AGRICULTURAL POLICIES IN OECD COUNTRIES. By the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), July 2006. This annual report analyses world commodity market trends and medium term prospects for the main agricultural products. It shows how these markets are influenced by economic developments and government policies and highlights some of the risks and uncertainties that may influence market outcomes. In addition to OECD countries, the market projections in the report cover a large number of other countries and regions including the agricultural giants of India, China, Brazil and Russia as well as Argentina, South Africa and several least developed countries. For more information see: http://www.oecd.org/document/62/0,2340,en_2649_33727_37032958_1_1_1_1,00.html.
WORLD INVESTMENT REPORT 2006. By the UN Conference for Trade and Development (UNCTAD), October 2006. This year’s report focuses on the rise of foreign direct investment (FDI) by transnational corporations (TNCs) from developing and transition economies. This phenomenon has been particularly marked in the past ten years, and a growing number of TNCs from these economies are emerging as major regional — or sometimes even global — players. For low-income countries, FDI from developing countries can be of great importance. In some of them, it accounts for a significant share of all FDI flows. The report also discusses the development implications of the rise of these new sources of FDI, along with policy responses, for both home and host developing countries. As in previous years, the report also presents the latest data on FDI and traces the global and regional trends of FDI and international production by TNCs. Global FDI inflows rose substantially in 2005. A major contributing factor to this strong growth was the marked increase in the inflows to developed countries. Rising global demand for commodities was reflected in the steep increase in natural resource-related FDI, although the services sector continued to be the major recipient of FDI. Among developing regions, Asia remained the main magnet for FDI flows, followed by Latin America, where re-invested earnings have played a major role. Africa’s share in world FDI inflows was still small, but its FDI growth rate has nonetheless surpassed those of other developing regions. To access this report visit: http://www.unctad.org/Templates/webflyer.asp?docid=7431&intItemID=2068&lang=1&mode=highlights.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS AS A KEY OBSTACLE TO RUSSIA’S WTO ACCESSION. By Sherman Katz and Matthew Ocheltree. Carnegie Endowment, October 2006. Trade scholars Sherman Katz and Matthew Ocheltree elucidate the challenges and policy options that Russia faces on enforcing intellectual property rights, highlighting lessons learned from the experiences of China and Ukraine. Although recent intellectual property law enforcement initiatives are promising, reluctance to seriously address the problem results in little real progress. Katz and Ocheltree argue that Russia must prove itself a responsible member of the trading regime by strengthening its copyright laws on optical disc plants, step up its enforcement efforts, and follow through with fines and convictions for those who violate these laws. In principle, these requirements are comparable to those already acknowledged by China, Ukraine, and other recent WTO inductees. The goal of this paper is to advance US-Russia dialogue on accession and to help achieve significant progress in international trade. For more information visit: http://www.carnegieendowment.org/publications/index.cfm?fa=view&id=18781&prog=zgp&proj=zted.