Trade : South countries shoot down proposals for e-commerce negotiations (PRIV)
(D. Ravi Kanth, Geneva)
A large majority of developing and least developed countries shot down on Monday (16 October) proposals from major industrialized and some developing countries for establishing a "Working Party" or "Working Group" on Electronic Commerce at the World Trade Organization's upcoming ministerial meeting in Buenos Aires, several trade envoys told SUNS.

Commodities : Diversifying exports, upgrading quality key to less volatility (PRIV)
(Kanaga Raja, Geneva)
The volatility of international commodity markets in the past decade highlights the importance of structural transformation for commodity-dependent developing countries, characterized by a high level of concentration of their export earnings, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has said.

Development : Not true that hunger doesn't discriminate - it does (PRIV)
(IPS, Rome)
In a world where only 8 individuals - all of them men - possess as much as half of all the planet's wealth and it will take women 170 years to be paid as men are **, inequality appears to be a key feature of the current economic model.