Emad Mekay

WASHINGTON, Aug 18 (IPS) - A global energy plan to be released by the World Bank next month risks squandering scarce resources on so-called clean coal technologies and misses bigger investments in renewable energy, but does address gaps in the energy needs of the poor, according to a new analysis by an environmental group.

World Bank officials will discuss the document, called the “Progress Report on the Investment Framework for Clean Energy and Development”, later this month before it is placed on the agenda of the joint annual meetings of the World Bank and its sister institution, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), next month in Singapore.

A similar programme focusing on longer term country-level activities and global research will be completed by the Group of Eight most industrialised countries at their summit in Japan in 2008.

Rich nations had asked the World Bank, and other international financial institutions, at a summit last year in Gleneagles, Scotland to draft the plan under discussion to combat global warming and help secure future energy supplies.

The World Bank input comes amid heightened concerns about soaring global energy prices and the connection between high energy consumption and climate change.

When the first draft of the document came out at the spring meetings of the World Bank and the IMF, many observers said they were shocked by the lack of references to poor people.

But analysts who have seen a leaked version of the latest report say that it now devotes considerable space to the needs of the 1.6 billion poor people, particularly in Africa and South Asia, who presently lack access to modern energy.

The strategy’s advocates inside the Bank say it goes a long way in dealing with environmental problems and climate change concerns.

“This paper addresses the need to produce energy in a manner that reduces local and regional air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions,” Robert Watson, chief scientist at the World Bank, told IPS.

While acknowledging the improvements, the California-based watchdog group International Rivers Network (IRN) says that the plan misses “the double dividend of renewable energy” — namely, combating climate change and reducing poverty.

In a brief analysis of the document, IRN argues that clean technologies like wind, solar, modern biomass, geothermal and small hydropower are available locally, create jobs and have very low environmental impacts, and could better achieve this dividend.

The group, which presses for wider adoption of renewable energy and fewer environmentally damaging mega-projects, faulted the Bank for prioritising “large regional hydro and thermal generation plants” as the appropriate way to provide energy access.

“This recommendation mirrors the misguided priorities of the World Bank’s energy sector lending, of which in 2005 only 10 percent was allocated to energy efficiency and new renewable energy projects,” it said.

The World Bank counters that the action plan does take a global perspective, and points out that it committed 871 million dollars to renewable energy and energy efficiency programmes in 2006.

In its most recent figures released this week, the Bank said that investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency were now 20 percent of the Bank’s total energy sector commitments in fiscal year 2006, which totaled 4.4 billion dollars for 62 renewable energy projects in 35 countries.

“Renewable energy and energy efficiency can contribute significantly to achieving the Millennium Development Goals,” said Jamal Saghir, who directs the Energy and Water department at the Bank, referring to a United Nations-led plan to cut global poverty in half by 2015.

“In fact, they offer a ‘double dividend’ — meeting the essential energy needs of countries for sustained growth and poverty reduction, while at the same time preserving or enhancing the environment,” he said.

Yet IRN argues that the Bank still favours “advanced fossil-fuel technologies” in the document, such as coal- and gas-fired plants, and non-fossil fuel technologies such as hydropower, wind and nuclear.

This could prove counterproductive since large hydropower projects, especially in tropical regions, emit substantial greenhouse gases that can surpass the emissions of similarly sized thermal power plants.

The group called on the Bank not to waste money subsidising fossil fuel projects and to use soft loans and other funding to buy down the costs of renewable energy technologies.

The World Bank document, critics note, also does not address the need for Northern polluters from rich nations to reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions.

Collectively, the G8 nations, which commissioned the action plan and which represent only 13 percent of the world’s population, are responsible for 45 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.

The group comprises Russia, France, Germany, Italy, Britain, Japan, the United States and Canada.

The G8 are still promoting fossil fuel extraction in developing nations through international financial institutions such as the World Bank and export credit agencies. Environmental groups have often called on the G8 and the international institutions to phase in public finance for sustainable clean energy. (END/2006)

Emad MekayWASHINGTON, Aug 2 (IPS) - The much-touted U.S. reconstruction effort in Iraq is floundering under threats from rampant corruption and deteriorating security, a U.S. government watchdog says.

“The first democratically elected government to take office in Iraq now faces the daunting challenges of sustaining its infrastructure, fighting corruption, and enforcing security in an increasingly hostile environment”, says Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) Stuart Bowen.

Bowen’s office, tasked by Congress to oversee the reconstruction efforts, released two reports on Tuesday and one on Wednesday that cited figures showing Iraq losing four billion dollars to corruption every year since the U.S. invasion of the Arab country in March 2003.

Bowen, who addressed the Senate Homeland Security and Government Reform Committee on Wednesday, says he found that Iraq now has more than 1,400 criminal corruption cases open, involving about five billion dollars.

One of the reports cites a recent poll conducted in Iraq in which one-third of the Iraqi respondents reported that they have paid bribes for products or services this year. The report uses the poll as evidence of popular mistrust of the U.S.-backed police and army, who are believed to be unable or unwilling to enforce the rule of law.

“Corruption is a virtual pandemic in Iraq,” says the report while urging international support for fighting corruption in Iraq.

“More resources and stronger support will be needed for Iraq’s anticorruption entities to battle corruption effectively,” says the IG office.

The World Bank is lending a helping hand. In late July, the multilateral lender whose current president was a leading architect of the war against Iraq, hosted an anticorruption workshop in neighbouring Dubai that brought Iraqis and donors together to examine how the Bank and others can more effectively assist in the anti-graft fight.

