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WASHINGTON – South Asia has seen an accelerated job growth and a substantial decrease in poverty over the past three decades, second only to East Asia. The region will be the largest contributor to the global workforce over the next two decades. More and better jobs are needed to sustain growth and reduce poverty, says a World Bank report released today.

As has been the case with past debates on trade and human rights, a session in WTO public forum raised interesting questions but did not provide many answers. The panel and audience alike seemed to agree that there is a (growing) relation between trade and human rights disciplines but they differed on where to place it concretely.

A session in WTO public forum discussed how the Internet had become a crucial instrument for trade and economic growth. However, this new engine for trade risked being shut down because of the increasing limitations on the free flow of information that were being adopted by governments. These limitations ranged from blocking of certain content, surveillance tools, local storage requirements to liability for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) for breaches in laws for content circulated on the Internet.

The panellists of a session in WTO public forum agreed that the failures of the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) cannot dominate the whole multilateral trading system, and that they should not imply that multilateralism is dead.

The main purpose of a session in WTO public forum was to gain a better understanding of the linkages between food security and trade in services. The overarching sentiment of all the speakers was that this link was of primary importance, particularly in relation to developing countries. However, it was an area that had not yet received much attention.

How conflict and the resulting instable environment affect trade in fragile states was the main theme of a session in WTO public forum, which concluded that both businesses and the WTO could help foster trade opportunities and economic recovery.

A session in WTO public forum mainly dealt with the views of business circles on the multilateral trading system as it is today and their thoughts on what challenges the WTO should address in the future.

New York: Developing countries, with United Nations help, can lead the world in forging the changes needed to tackle the four major challenges facing the globe – on food, energy, resources and climate – with an integrated approach to all four, Guyana has told the General Assembly.

New Delhi: Mansur Ali Khan, well know as the Nawab of Pataudi, one of the greatest cricket captains the country has produced, passed away on Thursday after battling with a lung infection which was diagnosed about three months back.

New York: The United Nations educational agency has embarked on a new partnership to train thousands of school principals, beginning in Kenya, Ghana and India, that has the potential to benefit up to 10 million children in the future.