Federal Council will consult on plan for how big banks can fail, negotiate withholding tax on foreigners’ accounts
Measles, tougher penal sentences, electricity suppliers, corporate tax rates all on the 2011 schedule
Swiss Federal Council (cabinet): government publishes its 2011 agenda
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss Government, fresh from the defeat of its counter-initiative in the vote on foreign convicts 28 November, has set out an ambitious agenda for work it expects to complete in 2011. This will be the final session before a new parliament is elected 23 October 2011.
Two pieces of legislation, one calling for a tougher penal code and the other for greater efforts to integrate foreigners into Swiss society, were planned before the weekend vote, but they must now be coordinated with a constitutional change, the results of the 28 November popular initiative, where Swiss voters chose automatic expulsion of foreign convicts.
Negotiations over undeclared assets in Swiss banks confirmed
The council confirmed Tuesday that negotiations are already underway with some countries, and it intends to open negotiations with other key countries, to “regularize” undeclared assets coming to Swiss banks from outside Switzerland. The main tool Switzerland intends to use is a withholding tax but the government says the negotiations will also include a commitment by the Swiss to “ensure, as far as possible, that undeclared assets from [countries with negotiations] will not in future come to Switzerland”.
Bankruptcy proceedings for key banks would limit pay, free trade agreements get priority
The cabinet will consult with interested parties on the details of how banks that are critical to the national financial system would be allowed to move into bankruptcy if they fail. A particular aspect of this is the decision by the government to limit payment to bankers for any financial institution that comes under the government’s care. Wide consultation on drafts for new laws with major impact is standard procedure in Switzerland and proposed legislation is then revised based on feedback before it goes to parliament.
Trade talks to be accelerated
In 2009 more than 5,000 visitors turned up to discover what goes on behind the scenes at the WTO, building on this success, the WTO has decided to open its doors to the public for the second time.
Location: World Trade Organization
Link out: http://www.wto.org/english/forums_e/open_day_e/…
Date: 19 Sep 2010
Michael Punke, US ambassador to the WTO, 2010
Update 23:55 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Michael Punke has been named deputy US trade representative and US ambassador and permanent representative to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva, the White House announced Saturday 27 March. He will move to Geneva immediately to assume the post, according to the office of Ron Kirk, the head of the US trade office.
Punke will immediately face a number of key trade issues at the WTO, including WTO-approved tariffs on US exports to Brazil in retaliation for sugar subsidies. Another issue is the US-China trade imbalance, with the US calling for appreciation of the Chinese currency. Getting the Doha Round in Geneva moving again is another priority.
Brazil's tax on ketchup to jump to 38%
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Brazil is taking up its option, approved by the Geneva-based World Trade Organization, to slap a 30 percent import tax on fruit from the US after what it calls eight years of negotiations and four years of trying to get the US to end its cotton subsidies. The US remains the world’s largest cotton producer, while Brazil is fifth. Brazil handed its list of taxes to the WTO Monday 8 March. Cars will also be taxed and ketchup will be taxed at 38 percent instead of 18 percent.
Links to other sites: AP/Yahoo news, Fruitnet, World Trade Organization
Update 16 December Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Bananas have come close to being the fruit that broke the Doha Round’s back, but they could in the end save the talks, says the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD). The European Union (EU) and Latin American exporters initialed an agreement Tuesday 15 December at the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva. It will settle their dispute over the banana trade and tariffs, which has been running for more than 10 years.
“An agreement on bananas is widely viewed as a critical condition for a conclusion to the stalled WTO Doha Round of trade negotiations,” says the Geneva-based ICTSD. The organization provides the international trade system with input on sustainable development aspects of trade.
A study published Tuesday by the ICTSD shows that “a new deal on European Union banana import tariffs will be a boon to Latin American exporters but would trigger a drop in exports of the fruit from African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries. But the blow to ACP banana exporters may be cushioned by the aid money that the EU has promised in conjunction with the deal.”