But the main message of the two reports is that corruption in Iraq, along with the deteriorating security situation, has deterred international investment and eroded trust in the government.

In the strategically important oil sector, for example, the inspector general says corruption threatens not only Iraq’s capacity to fund new capital investment, but also its ability to sustain and increase oil production.

Most corruption in this sector is motivated by the high profitability of smuggling oil and refined fuels.

The Ministry of Oil Inspector General reported in April 2006 that smuggling includes transferring imported oil products or stolen local crude to neighbouring countries, channeling products supplied to government facilities to the black market, and taking advantage of lax oversight at loading stations.

At least 10 percent of refined fuels are sold on the black market and about 30 percent of imported fuels are smuggled out of Iraq, it says.

The report also detected many examples of waste, fraud and abuse. It reported that the IG’s criminal investigators are working on 82 cases. Their work has so far resulted in five arrests and two convictions, and another 23 cases are awaiting prosecution.

One example of the corruption cases is that of a U.S. contractor arrested in March. He is charged with offering a bribe to a police official for assistance in facilitating the purchase of armored vests and equipment for about one million dollars along with a separate 28,000-35,000 dollar gift to process the contracts.

In his testimony Wednesday, Bowen faulted some U.S. policies in Iraq, including the no-bid system, initially created by World Bank chief Paul Wolfowitz when he was number two at the U.S. Department of Defence, in some contracts in Iraq.

“The use of sole-source and limited competition contracting in Iraq should have virtually ceased after hostilities ended,” said the Inspector General.

He also said the involvement of different U.S. government bodies led to their development of ad hoc operating systems and procedures which hampered efficiency and caused inconsistent contracting documentation.

Bowen also said assigning major corporations to handle small contracts created waste in Iraq and recommended that the U.S. avoid using expensive design-build contracts to execute small-scale projects.

“Most projects in Iraq were smaller and could have been executed through fixed-price direct contracting,” he said.

The findings of the report stoked worry among U.S. lawmakers who said the reports by the IG showed how flailing the Iraq reconstruction efforts are, given the proven cost overruns, accounting irregularities, unfinished work, and evidence of waste and corruption.

“The reports of the Inspector General indicate that while billions have been spent, reconstruction has fallen far short of promised outcomes,” said Senator Susan Collins, a Republican from the north-eastern state of Maine who chairs the committee. “Funds that should have been used to build schools and health clinics, improve electricity access, and repair the oil infrastructure have been squandered.”

One instance of wasted funds and uncompleted projects detailed in the hearing was the case of the Basrah Children’s Hospital. Senator Joseph Lieberman (Democrat from Connecticut) referred to how the IG office found that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) used “accounting tricks” to hide ballooning costs and significant schedule delays in the project.

According to the IG, the hospital’s original completion price tag was set at 50 million dollars with an opening date in January 2006.

But the latest estimates range from 149.5 million to 169.5 million dollars and the projected completion date is now July 31, 2007 — more than a year and a half late.

(END/IPS/NA MM IK/IF IP CU BW DV/EM/LD/06)

Emad MekayWASHINGTON, Aug 1 (IPS) - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says it is moving to give poor nations greater say and representation on its board of directors and to refocus its work to help prevent financial crises in those nations.

In a speech on the IMF’s role in developing countries, the head of the IMF said the planned increase in voice and representation will not only benefit the so-called emerging countries, a term that describes major developing nations that have followed economic prescriptions from the IMF and the World Bank, but will also include poor nations.

IMF Managing Director Rodrigo de Rato said he will make concrete proposals to widen those nations’ representation in the Fund before the IMF holds its high-profile joint annual meeting with the World Bank in Singapore in September.

“Low-income countries as well as clearly under-represented emerging market economies have reason to be concerned about their voice and representation in the Fund,” de Rato told the Washington-based Centre for Global Development, a think-tank, on Monday.

“I will be making specific proposals on how to take these governance issues forward in the run-up to our annual meetings in September in Singapore, and I hope to secure the support of the membership for these,” he said.

De Rato gave a glimpse into his proposal by saying that the increase will be in the number of “basic votes,” which are the minimum and equal number of votes, unrelated to quota size, to which each member in the the 184-member IMF is entitled.

The original proposal for greater representation was widely viewed as one that will only give powers like China and South Korea greater say rather than poorer nations.

During the IMF and the World Bank’s semi-annual meetings in April, rich nations, which dominate the two organisations, approved a sweeping plan by de Rato, the Fund’s Medium-Term Strategy (MTS), to recommend measures to restore the IMF’s role in the international economy and shore up its loans and increase representation.

Critics of the IMF say the organisation is not relevant any more to middle income countries and even sometimes to poor nations as many of them accumulate their own reserves or borrow from the commercial market that lends without the much-despised policy conditions and economic advice that the IMF requires of its borrowers.

Poor nations and many non-governmental development organisations often complained that the IMF policies are so skewed in favour of rich nations that dominate the board and against poor nations who have little or no voice in how the Fund, theoretically an international organisation, makes its decisions.

In his speech, the IMF’s top official also charted another role for the Fund vis-à-vis poor nations. He said his institution will work to make sure that those nations that are receiving debt relief from international donors do not fall quickly back into debt.

He said the Fund’s task for them would be “to ensure that there is not another debt crisis.”

“There is a serious risk that the hard-won gains from debt relief will be lost if the countries concerned borrow to finance expenditures that are not growth-promoting, and thus replace the debt that has been removed with large amounts of new debt, possibly on worse terms,” he said.

