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WTO intellectual property talks, which are about setting up a multilateral geographical indications register for wines and spirits, became the latest on 10 December 2010 to aim for an endgame spurt in early 2011 and a conclusion to the whole Doha Round by the end of the year.

New York: The economies of Latin America and the Caribbean are expected to grow by six per cent in 2010 as a result of the recovery posted by many countries in the region, according to an annual United Nations report released today.

Qatar has weathered the global financial crisis exceptionally well, reflecting the quick and strong policy response by the authorities. Growth has rebounded, and is projected to accelerate to 20 percent in 2011, while inflation will remain subdued. Continuing public investment in infrastructure will keep growth high in the medium term and support nonhydrocarbon growth. Improving productivity will be key to greater self-sustaining long-term growth in the nonhydrocarbon sectors. While the current expansive fiscal policy remains appropriate and monetary policy should remain geared towards supporting credit growth, aggregate demand should be carefully monitored in order to avoid the emergence of inflationary pressures. The central bank will have to rely increasingly on macroprudential instruments to manage the credit cycle and to counter potential surges in capital inflows. Establishing a debt management office and setting up a macro-fiscal unit will constitute important institutional reforms to support policy making. Further improvements in statistics will be essential, which will also require greater coordination between various agencies.

New York: A United Nations initiative launched three years ago to resettle tens of thousands of refugees from camps in eastern Nepal passed the 40,000 mark today, the world body’s refugee agency reported.

The Belgian economy is recovering from the financial crisis and global recession. Although the economy has good fundamentals, the financial market turbulence in the euro area poses risks to the recovery. An encompassing strategy to better control public spending pressures, including from population aging, and to increase employment is urgently needed. Therefore, it is important for the authorities to focus on macroeconomic policy priorities, in particular measures to proceed with fiscal consolidation, contain risks in the financial sector, and push ahead with structural reforms to boost job creation and growth.

Estonia has been successful in its all-out efforts to join the euro area on January 1, 2011. This represents the culmination of 18 years of a fundamentally sound currency board arrangement, supported by a strong commitment to fiscal rectitude that consistently delivered surpluses prior to the crisis. Moreover, despite enduring one of the sharpest contractions in the EU in 2009, the authorities commendably persevered with policies based on satisfying the Maastricht criteria. With the fiscal deficit remaining comfortably below the Maastricht ceiling in 2010, Estonia has earned the distinction of being one of only two EU countries not currently under an Excessive Deficit Procedure.

New Delhi: The Minister of Mines and Development of North Eastern Region Shri B.K. Handique has said that as per the NER Vision 2020 Document, accelerating growth in the NER to catch up with the rest of the country requires a massive increase in investment.

MANILA, PHILIPPINES - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is supporting the governments of Cambodia, Lao People's Democratic Republic (PDR) and Viet Nam in a community-driven initiative to conserve more than 1.9 million hectares of threatened forest land, home to over 170,000 mostly poor, ethnic minority people.

MANILA, PHILIPPINES - The Asian Development Bank's (ADB) Board of Directors today approved a Microfinance Risk Participation Program, marking ADB's first large scale private sector microfinance initiative.

Haryana politics is again astir. Now that the rabi sowing season is over and farmers are relatively less occupied, the political parties have resumed holding public rallies.