Pascal Lamy, WTO
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Thomson Reuters Founders Share Company, the ultimate owner of media conglomerate Thomson Reuters, has named World Trade Organization Director-General Pascal Lamy to its board of directors, the group announced 7 December. Pehr Gyllenhammar, chairman of the board, said “Mr Lamy will bring a wealth of invaluable global experience to our distinguished board.”
Lamy started his professional career as an official in the French finance ministry, worked as chief of staff under former European Commission President Jacques Delors, and subsequently became trade commissioner himself, before being nominated to head the WTO in 2005.
Links to other sites: Reuters Thomson, WTO
Photo: World Trade Organizaion 2 December 2009
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - In a highly publicized event, its opening marred by street violence, the Seventh Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) has brought together government officials from 153 countries in Geneva for three days to discuss trade.
On the other side of town, delegations of experts on foreign policy, military affairs and arms control from Russia and the US are meeting to hammer out the details of a treaty that will reduce their countries’ nuclear arsenals.
For a world with more trade
Trade ministers from the WTO’s 153 member countries have been meeting in Geneva for their biennial conference amidst the worst recession in 80 years, with trade volumes down more than 10 percent in 2009 compared to last year, according to WTO figures.
Ruth Dreifuss, former Swiss president, who grew up in the Secheron district in Geneva, attended a December 2008 presentation on the development of the international Geneva project, near the WTO.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The proposed extension to the World Trade Organization’s building at Centre William Rappard will be decided this Sunday 27 September by the city of Geneva’s voters. The vote is a strictly municipal affair, and the outcome is not binding on the canton, which has the final say on city planning decisions. But this vote is being seen as a test of the city’s commitment to the concept of Genève internationale, host to the European headquarters of the UN and to more than 30 specialized UN organizations, as well as to a large number of non-governemental organizations (NGOs).
A strong “no” vote by the citizens of Geneva would seriously weaken that commitment. Pierre Vanek, leader of the project’s opponents, points out in an interview published in Le Temps that the canton can ignore the result of a refusal, but “people wouldn’t understand why it was going against a popular vote.”
The cantonal authorities approved the building extension because the WTO urgently needs the extra space.
[includes video] Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Two Boston University student interns, one at the World Health Organization, the other at the World Trade Organization, were interviewed by their university’s BU Today, on video, about their experience working in international organizations in Geneva.
The accompanying article and video are reproduced with permission from BU.
By Devin Hahn. Text by Benjamin Hall.
“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel like I had a bit of an edge, having studied under the bright minds at the World Health Organization,” says Tara Vaughn.
Vaughn spent last fall in the Geneva Internship Program, taking courses and working at the WHO in the strategic information unit, focusing on prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS. Her courses featured daily speakers from different realms of public health, and topics included abortion rights, public health issues that arise from natural disasters, and climate change.
A tall order for WTO negotiators
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Doha Round talks resumed on the technical level in earnest at the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva 14 September after a commitment to conclude the Round by 2010 from ministers from 35 countries meeting in New Delhi, India 3 and 4 September. The Doha Round of trade talks collapsed in July 2008 after trade ministers failed to agree on issues tied to agriculture and industrial import rules.
The blame for the collapse was widely laid on differences between India, China and the US on the special safeguards mechanism, a means to raise tariffs against a sudden surge of imports.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – World trade rebounded sharply in the second quarter, according to World Trade Organization (WTO) figures just released. World exports (which are also world imports) increased by 7.7 percent in the second quarter of 2009, compared with the first quarter, and reached $2.88 trillion in the second quarter, up 6.6 percent overall.
The answer to the question of who is the world’s leading exporter was announced 8 September by the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). China’s export figures for July are $105,420 billion, an increase of 10.4 percent over June’s figures. Germany announced that exports were € 70.5 billion, or $102,155b. This is an unadjusted increase of 6.6 percent from June 2009. Both countries were neck-and-neck in June.
Quarterly world merchandise export developments, 2005-09 (2005Q1=100, in current US dollars), WTO
All of the WTO reporting regions show a rebound in the first quarter.
