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WASHINGTON – A new World Bank report, Middle East and North Africa Economic Developments and Prospects: Investing for Growth and Jobs highlights the important links between good governance on a level legal and regulatory playing field, and the ability of investment to stimulate growth.

New York: Burundi has intensified its efforts in the fight against vaccine-preventable diseases in a United Nations-backed initiative that adds acute respiratory infections to the list of illnesses targeted in regular national childhood immunization campaigns.

New York: Unless governments take urgent steps to deal with the ongoing global economic crisis, “a grave political and social rift” could open up between countries and peoples, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff warned world leaders gathered today at the General Assembly.

The recurring theme in a WTO public forum session was food security and stability in South Asia. The session focused specifically on unregulated speculation on agricultural commodities, surplus production in India and the increasing amount of trade barriers such as tariffs and bans in the world market.

A WTO public forum session revolved around the question of whether natural resources are a curse or a blessing for a country, and the role of parliamentarians in promoting democratic, anti-corrupt, transparent, environmental and development-friendly policy on trade in natural resources.

Despite opposite views of the panellists on the hypothetical death of the Doha Round, a WTO public forum session consensually recalled how crucial the development issue was for least-developed countries (LDCs) and developing countries. Considering the way forward, multilateralism was regarded as a fundamental value.

Regardless of the Doha outcome, the relationship between trade regime and environmental governance remains a pertinent future topic. A session of WTO public forum looked at the interactions between trade and environment, examining the view that they involve both complementarity and conflict.

Lori Wallach, Director of Public Citizen Global Trade Watch, during discussion in WTO public forum stated the need to move towards a more robust regulation of financial systems to avoid the next financial crisis. Current WTO rules on financial services do not reflect the new context post-financial crisis, she said. Ms Wallach called for an institutional review of the WTO to bring rules in sync with reality. She discussed how liberalization implied deregulation and possibilities of establishing domestic prudential norms.

A mix of academics and consultants in WTO public forum discussed the inappropriateness of rules based on 19th century trade patterns to cope with complex global supply chains, and about conflicting legislation, concluding on a need for harmonization on several fronts, preferably based on a bottom-up approach.

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission led by Mr. Todd Schneider visited Dushanbe during September 12 - September 21 to conduct discussions for the Fifth Review of the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) arrangement.