Global Finance: China Lets the Cat Out Of the Currency Bag
TORONTO (IDN) - On the eve of their meeting with the G8 in Italy, the G5 group of major emerging economies -- Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa -- discussed the use of their own currencies to settle trade accounts among themselves. According to Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon, the suggestion to explore this possibility came from Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva.
NORTH-SOUTH: Rebalancing Global Governance in Afterglow of G20 London
TORONTO (IDN) - What will the G20 London Summit be remembered for? Are we at a major turning point in global politics and international governance? Did this Summit signal a new international consensus or will new and old divergences rule the day? Are we seeing a new "coming together" of North and South, or will lack of follow through from London give rise to a new Global South, led by a new bloc of rising power?
The Emerging Powers
Why is the current global economic downturn causing such widespread anxiety? We are worried because the crisis has gone global. It has spread beyond a financial crisis and is now affecting incomes and employment in households -- kitchen tables -- the world over. The other reason is that the crisis has fully revealed the limitations of the existing system of international organization, born after the Second World War.
Calling China's Bluff
Why it's far too early to fear China's burgeoning financial clout.
China and the End of the G8
It is unclear how much the leaders of the world's 20 developed and major developing countries actually wanted to accomplish when they gathered in Washington in mid-November to discuss the fast-moving global financial crisis. However one thing the summit did make clear was the reality that the economic map of the world has been reshaped
China's Knocking on the G8 Door
This year's G8 Summit at Toyako, Japan, was seen by most observers as a disappointment. The agreements that were reached lacked creativity and teeth, whether on climate change, Zimbabwe, development assistance, or the fuel and food crisis, the club seems to have run out of ideas.