[ jun 2005 ]
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"A bitter row has reignited between the US and the European Union (EU) over subsidies for their aircraft makers Boeing and Airbus. The EU has revived a case against US state aid to Boeing at the World Trade Organisation (WTO), 24 hours after the US did the same against Airbus. Each side has accused the other of distorting the world market for aircraft by unfairly supporting their national manufacturers.
"The Europeans say that Boeing receives illegal subsidies in the form of military contracts and tax breaks. The US, meanwhile, accuses the EU of having funded Airbus's latest A380 super-jumbo project with generous subsidies.
" In an effort to avoid heading to the WTO, Brussels reportedly offered to cut aid for the Airbus A350 mid-sized jet by up to 30%. The A350 project is particularly sensitive since the mid-sized plane represents a direct challenge to Boeing's Dreamliner. Airbus already has taken on the Boeing 747 with its A380 aircraft. The project is supposed to cost $3bn, about a third of which is likely to come from European governments. "
BBC news online
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Country GDP - per capita income 2004
1 : Luxembourg $ 58,900
2 : United States $ 40,100
...
19: United Kingdom $ 29,600
...
32 : European Union $ 26,900
...
227 : Burundi $ 600
228 : Somalia $ 600
229 : Gaza Strip $ 600 .
230 : Sierra Leone $ 600
231 : Malawi $ 600
232 : East Timor $ 400
( in a list of 232 )
CIA world fact book
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"The G7 finance ministers agreed Saturday to write off the debt of 18 of the poorest countries, but firm prescriptions of privatisation hovered over the debt relief offer. Finance ministers from the Group of Seven of the world's leading industrialised nations - United States, Canada, Japan, Britain, France, Germany and Italy (the G8, minus Russia) - agreed to write off 100 percent of the debt of 18 of the poorest countries, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. That will amount to debt cancellation of about two billion dollars a year.
"Campaigners focusing on debt relief welcomed the move. But the finance ministers' agreement contains a provision on privatisation that has the potential to deliver to them more money than they wrote off.
" The ministers reaffirmed in a statement at the end of their two-day meeting Saturday that 'in order to make progress on social and economic development, it is essential that developing countries put in place the policies for economic growth.' Among these, they must 'boost private sector development, and attract investment,' and ensure 'the elimination of impediments to private investment, both domestic and foreign.'
"The ministers committed themselves to a successful outcome for the Doha Development Agenda, agreed at the World Trade Organisation's ministerial meet in the Qatar capital in 2001.
" This, they said, 'delivers substantial increases in market access for developing countries, establishes a timetable for the elimination of all trade-distorting export support in agriculture, and provides effective special and differential treatment for developing countries.'
"The commitment to 'elimination of all trade-distorting export support in agriculture' stops well short, however, of an agreement to end subsidies to farmers in rich countries, estimated at more than 300 billion dollars a year. It is these subsidies rather than specific programmes to support exports that have created artificially low prices for Western produce that are choking exports from developing countries. "
Inter Press Service