other poorest countries that need special and differential treatment.

UNICEF data shows that “more than 30 per cent of children in developing countries – about 600 million – live on less than US $1 a day”. Are then the objectives being met? There are many countries that still live under the threshold of poverty. Ghana, for example, is part of the WTO since 1995 but it is not included on the G-20 developing countries. Its main exports are gold, cocoa and timber. However, “14,000 people died of AIDS in Ghana in 2011”, according to its official website. And there are many other countries in this situation. This makes me think, is free trade fair for them? We need to be aware that natural resources are found in some of the poorest countries. Therefore, there is something that someone is not doing totally fair to still allow that.