PREGUNTAVER

T he DOHA round of the World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations intends to promote the opening of markets and promoting free trade. This April, the latest meeting failed to reach a conclusion. Director-General Pascal Lamy of the World Trade Organization delivered a speech before the US Chamber of Commerce on April 23, 2007. Here are excerpts from his speech. "T oday we know that the Doha Development Round will not be concluded until and unless all these participants are ready to walk the extra mile and table additional contributions to the collective success of this multilateral enterprise. It is clear that the contributions will be linked to the degree of development and wealth of each participant, with the world poorest countries making the smallest contribution. It is also clear that no one will be asked to move first: countries will have to move in concert, like a big orchestra playing to the same tune. For the moment, a group of major actors — the EU, US, Brazil, India — d

The passing of former President Boris Yeltsin reminded me of my Russian friends, the continuing saga about the people's struggle for better government and the need for a responsible press. On 1993, I was a young student taking up a short course in Switzerland. My initial conversations with classmates, program facilitators and acquaintances never failed to include questions (some were delivered in a manner that struck me as rude) about what was happening to my country. They told me that they kept on hearing bad things about it. The polite ones simply asked; “How is the Philippines?” And there’s this gentleman who softly said; “Tell us more about your country. We seem to only hear about it, whenever there’s a catastrophe.” Such a fine gentleman, I thought. So full of good manners . Anyway, though seemingly impolite, I must admit that the apparently offensive statements were mostly valid observations. On 1993, the Philippines had just gone through more than 10 years of great misfor

Bjorn Tarras - Walhberg , Secretary General of the World Taxpayers Associations, spend most of his time traveling around the world and preaching the doctrine of "Flat Taxes". He meets with Finance Ministers, Presidents and Prime Ministers and tries to convince them to lower their income taxes and replace it with a flat rate. According to Walhberg, a flat system is: Simple - Easy to understand. Everybody can easily find out exactly how much they need to pay. At the moment, most people do not really know how much their obligations are due the complicated system in place in most countries. Ethical - Does not discriminate. Both the progressive and regressive systems are open to ethical debates. A lot of people argue that one or both systems favor or discriminate the rich or poor and vice versa . Fair - Everybody pays the same rate. There is no disincentive to produce/work less. Promotes competition and economic growth - A reduction in taxes through the imposition of a flat

APPLY NOW Trade representatives from the US, Brazil, India and Europe will meet to hammer an agreement that will resolve the 2005 deadlock in the DOHA round. In the negotiations, US and EU will be pushing India and Brazil, acknowledged leaders of the world's developing countries, to open their economies. To quote an online editor at the http://www.americaneconomicalert.org/news_home.asp?NTID=67 ; "Developing nations are being pressed to open their markets wider to industrial goods and services and the United States is seeking fewer farm products on their "protected" list. But India and other developing nations says they needs their farm tariffs to protect the livelihoods of their huge farming populations. Up to 80 percent of the workforces in developing nations depend on agriculture." I believe that the editor failed to point out that the US heavily subsidises a lot of industries, therefore creating “False competitiveness” for their local industries. I am not t

APPLY NOW -In a Reuters article, the following figures came out in reference to the Philippine Educational system. Please click this page for the complete article . -In a survey, the country rated 126 out of 163 in a 2006 global survey on corruption, behind Libya and Uganda. -The average annual teachers' salary averages 1,700 UK pounds. -The United Nations reports that approximately 46 percent of the population live on less than $2 a day, and 28 percent of children under the age of five are underweight. -A class size of 65 students is a frequent occurrence . -World Bank show education spending by the Philippines was equal to 3.2 percent of gross domestic product in 2004, far higher than Indonesia's 0.9 percent but well below Malaysia's 8 percent and Thailand's 4.2 percent. -Just one in five 12-year- olds scored the mastery level of 75 percent in maths, science, social studies and languages in the 2004/05 school year. -There are plans to increase its education budget

Fed up with your tax bill? Maybe you should consider moving to Alaska . Where to locate the company's offices & facilities should always be a part of every start up businessman's checklist. There are cities that offer tax holidays and incentives for certain industries and being able to identify and take advantage of such a program can spell the difference between a firm's highway to profitability or road to bankruptcy. Of course, there are a lot of other items to be considered (such as salary rates and cost of living) but for now, this short essay will dwell on taxes. As explained by a number of American exporting companies that I deal with, their products which used to bear the proudly "Made in the USA" logo now says "Made in Mexico" for tax purposes, among other reasons. In the same vein, every citizen should also consider a similar checklist in order to make life a lot easier. For the ordinary employee or small entrepreneur, taxes may also spell t