The IMF says there are already signs of new lenders — some private, some official like India and China — rushing in now that debt has been reduced.

According to de Rato’s plan, the Fund and its sister institution the World Bank will work to help those nations understand the “risks of a rapid build-up of debt” and will help them design medium-term debt strategies aimed at avoiding unsustainable debt.

De Rato said the Washington-based Fund can also sound the alarm to official creditors when debt or debt service levels are likely to become a problem.

The IMF also urged rich nations to give poor nations more aid as a source of alternative fundng.

He further proposed that donors offer those nations substitute debt sources, however, through grants and highly concessional loans “to enable them to finance development without relying on expensive debt,” a proposal that may find resistance in the U.S Congress, which oversees U.S. funding for the Fund and the World Bank.

But Jim Saxton, chairman of Joint Economic Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives said that budget problems that the IMF faced recently were actually exacerbated by excessive IMF interest rate subsidies.

Saxton, whose country is the main power broker in the fund, has long called for reform of the IMF and an end to IMF loan subsidies.

“The IMF offers loans with below-market interest rates conditioned upon policy changes required of borrowing countries. These conditions are often avoided or resisted by borrowers,” Saxton said.

“If the IMF raised interest rates and relaxed additional conditions that are often problematic, perhaps it could better support itself over time.”

But de Rato’s proposals are not without fans either.

Kemal Dervis, the administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), who was in attendance when de Rato made his speech, welcomed de Rato’s support of the IMF’s involvement in low-income countries and the pledge to address governance issues.

“I strongly welcome the managing director’s words… on governance, voice and greater weight for poor countries in the IMF board,” he said.

Liliana Rojas-Suarez, an analyst with the Centre for Global Development, said de Rato’s proposals are met with a mix of “welcome and caution” in the development community and echoed views that doubt there is a culture at the IMF that would actually allow change.

“Welcome to your efforts… and caution because people still question the extent to which the current institutional environment can change as quickly as you would like,” she told de Rato.

(END/IPS/WD/IF DV MD/EM/LD/06)

Emad MekayWASHINGTON, Jul 29 (IPS) - Despite the acrimonious collapse of an agreement on new global trade rules earlier this week, major European and U.S. business lobbies are joining forces to try and revive the World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks, whose complete failure could spell the loss of major market profits in developing nations.

The talks, dubbed the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) when they were launched in the Qatari capital in 2001, were suspended on Monday after the world’s richest nations failed to agree on a formula to cut their highly contentious farm subsidies and open their own markets.

U.S. and European companies that invested much time and effort in prodding their government officials to conclude a deal that would expand global markets for their products were visibly alarmed. But now these groups are coming together to try to resuscitate the sweeping deal, which covers goods ranging from farm products to textiles and electronics, as well as services like architecture, voice-mail telecommunications and space transport.

“The suspension of the talks could lead to a failure of the Doha Round, which would undermine the promise of economic growth inherent in the DDA, and result in the loss of opportunities for WTO members to gain the tremendous benefits that accrue from trade liberalisation,” said a joint statement by seven of the world’s largest business groups.

“In order to avoid this situation, we strongly hope that the negotiations will resume as early as possible,” it added.

The organisations include the Business Roundtable, the United States Chamber of Commerce and National Association of Manufacturers, all powerful business pressure groups from the United States.

The Confederation of European Business, which represents more than 20 million companies in the European Union, also signed the statement.

The Business Council of Australia, the Australian Services Roundtable and Nippon Keidanren, a key Japanese pressure group, along with the Brazilian National Confederation of Industry and the Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo (FIESP), the only two groups from a developing country, all joined in as well.

Earlier, the Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) called for a quick resumption of the Doha talks, warning that the breakdown opens the door to a surge in bilateral trade agreements, more trade disputes and a resurgence of protectionism and the possible weakening of the effectiveness and authority of the Geneva-based WTO.

“Historically, it has been the multilateral trading system that has generated global economic growth. We will continue to fight for that system,” said ICC Chairman Marcus Wallenberg, who is also the chairman of Saab and of SEB, the Swedish banking giant.

What these business organisations fear most is a new wave of protectionist measures that could erode their power and access to markets and therefore lower profits.

“ICC firmly believes there is no substitute for a strong rules-based, non-discriminatory multilateral trading system,” the group said.

Norman Sorensen, chairman of the Coalition of Service Industries (CSI) in the U.S., says that because “trade liberalisation is essential for the U.S. and global economies,” the Doha talks must rebound. Otherwise, “The opportunity to obtain new commercial opportunities across the range of service sectors is in danger of being lost.”

With services accounting for about 40 percent of global employment, and 80 percent of the jobs and economy in the United States alone, it is little wonder his group is keen to restart the talks. CSI estimates that liberalising the global trade in services has potential profits of 1.7 trillion dollars.

The Business and Industry Advisory Committee, which advises the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), urged the countries involved to “avoid any new protectionist measures during the period of suspension.”

“OECD business urges governments to keep the present offers on the table and to seek new political initiatives to restart these negotiations as soon as possible,” it said.

Most of these groups urged what they called “fresh approaches” to resume the Doha Round negotiations as soon as possible and on the basis of the progress already achieved.

The United States seemed to be the most responsive to their calls. U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab is already in Brazil on the first of several trips that her office says are aimed at sustaining support for the global trade and development goals of the WTO’s agenda.

Washington hopes to win concessions from Brazil, a major player in rallying opposition to the current WTO rules that many critics say favour industrialised countries.

“The spirit of Doha lives even if a formal agreement eludes us at this time,” said Schwab.

