8/6/2019 Qatar Airways Gets Boeing 777

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Qatar Airways gets Boeing 777-300 DPA/Hong KongThe global economic crisis has made concluding the Doha Round of trade talks evenmore urgent and the negotiations will test G20 leaders to the limit, the World TradeOrganisation said yesterday.The WTO expects world trade to fall 3% this year, hitting poor countries hardest. Thatwould be the first annual drop in trade volumes since 1982 and the steepest for 80 years.The International Monetary Fund forecasts that world trade will contract by 5% or morein 2009. How to deal with that will be high on the agenda of leaders of the richestnations meeting in London next month.The leadership of the G20 will be tested this time, Valentine Rugwabiza, the WTOsdeputy director general, told Reuters in an interview after an IMF meeting Tanzania.The poorest countries, which were not the source of the current crisis ... cant be askedto wait until the developed economies fix their crisis before reverting to the DohaAgenda.Asking less-wealthy nations to hold on under the current circumstances would beimmoral, she said, since slumping trade volumes would mean the reversal of hard-wondevelopment gains and millions of people risking a slide back into poverty.The Doha Round started in 2001 and was meant to boost global commerce and offer millions of poor farmers and others in developing countries a chance to trade their wayout of poverty.Talks have been stalled over the level of agriculture subsidies in some rich nations andthe degree big developing nations like China, India, Brazil and South Africa should opentheir markets in farm products and industrial goods.The latest attempt to conclude the round faltered last July.The downturn has led to dwindling demand for commodities like the coffee, cotton andcocoa exports that many African economies depend on. It has also led to a drop in tradefinance.Rugwabiza said one possible response to the crisis, especially in Africa, was boostingintegration. And she warned that adopting protectionist measures would becounterproductive

Summary

y The WTO expects world trade to fall 3% this year, hitting poor countrieshardest.

y Talks have been stalled over the level of agriculture subsidies in some richnations and the degree big developing nations like China, India, Brazil andSouth Africa should open their markets in farm products and industrialgoods.

y Rugwabiza said one possible response to the crisis, especially in Africa, was boosting integration. And she warned that adopting protectionist measureswould be counterproductive