News
Rules for Business – Rights for People!
Lack of coherence, no global vision, no to binding measures – when it comes to regulating internationally active corporations, much remains to be done in Switzerland. The «Corporate Justice» campaign being mounted by Alliance Sud and over 50 other organizations hopes to change that. ...>>
The Foreign Minister’s legacy
Micheline Calmy-Rey’s stubbornness has irked many at one time or another, us included. On balance, however, she and her management team are leaving behind a foreign policy legacy worth continuing. It may be described with the terms «universalism» and «active neutrality». ...>>
Reservations about the Green economy
Twenty years after the Earth Summit in Rio, Brazil is again playing host to UN Member States and Heads of Government in the metropolis beside Sugar Loaf Mountain. It is hoped that next June's «Rio+20» meeting will give fresh impetus to sustainable development. Success in that regard will depend on the future willingness of the North to share the limited resources fairly with the South. ...>>
FTA: India fights back over its generics
India refuses to include TRIPS-plus intellectual property rules in the planned free trade agreement with the European Union. It specifically rejects the data exclusivity being sought by pharmaceutical companies in drug approval processes.That could also scuttle the negotiations with Switzerland. ...>>
The OECD development cooperation of the future
Development cooperation should greatly expand its topic range and pay more attention to global public goods. This is the general tenor of the report published by the «forward thinker», the OECD, to mark the 50th anniversary of its Development Assistance Committee DAC. ...>>
Rearming tax haven Switzerland?
A parliamentary motion is obliging the Swiss Government to look for new loopholes for foreign tax dodgers. Introducing trusts and front companies like those available in the UK and the USA should open up new opportunities for the Swiss financial centre. ...>>