In August, Schwab will meet with trade ministers from the Association of South East Asian Nations. In September, she and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns will visit members of the Cairns Group of agricultural-exporting nations in Australia.

In November, Schwab will accompany Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to a meeting of trade ministers and other leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group.

U.S. President George W. Bush also lent his support to the failing process. He told the National Association of Manufacturers on Thursday that he remained a big believer in free trade.

“We’ll continue to work on this agreement,” he said. “Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns, as well, will continue to reach out to other nations to achieve our objectives.”

On Friday, WTO chief Pascal Lamy appeared to be reading from the business groups’ pages.

“We must now ensure that this progress does not unravel,” he said, pledging to do his best to “permit a resumption of the negotiations”.

*****

+World Trade Organisation (http://www.wto.org/)

+TRADE-INDIA: Rare Unity Against West’s Farm Subsidies (http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=34116)

+TRADE: Cheers and Fears Follow Doha Collapse (http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=34091)

+TRADE: Noisy Collapse for Doha Round (http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=34082)

(END/IPS/WD/NA/IF/DV/EM/KS/06)

Emad MekayWASHINGTON, Jun 2 (IPS) - A leaked document from the World Bank reveals that officials are struggling with how to implement stronger anti-corruption measures in Bank projects without creating hurdles to the institution’s lending and influence.
The paper says the Washington-based lender should be “raising the bar on governance and anti-corruption” and solicits internal advice on how best to proceed in fighting global corruption in order to avoid “reputational risks”.”How do we avoid setting the bar so high that people become too risk averse or procedures become too slow or bureaucratic?” asks the document, titled “Raising the Bar on Anti-Corruption: Improving Governance and Accountability, Fostering Development”.

The document from the institution’s vice president’s office has World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz, who has recently made headlines with a much-touted anti-corruption crusade, soliciting comment from the Bank’s executive directors and senior management on future action and policy.

It says the responses will be included in another paper detailing the Bank’s efforts to fight graft that will be released this month. The document is part of the Bank’s effort to pen a final anti-corruption strategy for presentation at its annual meeting in Singapore in September.

The brief document offers a glimpse of the challenges facing senior Bank officials since Wolfowitz’s campaign gained wide media attention during the April spring meetings of the Bank and its sister institution, the International Monetary Fund.

On a recent trip to Indonesia, Wolfowitz announced a “long-term strategy” for using the Bank’s funds and expertise to help developing countries rid their
governments of bribe-taking and other dishonest practices. A key component
will be the deployment of anti-corruption teams in many World Bank country
offices.

Wolfowitz also has plans to restructure the Bank’s Department of Institutional Integrity, a watchdog, to make its authority clearer and its operations more effective.

In February, he led efforts to gather heads of other multilateral lenders like the Inter-American Bank and the African Development Bank to commit verbally to further fighting corruption.

According to a 2004 study by a U.S. Senate committee, the World Bank has lost about 100 billion dollars slated for development in the world’s poorest nations to corruption since 1946 — nearly 20 percent of its total lending portfolio. Other experts estimate that between five and 25 percent of the 525 billion dollars the Bank has lent since 1946 has been misused. This amounts to 26 billion to 130 billion dollars.

The leaked document acknowledges that some Bank projects have been marred by bribery, extortion and other unethical practices.

“In countries where corruption is rife, Bank-funded projects are not immune,” the paper says.

“External surveys show that the Bank is often not seen by various stakeholders as adequately addressing the challenge of corruption,” adds the paper obtained by IPS on Friday.

The paper portrays fighting corruption as part of the Bank’s public mission to reduce global poverty.

“Raising the bar on governance and anti-corruption is a priority for the World Bank Group’s poverty alleviation mission,” the document says.

It advises that the lender’s role should be seen as supporting what it calls the champions of good governance, yet its authors sound unsure about what precisely would be the Bank’s anti-corruption role in projects it funds.

“Should governance and anti-corruption become more central for decisions on aid volumes, composition type of engagement across countries?” it asks.

“To what extent are anti-corruption strategies built into project designs? Should those efforts be more systematic? What additional steps could the bank take to improve internal policy and practices?”

In the paper, the Bank tries to strike a balance between applying uniform guidelines to loans and distinguishing between countries according to risk of corruption and whether countries will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

The paper ponders how best to deliver development aid in countries with high levels of corruption, and how to address the corruption issue in “projects that nonetheless deliver significant benefits to the poor”.

It also shows the Bank still weighing whether fighting corruption should be integrated into its so-called Country Assistance Strategies, economic prescriptions that adhere to the World Bank principles of liberalisation and open markets, and which borrowing nations must sign before tapping Bank loans.

The Bank says that of its more than 20 billion dollars in annual loans, 2.9 billion dollars, or 13 percent, in 2005 went to governance, public sector reform and rule of law, while almost half of the new Bank projects last year had at least one component addressing those issues.

So far, more than 330 companies and individuals have been barred from doing business with the Bank, and their names and sanctions posted on the Bank’s public website.

But groups that monitor the World Bank say that its anti-corruption drive is still lacking, especially in addressing the responsibility of multinational companies in promoting corrupt practices in poor nations.

“Any thorough approach to corruption must examine corruption by companies and individuals in the North, not just the South,” said Gail Hurley of the Brussels-based group Eurodad in an analysis Thursday.

The group also faults the current discussion at the Bank for ignoring the Bank’s role in controversial loans and projects in the past.