WTO opens its doors
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The World Trade Organization (WTO) put on a grand show Sunday 6 September, with an assist from the excellent weather. The organization’s building, the Centre William Rappard, was open to the public, and offered guided tours that gave a feeling for the history of the building, which originally housed the International Labour Office, created after the Treaty of Versailles in 1919.
The artwork, much of it donated by foreign governments, is spectacular.
First floor of the WTO
Director-General's office
Several stands served food from the various member countries in the Parc Barton behind the building.
Michael Punke, reproduced with permission
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Michael Punke, 44, has been nominated as the next US ambassador to the World Trade Organization in Geneva. He was one of two people nominated to top posts by US President Barack Obama Thursday 3 September. Barbara Bennett was nominated for the post of chief financial officer at the Environmental Protection Agency.
Punke’s appointment to lead the US negotiations at the WTO must now be approved by the US Senate. He is currently living in Montana with his wife and two children, where he works as an international trade consultant and writer of both fiction and non-fiction. He would replace Peter Allgeier, who has stepped down as ambassador to the WTO. He had been in the post since 2005, but had worked for the Office of the US Trade Representative since 1980.
Title: World Trade Organization Open Day
Location: Geneva
Link out: Click here
Description: Guided tours, art display, documentaries, food stands, children activities and much, much more. Program begins at 10:00.
Date: 06 Sep 2009
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa will make an address and accept an honorary doctorate from the University of Geneva Friday 5 June to mark its 450 years. The Nobel Peace laureate spoke to Le Temps (Fre) and the Tribune de Genève (Fre) at length on subjects ranging from his home country South Africa and its new president to Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and the split in the Anglican church today.
Planned extension to WTO building (photo: Wittfoht)
Geneva, Switzerland (Le Temps, Fre) – A referendum on a major extension to the lake-side Centre William Rappard, which houses the World Trade Organisation (WTO), will be put to the vote in Geneva 27 September 2009. The organizers of the referendum deposited 6,919 signatures with the city of Geneva 26 May. They oppose the planned building’s supposed encroachment on public land and claim that access to the lake will be restricted by a new security fence
Wittfoht architects' sketch for WTO extension
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The World Trade Organization (WTO) is to have an improved and larger home in its present location, and pedestrians who like to stroll along the lakefront, or fans of the nearby William Rappard Park need not fear: the lakefront will remain open and none of the magnificent old trees will be cut down. Plans for the extension were unveiled officially Monday March 23 by the city, canton and federal government, who are all participating in the CHF130 million project.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Two fundamentally opposing views are surfacing during heated debates at the 11th annual conference on generic medicines being held in Geneva: Either generic drugs that reduce the cost of healthcare in Africa are not reaching the market because the world trade system is too protective of patent holders, or the system appears to be working and those who disagree should be taking their complaints to the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Geneva, Switzerland (Le Temps, Fre) – The WTO (World Trade Organization) building extension, a source of heated debate for months, was sparked anew Wednesday when Geneva’s municipal council, or parliament, discussed at length its likely impact on the city. The heart of the debate is the need, according to left-wing councilor Rémy Pagani, for the WTO to swallow part of the lakefront city park in order to meet security standards set by the United Nations.
Some other councilors disagree, including Socialist Sandrine Salerno. Salerno is responsible for the city’s urban planning programme, a council post she took over after the council prised it away from Pagani. She argues that the WTO and the city are currently negotiating details of the extension and should be allowed to get on with this, while Pagani is suggesting that Geneva should be asking the UN to protect the lakefront and its parks as part of the World Heritage sites programme.
The issue is particularly contentious because, while it is technically a municipal matter, the extension of the WTO is financed largely by the Swiss Confederation, which is anxious to see work move ahead on the CHF137 million project. The canton, too, is involved because it has a stake in ensuring that international organizations remain in Geneva. The WTO, for its part, wants work to get started because its need for more space is already pressing: it has 810 employees working in two parts of the city but expects to have 1,200 within eight years and double the current number in 30 years.
