In Print and On Line ; IBSA at the WTO

Much attention has been paid recently to the growth of the economies of the IBSA (India, Brazil and South Africa) and BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) groupings of nations.

Many economists believe that the growth of the economies of the  IBSA and BRICS countries will shift economic power towards the so-called Third World.

An early test of strength came recently at the World Trade Organisation negotiations in Geneva (March 2012), where trade envoys of Brazil, South Africa and India accused the industrialised nations of risking undermining the Doha Round ( The Doha Development Agenda or Doha Round is a system adopted between WTO member states in 2001 to correct historical imbalances and enable poorer countries to integrate. During the `80s and `90s, the WTO was widely criticised as a means by which industrialised nations dominated the less powerful and it`s fair to say those tensions still surface today.)

The IBSA group accepts the need to "reinvigorate" the Doha Round and to "explore new approaches", but stipulate that this must be within the existing framework of "multilateralism, inclusiveness and full transparency."

Find out more at ;

Ravi Kanth Devarakonda - `Tale of Two Approaches ; The WTO Torn Asunder ?`at Inter Press Service (Africa), 24 March 2012 ( www.ips.org/africa ).

 Despite the rather dramatic headline, the article is actually well thought-out and expressed in a tolerably readable fashion, given the rather complicated subject matter.