“The story presented so far, however, focuses very much on the ‘corruption of today’ and pays scant attention to the ‘corruption of yesterday’,” Hurley added. “Remarkably absent from the anti-corruption strategy presented by officials so far is any critical examination of the Bank’s lending practices to poor countries in the past.”

Activists say the World Bank has funded some world’s most notorious and despised regimes, including Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire(now the Democratic Republic of Congo), Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines and Hosni Mubarak of Egypt.

Eurodad recommends that the Bank follow the lead of Norway, which has been one of the first Northern countries to open a dialogue on “odious and illegitimate debt” and to call for an international focus on this critical issue.
(END/IPS/WD/CU/DV/IF/IP/EM/KS/06)

Emad Mekay WASHINGTON, Jun 5 (IPS) - The United States and South Korea kick- started the first round of talks in Washington early June toward a bilateral free trade agreement amid cheers from business groups and denunciations from labour groups and farmers from both nations.

Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Wendy Cutler opened the talks with South Korea’s chief negotiator, Ambassador Jong-hoon Kim. She said the deal, which seeks to remove trade barriers to goods and services between the two countries, could be concluded by the end of the year — something the White House is pushing for since its authority to negotiate so-called “fast track” trade agreements that cannot be amended expires in mid-2007.

“I remain optimistic about our ability to conclude a high-quality, comprehensive agreement,” Cutler told reporters in a teleconference Monday. “The political will is clearly there on both sides.”

Cutler acknowledged that the treatment of automobiles, agriculture and investment will be critical to the success of the final deal. Rice will also be a contentious issue, with Korean negotiators resisting U.S. pressure to open up domestic markets to a commodity they consider crucial to the country’s food security.

Trade between Washington and Seoul topped 72 billion dollars last year. However, South Korean tariffs on industrial and consumer goods are about 11.2 percent, compared with 3.7 percent in the United States. For agricultural products, South Korea’s tariffs average 52 percent, more than four times the U.S. level of 12 percent. The pact would reduce tariffs on both sides to zero.

The United States primarily exports agricultural products, aircraft, machinery and organic chemicals, while Korea sells cars, telecommunications equipment and electronics.

South Korea is the world’s 10th largest economy, with an annual Gross Domestic Product rapidly approaching one trillion dollars. It is the United States’ seventh-largest export market and is the fifth-largest international market for U.S. agricultural goods.

The new Korea-U.S. Free Trade Area would be the biggest deal since the 1993 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)that binds the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Bu as Cutler briefed reporters, she acknowledge that she could hear the protestors outside the White House.

More than 100 farm, labour and community leaders from South Korea descended on Washington to protest the Korea-U.S. (KORUS) trade negotiations in activities this week.

Popular sentiment in Korea is opposed to the agreement, which many see as threatening to the livelihoods of 15 million South Korean workers and 3.5 million farmers.

The activists in Washington say they have formed an alliance with labour groups and global justice activists in the United States who oppose the deal and other free trade models that do not include enough labour, social or environmental safeguards.

Wearing bright orange “stop the FTA” headbands and marching to the beat of Korean drums and gongs, dozens marched in downtown Washington Sunday and held other protests on Monday as the officials started their first round of talks.

U.S. representatives from the 35,000-member United Electrical Workers Union and the National Family Farm Coalition joined the Korean protestors. “Down, down with the FTA!” chanted activists from the Korean Alliance against the FTA. “KORUS = Economic Colonisation”, said one banner carried by the group who complained that at least 50 Korean peasants and farmers were denied visas to the United States and couldn’t join the protests.

Farmers and free-trade critics say the deal say will devastate workers and farmers in Korea and in the United States.

“Unless the proposed FTA includes significant labour, agriculture, and environmental protections, it is difficult to imagine how the FTA could possibly benefit workers and family farmers in either nation,” said Thomas Kim, executive director of the Korea Policy Institute.

U.S. labour, community and immigrant groups say they want both governments to build strong local economies and avoid the NAFTA model which many studies have shown benefits large corporations at the expense of farmers and workers.

“The proposed FTA will dramatically expand the failed model of NAFTA, wreaking havoc on American and Korean workers, farmers, and their families,” said Anuradha Mittal, executive director of the Oakland Institute. “We have come together to form a unified front to stop the free trade agenda from moving forward without people’s consent.”

Dozens of other organisations opposed to the talks signed a statement charging that the deal, if approved, will allow the U.S. to dump cheap imports on the Korean people. Unable to compete, 3.5 million peasants stand to lose their livelihoods, the statement added. The deal, which still has to be signed by Congress, is likely to face opposition by U.S. lawmakers as well. The latest major free trade deal the United States signed, the CAFTA pact with Central American nations, narrowly passed the U.S. Congress.

On Feb. 3, the George W. Bush administration notified Congress of its intent to enter into negotiations with the Republic of Korea towards a free trade agreement.

The legislators are worried that trade deals cost jobs at home, depress wages and lower environmental and social regulations aboard.

“Once again, Washington is ready to pass another trade agreement that benefits multinational corporations at the expense of workers and the environment,” said Congressman Dennis Kucinich, who represents the opposition Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Ohio.

“It is urgent that we end this race to the bottom and work for trade agreements that respect workers’ rights, human rights and environmental principles.”

*****

+U.S. Trade Representative Korus info (http://www.ustr.gov/Trade_Agreements/Bilateral/Republic_of_Korea_FTA/Section_Index.html)

+The Oakland Institute (http://www.oaklandinstitute.org/)

(END/IPS/NA/AP/IF/LB/EN/EM/KS/06)

Looking for a way to grow your online auction business? Many people love to have an auction business, however it can get very complicated once you start selling more that a few items each day.  Here are some tips on growing your online business with the help of auction software.

