News stories by Isolda Agazzi, page 5

The EU is due to adopt a simplified set of rules of origins for developing countries exports. Particular relaxations are foreseen for the least developed countries (LDCs), but the rules may mainly profit the strongest of them.

While the recovery from the financial and economic meltdown remains fragile in especially the developed world, the outlook for Africa inspires optimism, according to UNCTAD. The agency also believes the crisis might be the death- knell for the export-led economic growth model -- especially African countries should leave it behind.

While some believe that restrictions on natural resource exports should be done away with, this could cause an increase in such exports that would be detrimental to the environment and bad for development.

Intellectual property (IP) rights are a key reason for high medicine prices, rendering such medicines unaffordable and therefore out of reach for poor people. While mechanisms exist to circumvent IP, poor countries have been browbeaten into adopting stringent IP laws.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) agrees that the anti-counterfeit legislation that has been adopted or that is under consideration in East Africa threatens the accessibility of affordable generic medicines.

The Everything but Arms trade initiative, which provides preferential treatment to poor countries, benefits only a limited range of people in the target populations. It should also be expanded to more countries, civil society organisations say.

The new international cocoa agreement will provide a positive shake-up in the international cocoa market and ensure better prices for stakeholders, including small farmers.

Sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures are a headache for African fish exporters but aid for trade may help small-scale fisherpersons to meet these standards.

Technology transfer and aid for trade could assist least developed countries (LDCs) suffering the effects of climate change. But negotiations in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) are not helping to make this a reality, while aid for trade lands up at the wrong institutions, such as the World Bank.

The Group of 20 should show its concern about those that the global economic crisis 'is leaving behind' by putting the plight of least developed countries on the agenda at its meeting later this month.