The week ahead

tauringhuang.

Jul 20th 2008
From Economist.com

An effort to breathe life into the Doha round of trade talks, and other news
•TRADE ministers, hoping to make a breakthrough in the interminable Doha round of global trade talks, will gather at the World Trade Organisation’s headquarters beside Lake Geneva, on Monday July 21st. Their aim is to agree on a plan for liberalising trade in farm products and industrial goods, and to look for signs of compromise on services. The WTO’s director-general, Pascal Lamy, reckons the odds of success are more than 50%. That, regrettably, is probably an over optimistic assessment.

For background see article

•INDIA’S battered coalition government faces the challenge of a vote of confidence in parliament on Tuesday July 22nd. The vote is the result of the desertion from the ruling coalition of Manmohan Singh of Communists who are opposed to a deal struck with America that would have supplied civil nuclear technology to a country desperate to boost its power-generating capacity. The Communists reckon that the deal hands too much control of Indian infrastructure to “imperialists”. The vote is set to be close: a loss for the government would spark an early general election.

For background see article

•AMERICA’S treasury secretary, Hank Paulson, will seek approval from Congress for the extension of the Treasury’s credit lines to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. On Wednesday July 23rd the House of Representatives will vote on a bill expected to include help for the pair. He might even seek to buy shares in the two American mortgage giants, which have suffered a loss of confidence that has sent their share prices tumbling. The authorities hope that confidence can be restored and are keen to avoid nationalisation, which would bring the whole of Fannie’s and Freddie’s debt onto the federal government’s balance sheet.

For background see article

•THE Chinese government has ordered the closure of 40 factories in Tianjin, a port city just east of Beijing, from Friday 25th July to September 20th in a bid to improve air quality in the capital ahead of the Olympic games. Tangshan, an industrial city also east of Beijing, will this month shut nearly 300 factories and Beijing’s authorities have also introduced a scheme to cut traffic by allowing cars with odd and even number plates to use the city’s roads on alternate days.

For background see article

To listen to a discussion of the news in the coming week click here