Auctions can get very complicated, with all the listing, sending email and collecting money via the internet, you online auction business can become extremely time consuming very quickly.  Auction software makes your business run quicker, more efficiently and with less time commitment. 

There are a few different types of auction software, listing software, payment processing software and shipping software.  Listing software is great when you want to list more than a few items at different times for different amounts.  With listing software you can take control of your listing and list your products quickly and easy maximizing your costs.

Payment processing software will help process winning bidders fast and efficiently.  This software will automatically send out a winning bid emails, walk your customers through the steps necessary when they need to make a payment, confirm the payment and send that information to your shipping software.  Shipping software easily organizes your purchase records to create labels and lists of what products have been paid for and need to be shipped out.  So if you are selling at online auctions, look into auction software to make your business run smoothly.

If you are looking for a great way to market your product, choose affiliate web sites.  Affiliate web sites are one of the smartest ways to spread the word about your great product or service.  If you want reach customers all over the internet, then here are a few tips on making affiliate web sites pay for you.

There are plenty of affiliate web sites that you can put your product up for sale so that affiliates can sell it.  Seasoned marketing professionals can spot a winning product and help you spread the word.  For every item that they sell a portion of the sales goes to them.  It can be 10% or even 75% depending on the cost of the product, profit margin or amount of items sold.

If you have a great product or service, then go to great affiliate web sites such as Paydotcom and Clickbank and offer your product to affiliates.

Most affiliate sites are inexpensive and bring together great affiliates to one spot to sell your product.  Most affiliate sites charge a start up fee or listing fee and then a small fee each time a sale is made. So if you need help selling your product or service give affiliate web sites a try.

Selling products to Mexico is easier than ever.  Mexico is the #1 importer of US products in the world.  There is a need for all types of products including food, beverages, electronics, cars, tools, candy, toys, clothing, everything.

Mexicans are so eager to buy that they come to the USA looking for products instead of waiting around for someone to call them and sell them something.  They visit US trade shows, organizations and many companies.  I constantly have someone in San Diego visiting from Mexico to speak with me on how they can find products of all kinds to export.

Who’s looking for products?  Mainly wholesale distributors and retailers.  They are looking for products to sell in retail stores or to other distributors in Mexico, most of the time they will buy truckloads of product and export them to Mexico themselves, handling the shipping, imports and tariffs.

Why do they do this?  Why are they so eager to buy US products?  Simple, they don’t have Mexican made products they can sell and they want to be the first to carry a new American product.  They know if they are the first to market with a new product they can make a lot of money very fast.  After that they just restock their customer’s shelves.

The big question I’m asked by my consulting clients is: how do I get started exporting to Mexico?

To export to Mexico you can be passive or active.  You can go after the business or wait until they come looking for you, and believe me, if you have a good product, eventually they will.

—Passive Approach—

The passive approach to getting business is to make sure Mexican businesspeople can find you.  Here are a few tactics on how to reach exporters:

-You have to make sure your products are in US trade shows.
You don’t have to go yourself, maybe a customer sells at trade shows or you hire a broker that goes to trade shows.

-Make sure all your products and sales materials have an international phone number (not just a USA toll free number) as well as an email address.  This includes your website, product labels, business cards and brochures.

-Have the right information ready.  Make sure you already know what your international price will be.  It’s usually much lower than your US price, especially if they will pay the export fees and transportation.  You also need all the product specifications like weight, dimensions, case count or pallet count.

—Active Approach—

If you are serious about selling to Mexico and would like to do it NOW you have to be more active.  You can’t just wait for people to find you because it can take months or even years if you don’t have any promotions in the marketplace.

The first thing you have to do is learn more about your target market.
How much are people paying in Mexico for your product or a similar product?
How much are they paying to import and transport those products?
What are the profit margins for the distributors and retailers?
Where could you sell your products?
How many stores are there in Mexico?

Once you learn more about your target market and you develop your price strategy it’s time to find customers. Visit Mexican trade shows, look for US distributors already selling in Mexico and find brokers.

After you educate yourself a bit more on the Mexican marketplace you also need to determine what kind of support your new found customers will need in Mexico.  Do you have a product that sells itself or do you need store promotion, POS (Point of Sale) material, sales commissions, or some other support.

Many times my customers tell me “I just want to sell my product in the USA and someone can export it, sell it, merchandise it and distribute it”.  Well, this is possible.  I’ve helped companies sell products like mayonnaise, water, margarine and other products that sell themselves in this fashion.  But if your product is not a “first necessity” product or name brand, chances are you’ll either have to do some promotion or give a very good price to distributors and importers.

—————————————————-
Jorge Olson is a Wholesale Distribution Consultant and can help you sell your products in the USA to Distributors and Retail Stores and export them to Mexico by the truckload. You can learn more and contact him at http://www.DistributionBiz.com

Tag and Ping, Google Analytics, Micro-Dissecting Logs, Visual PageRank…

What does all those topics have in common?

No, I haven’t gotten into the happy-pill jar, just in case you’re wondering! What does all those topics have in common? They are all marketing tactics or strategies I am presently using to promote and propel my sites into the ever increasing, all encompassing Internet stratosphere.

Let’s face it, there are countless marketing methods, tricks, tips, strategies you can use to give your site an edge over the competition. And yes, there are many marketing secrets left to be told. More being born each day. Countless secrets most of us will never discover, let alone understand.

