Newsnig8t

Laissez faire - alla sinistra?

A lively debate between left wing campaigners and economists about free trade has been sparked by the appearance on this blog of Alex Singleton - a right wing proponent of it. Jump into Tim Worstall's blog, or Owen's or wait til Saturday when I get to turn on the comments option here (Typepad permitting).

"An extractive economic relationship" - Kenya's trade minister

Dr Mukhisa Kituyi, the Kenyan trade minister, has been on the road for 20 days in the run-up to the G8. I caught up with him in London today – to talk about an issue African countries are hopping mad about: Economic Partnership Agreements. The duffer’s guide is this: originally the EU signed a treaty with "Africa, Caribbean and the Pacific" that gave it access to the EU market without having to open up its markets (the Lome Conventions). Then came EPAs - under the Cotonou Treaty of 2000 - which began to stipulate market opening in return. The African countries say this is tougher than what is required under the WTO rules. To make it even more complicated, the UK government does not really agree with the EU's tough approach to EPAs and is under pressure to toughen its stance from Brussels – but Blair is tied to a negotiating stance signed in 2002, when the EU Commission was configured differently. Confused? I will provide a slew of links when there is time. Start here (PDF). Anyway, the Africans are fed up with EPAs. Read on…

A free-market view on the sugar row

I think, and shoot me down in flames if I am wrong, British conservatism is being a bit less coherent and up-front about the G8 agenda than its counterpart in the USA - so I asked Alex Singleton (pictured) to pen me a response to the report on the EU sugar subsidy...

"Trade is the issue" say Kenyan farmers

I'm at a conference organised by Traidcraft about Economic Partnership Agreements, the bilateral rules that African farmers say is killing their domestic agriculture. Peter Wahome, from Kenya (above) reiterated what every African delegation in London this month is saying: the big issue is trade. They are particularly concerned that the EU seems to be putting pressure on the UK not to go soft on EPAs, and that EPAs are imposing trade acccess conditions that the WTO itself has been persuaded not to insist on. In other words, the UK goes into its EU presidency at odds with the EU negotiating position on trade...

Sugar deal "a betrayal" - Guyana's president tells Newsnight

I've just interviewed the president of Guyana, Bharrat Jagdeo. Watch Newsnight tonight for the full interview: he is outraged at the EU sugar deal, saying the negative impact will far outweigh the effect of the G7 debt relief deal announced two weeks ago. And he's got some punchy things to say about the mismatch between what finance ministers say and trade ministers do. I'll post a transcript of the interview shortly.

Irish farmers hit back at sugar deal

Jim O'Regan of the Irish Farmers Association has just told me the EU price cut will destroy the industry in Europe and hand world sugar production to Brazil. He thinks an alliance of southern European farm ministers and the LDCs can scupper it. "Well, we are the fighting Irish," he tells me in a down the line interview from Dublin (above). Posted from my mobile. Expressionist photo angle by Clive Edwards, the VT editor.

EU sugar row: things get lumpy

The EU is about to issue its proposed remedy to getting caught red handed dumping huge amounts of sugar on the developing world. The remedy? A massive price cut that will, say its opponents, dump a huge amount of misery on the poorest sugar producers...

Conditionality - the big divider

In a Newsnight interview last night, Bono "threw a brick through a window" on the issue of conditionality. Its an issue that divides Europe from America and the NGOs from the summiteers - but everybody's been avoiding it. He said:

"Conditionality actually is a word that means different things to different people. When we talk about conditionality we are talking about clear transparent processes, seeing where the money is going. Some people - the IMF/World bank - although they've stopped this now, or are stopping it now under pressure, [want] conditionalities to open their markets, forcing these countries to open their markets to get loans from the Bank and the Fund. Of course, this is obscene because we protect our own agriculture here in Europe and that's what the Trade Justice Movement is all about."

Actually, the old style conditionality Bono objects to is still a live issue...