The new South has a cover story on why developing countries should also be eligible for compensation by transnational companies responsible for environmental disasters. The recent $20 bil fund set up by BP for the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico should be a model for companies to compensate for disasters such as in Bhopal, the Ecuadorian Amazon and the Niger Delta.
The Bulletin also focuses on ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement), a TRIPS-Plus treaty being negotiated by 11 members that would be harmful to health and consumer interests and to developing countries. The Bulletin analyses ACTA and carries statements by India, China and Brazil at the WTO on why TRIPS-Plus enforcement is harmful.
Other articles make comments on the austerity policies of developed countries, and on why a climate deal needs to be based on equity in “carbon space”
This Research Paper is a legal analysis of the EC-Cariforum Services and Investment Chapter. It demystifies the many complex technical details in the EPA text and illustrates where this services and investment template goes beyond the WTO's GATS. The paper highlights implications for other developing countries embarking on similar negotiations with the EU.
The document contains a matrix of 21 contentious issues pertaining to the goods negotiations in the EPAs. For each issue, the ‘best’ language (i.e. least damaging language) from the various EPA texts is identified. The problems posed by these contentious issues are then highlighted, and some recommendations provided.
This latest issue of South Bulletin focuses on why China and other East Asian developing countries require a rethinking of the growth strategies, as the global economic slowdown has exposed their over-reliance on exports.
The articles include estimates on the dependence of China on exports for its growth (much higher than previously estimated), why the trade surplus of China with the US is much smaller than widely thought, and the way forward for future growth in China. Another aricle discusses why other East Asian countries face deeper problems and also need a policy re-thinking.
The Bulletin reports on the latest June climate talks in Bonn: how developing countries suffered a setback in a new text, and how the talks reveal continuing deep differences.Another article reports on a dire warning by climate scientists why the "paltry pledges" of the Copenhagen Accord are driving the world to a temperature increase of 3 to 4 degrees.
South Centre has released a Research Paper which examines the impact of the external shocks from the global economic crisis on industrial development of Least Developed Countries (LDCs). These countries are heavily exposed to external shocks because of their extensive trade with the rest of the world. Yet, they are marginalized in terms of their share in international trade and output. They suffer from structural weaknesses and chronic balance-of-payments and fiscal deficits. They are heavily dependent on commodity exports and external financing.The global economic crisis is a wake-up call for LDCs to reconsider their long-term industrial and development strategies.
The South Centre has published a research paper by its Special Economic Advisor and Chief Economist Yilmaz Akyuz, addressing export dependence and their contribution to growth in China and its supplier developing economies in East Asia, in the context of re-examining their growth strategies in light of the global economic crisis and medium term global growth prospects.
The global climate talks are back on track, months after the chaotic ending of the Copenhagen Conference.
This issue of South Bulletin (26 May 2010) focuses on the UNFCCC talks in April and gives a brief preview of what to expect in the UNFCCC talks in the first half of June 2010.
Although enough confidence was built among the UNFCCC member states to resume negotiations, the talks ahead will be very tough as preparations are made for the next Conference in Mexico in December.
South Centre 
South Centre 