But what you have to understand, each webmaster or marketer employs a whole set of techniques to promote and propel
their sites. Each marketing system is different, each one can develop into a complex creature slowly weaving its presence into the fabric of the world wide web. Might sound a bit fantastic, but it is nevertheless true.

Also know each website on the Internet has its own unique linking structure, connections, keywords,… its own unique
genetic link-code. Why should da Vinci have all the fun! Each webmaster, whether they realize it or not, creates this unique linking structure for each site they build. From day one, when the first link is placed on their site - this complex marketing structure is put into motion. What makes some sites succeed, what makes them become successful automatic profit generating machines… while others fail? That is the real question. That is the only real secret you need to know.

Of course, a site’s content plays a major role, but even two sites with more or less the same content will have two totally different dynamic linking structures created. One may succeed, the other fail.

So in this line of thinking, I thought I would tell you some of the marketing strategies I use for my sites and also reveal what I believe to be the underlying factor that is key to the whole shebang. Tactics that will promote and propel your site into the center of the world wide web. Are you Ready? Here goes:

Tag and Ping

A few years back, it was all blog and ping. This technique really worked for a while. You wrote a keyword rich entry into one of your blogs and then pinged this entry with one of the many blogging directories or sites like MyYahoo to get the information spidered and indexed. The search engines wised up quickly and it no longer works as well.

Now, you will hear the magic words ‘Tag and Ping’ till you’re sick of hearing them. This is a method I have been using for some time. It’s basically the same thing, only you’re using the tag or tagging system of such sites as Technorati to draw attention to your tag or keyword.

It has a special application for keyword marketing and is very effective for getting traffic and links to your keywords. One simple way to use tags with Technorati:

http://technorati.com/tag/Computers

Or if your blogging software supports categories; this will be recognized by Technorati as a tag.

Since this is a relatively new way of marketing your site, expect it to work for a little while. Until the spammers
get in and ruin it, like they did to blog comments.

Google Analytics

This is a free program from Google that every webmaster should be using. If you don’t use it - get it! www.google.com/analytics

Google Analytics will give you priceless information about your sites, your links, your visitors and your marketing.
It will show you which pages are working, which pages are not working. It will tell you which pages holds your
visitor’s attention, which pages lead to your marketing goals/sales…in other words it will tell you how effective
your site is at getting the job done.

The more knowledge you have about your site, the more successful it will be. A lot of times, being a success is
finding/tracking the one method or technique that works and repeating it again and again on your other pages or sites.
Google analytics will help you find the successful techniques on your site. Then you have to run with them.

Micro-Dissecting Logs

Another valuable source of information about your site is in your daily logs. If you’re not dissecting or micro
inspecting your daily hosting logs - you’re not realizing the full potential of your site. Your site’s logs holds the keys to your site’s success, it holds the information that will make your site profitable or more profitable.

It will give you information on your site, it will also give you information on your site’s visitors. The real key to Internet marketing is finding out what exactly your visitors are looking for and then giving it to them. Find out the exact keywords your visitors type into search engines, then supply the answer or solution on your site. It is as simple as that - give your visitors what they want.

Make your content relevant.

Buying Links

This marketing technique has mixed reviews, many marketers use it - many discourage it.

You have to be very careful when buying links, know exactly what you’re buying and be wary of the search engines who
may look down upon this practice. Don’t buy any links from link farms, or sites which have been banned from Google.
Stay clear of any black hat tricks or methods, play fair and you will win in the long run.

To me, buying links is just another way of advertising your site. If your site or online business is successful,
naturally you’re going to put some of your profits back into promoting or advertising your site. One way to do this
is through buying links on high ranked pages/sites: PR5 or over.

I recently bought my first text link!

It’s something I rarely do, mainly because my article writing produces many one-way links back to my site. However, there was one site I just wanted to get a link from, and if it means I have to pay $7 a month for the link, so be it.

Currently the page has a PR0! Why would I buy a link on a PR0 page? Because it’s a very new popular page on a very
popular new site. The site is www.iwebtool.com and it has an Alexa ranking under 2000. The site is about a year old!
The page itself holds what I believe will be a very popular webmaster tool that shows you visually all the PR rankings
on any webpage on the net. Visual PageRank.

Other places to purchase links: www.linkhaul.com
www.linkadage.com www.textlinkbrokers.com

One more Marketing Technique

There is one more important marketing method that makes all the above techniques pale in comparison. This simple technique is article marketing. Write simple informative articles on the subject of your site. Submit these keyword rich articles to online article directories like ezinearticles.com and place links back to your site in the resource box at the end of each article.

Article writing is one of the best methods to market your site, you will be surprised at the effectiveness of this simple marketing technique. Done correctly, it can be your most powerful marketing tool.

Information Core

That common thread is Information.

Information runs the web. It is the center. Dispensing this information is a complex system consisting of search engines, directories, websites, blogs… you must entangle and entwine your site as deeply as you can into this information process.

That’s why article writing is such an effective marketing tool, it strikes at the center of this essential process.
It places your content and your site right in the middle of all this exchange of information.  The more relevant your content, the closer you will get to the real action and the more popular your site will become.

Remember, all these marketing techniques are not really secrets, just effective ways you can promote and propel your site or sites closer to the information core that runs the web. The thread that binds everything together. The more you can entangle your site into the whole mix - search engines, directories, links to popular sites…   the more successful your site will become.

All these marketing techniques: tag and ping, article marketing, buying links… will help place your site into this information mix. Likewise, Google Analytics, micro-dissecting your logs, and visual pagerank are all information gathering methods every webmaster should use to make this journey easier and quicker. Knowledge is the only real marketing tool you need.

