The Africa-Canada Forum (Canadian Council for International Cooperation), the Halifax Initiative & the Institute of African Studies present a critical discussion regarding economic growth, aid and sustainable development in Africa. Speakers include Tetteh Hormeku-Ajei (Third World Network), James Henry (formerly McKinsey & Co.) and Vitalice Meja (Reality of Aid).
Energy poverty, climate change and the World Bank; Durban postmortem.
The role of the World Bank in climate finance; Europeans raise the bar on export credit disclosure; the FTT; glacier protection in Argentina; new UN working group.
Return of the financial transactions tax
Embassy Magazine, Feb. 16, 2011
By John Jacobs
In spite of Canada's attempt to bury it at the Toronto G20 meeting, a tax on financial transactions is back on the global agenda and gaining momentum.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has pledged to use his term as chair of the G20 to reform the global financial system and curb the speculation that contributed to the economic crisis. At the top of his agenda is an international financial transactions tax (FTT) to fund the fight against poverty and climate change.
 |
Final script May 22, 2010; release date June 18, 2010. |
Bridge to South KoreaHeld in Toronto, on Monday and Tuesday, June 21-22, 2010, just ahead of the G8 Summit in Huntsville and the G20 Summit in Toronto, this meeting was intended as a strategy session for civil society organizations, platforms and networks from many G20 countries (and beyond) to discuss diverse perspectives on both the G20 as an institution and priorities with respect to its agenda. As the outcome of an initial G20 strategy meeting in Washington DC in April of 2010 among various groups, the intention of this broader meeting of national, regional and international networks was three-fold:
|
MEETING DETAILS
|
Bridge to South KoreaHeld in Toronto, on Monday and Tuesday, June 21-22, 2010, just ahead of the G8 Summit in Huntsville and the G20 Summit in Toronto, this meeting was intended as a strategy session for civil society organizations, platforms and networks from many G20 countries (and beyond) to discuss diverse perspectives on both the G20 as an institution and priorities with respect to its agenda. As the outcome of an initial G20 strategy meeting in Washington DC in April of 2010 among various groups, the intention of this broader meeting of national, regional and international networks was three-fold:
|
MEETING DETAILS
|
http://www.embassymag.ca/page/view/tax-06-09-2010
Financial transaction tax is no bank tax
By Fraser Reilly-King
Published June 9, 2010
Big banks can finally breathe a sigh of relief.
This past weekend, Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty managed to rally China, Brazil and South Korea behind him at G20 meetings in Busan, South Korea, and put those pesky discussions about a global bank tax to rest.
Instead of discussing a bank tax at this month's summit, the G20 agreed to "develop principles reflecting the need to protect taxpayers, reduce risks from the financial system, protect the flow of credit in good times and bad, taking into account individual country's circumstances and options."
IMF, European Union look to bail out Greece
Greece’s debt crisis is finally coming to a head, with International Monetary Fund (IMF) loans to deal with the country’s deficit and heavy debt load being hammered out in Athens. The European Union and the IMF are negotiating the terms of a bailout as fears mount that Greece’s crisis could soon spread to other countries in Europe and beyond. Other nations carrying significant debt loads, including the United States, are concerned that the Greek crisis is a harbinger of things to come, closer to home.
Introduction
A growing number of politicians, civil society organizations, economists and some financiers have become strong advocates of a global Financial Transactions Tax (FTT). An FTT is a tiny tax on financial market transactions such as equity, bond, derivative or foreign exchange trades.
Political leaders, including the presidents of France and Germany and the prime minister of Britain, back an FTT as one of the best ways to fund programs to fight world poverty, pay for climate mitigation and adaptation costs and make financial institutions pay their fair share of the costs of the global crisis which, in large part, was created by their practices. Prominent economists advocate a Financial Transactions Tax as one way to cool down excessive speculation in financial markets, a principal cause of the economic crisis.