So go ‘Tag and Ping’ all you like but realize it is just the latest in a long line of marketing techniques you should be using to promote and propel your site closer towards the one common thread that really matters - information.

—————————————————-
Titus Hoskins owns and runs numerous sites on the web. To receive more useful marketing tips and to discover the latest Marketing tools which will help promote and propel your own website into the Stratosphere! Visit his main site: http://www.bizwaremagic.com . Or sign up for his popular List Building ecourse here: http://www.bizwaremagic.com/opt-in.htm
© 2006. This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.

If you are a small business and looking for supplies that are much more affordable than retail prices, there are many options available to you.  Small businesses can spend lots of money on supplies that can go towards other expenses.  If you would like to save 20% or more on supplies, here are some tips on affordable office supplies.

Many businesses start out buying their supplies from retail or from one distributor, however as time goes by, they quickly realize that they can be saving hundreds or even thousands a month by buying affordable office supplies through different channels.  Many ways to save on office supplies are to find big distributors or manufacturers.  Due to the internet, this is quickly becoming an easy task.

Consider Ebay for lots of affordable office supplies.  There is a whole cottage industry that supports merchants selling on Ebay.  If you need bubble wrap, envelopes, shipping tape, computer supplies or anything else, you can quickly price materials from possibly dozens of vendors.

You can also go on the internet and search for manufacturers that sell affordable office supplies.  Many small companies’ manufacture office supplies from ink, to paper to envelopes.  You can save hundreds of dollars a month just by doing a few hours of work.  If you just started your own business or have been operating a small business for a while and would like to take advantage of affordably priced office supplies, look at the above tips to save hundreds or even thousands per month.

If you will be camping with friends or family this season, one of the best parts of camping is the camp fire.  Camp fires bring people together and are sure to make memories for the years to come.  Here are some great activities to participate in around the camp fire.

Many people love camp fires, they are so much fun and bring us back to the old days before the TV and electric lights.  Many people love to act like cowboys when camping and bring along a guitar or harmonica in order to sing songs.  Camp fires are also great to tell scary stories, especially when you and your friends or family members are spooked by the natural surroundings late at night.  There are plenty of books available that have great camp fire stories and ghost stories to tell and most of them are extremely affordable.

Cooking is also a fun activity for the camp fire. Everyone loves toasted marshmallows, but meat over the open fire is also extremely tasty.  Most campers just need a cooler to store their food items an open fire and some spits or branches to hold the food over the fire.  If you are looking for some great times with your friends and family, enjoy time around the camp fire.

If you love odd and cult films, there are many places that you can go to enjoy them with others that share your interests.  Cult film festivals have cropped up in almost every city.  Whether you love old slasher films or odd comedy and musicals, you can find great cult film festivals very easily.  Here are some tips.

Most people have a different sense of humor and a fascination with far out subjects.  These people usually enjoy cult films.  Cult films for many reasons resonate with a group of people for a variety of reasons. Two of the most famous cult films are the Rocky Horror Picture Show and the Carnival of Souls. While these films are well known, they both bombed miserably at the box office and only became popular after many fans brought them back to the theaters.

Cult film festivals usually include a showing of the movie and may also include actors or people associate with the picture for film fans to meet. You can usually find a listing of cult film festivals on line or in cult film forums and blogs.  If you love cult films, follow the above tips and attend a great cult film festival.

Taxes are a necessary part of running your business.  Besides, profit, inventory costs and labor costs, taxes are another expense that can really hurt you in the wallet.  If you are own a small business, you might be eligible for big tax breaks that can save you money at the end of the year.

The tax law does change every year and you should be in touch with your accountant on how you and your business can save big on tax breaks.  Most business can deduct the amount of taxes on their business expenses and buy the items they need to operate their business instead of giving that money to the government in the form of taxes.

For instance, you can get a tax break for a business office, business machines such as computers and phones and even business entertainment for a sales client.  If you own a business, talk to your accountant and keep up to date with the tax laws each year.  There are also tax software and tax handbooks that can alert you to the best ways you can legally deduct taxes for your personal and business income.  These books are very affordable and are a great way to save hundreds or thousands of dollars on tax related expenditures.   If you own your own business talk to an account or look into a tax guide to find out about great tax deductions.

If you are looking to start a small business, there are plenty of ways to make money fast and with little effort.  While most small business owners will tell others that it takes time to grow a business and create a product, you can also sell products that bring in an income while developing a serious product.  Here are some tips on quick money makers.

One of the easiest ways to bring in a profit quickly and easily is to sell on Ebay.  Ebay is great for merchants and small businesses because you do not need to be web savvy, buy special web tools or spend months starting up a business.  You can literally go online today and within a few minutes offer items up for sale.

Ebay is great because it drives millions of people in traffic to the site each week.  Ebay is a giant flea market, where used items or brand new items are being sold.  You can easily find out what is selling, how much it sells for and if others are buying it by checking out the item history.  You can’t find an easier place to sell than Ebay.  Most merchants fail at Ebay because they don’t do that much research on their items, so before you pick out a product, do a little research. If your goal is to get online and create a quick profit, there aren’t that many other ways to be as successful as Ebay.

One of the most common complaints about business meetings is that nothing ever productive comes from them.  Many corporate workers are constantly complaining about taking the time out of their busy schedule to attend a meeting or presentation.   However if you ask the associate a week later what the meeting was on, you probably will get quizzical looks.  The truth of the matter is that most meetings and presentations are not productive.  Here ar