Doha Development Round Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Doha Development Round - Essay Example To add to that, even USA and EU have strategic differences on certain issues. The most recent round, which was held in 2008, broke down after the member countries failed to reach a consensus regarding agriculture import rules (BBC, 2008). Though these were followed by intense negotiations, they failed to break the deadlock. The World Trade Organization was formed with an aim to supervise and liberalize international trade. The Doha round of talks was a devise formulated to achieve that aim and lower trade barriers around the world, thus facilitating growth in trade globally. Besides that, the talks were also meant to insure that multilateral trading system must benefit the developing countries that constitute over three quarters of WTO members. The Doha declaration declared that the member countries of the WTO should strive to negotiate a policy, wherein the developing countries manage to secure for themselves a share in the growth of world trade in accordance with their respective national economic growth. To achieve the above stated goals, the following twin means were identified- reducing import tariffs, thus allowing the developing countries to have wider access to the global markets, and discouraging domestic and export subsidies, which would enable the over-production of goods at very low prices. This in turn would again boost trade practices. The talks were centered around... Thus, the Doha declaration carefully worked on these strategies and elaborated a set of objectives with stipulated deadlines. The objective was to establish a fair and market-oriented trading system through a program of fundamental reforms. The program strengthened rules, and provided specific commitments on government support and protection for agriculture. The purpose was to correct and prevent restrictions and distortions in world agricultural markets. (WTO 2001). As has been discussed earlier, the major emphasis was on decreasing and eventually phasing out export subsidies, reducing support systems that pose a threat to trade relations, and broaden the limits of global markets, thus making them more accessible to the developing countries. Out of the 132 countries that are a part of the WTO, 103 countries are classified as developing or least developed. In majority of these countries, agriculture is the chief occupation for the masses. Thus, all possible steps were taken to ensure that developing countries benefit from the declaration, especially when it comes to the issue of agriculture. The issue was managed under the following dimensions- market access, domestic supports, export competition, and development issues. At certain places, these counties were also rendered special treatment, to alleviate domestic problems of food scarcity and rural development. Recently, however agriculture( more specifically, agriculture import rules) has become the crux of several deadlocks. The reforms were not limited to the agricultural sector alone. Negotiations were also carried out to implement tariff cutting schemes on major non agricultural

Assault weapons gun ban Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Assault weapons gun ban - Essay Example The reason for which Jimmy Carter, along with George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, supported this law has to be analyzed. This law got passed in 1994 and expired in ten years. When the law was approaching expiration date various police organizations, including police chiefs and sheriffs, have demanded for its renewal. They called on the President of that time to renew and strengthen the law. But with a sparkle from the White House, protestors demand prevailed and the ban was terminated. Carter personally owned a lot of different types of gun which includes â€Å"two handguns, four shotguns and three rifles, two with scopes† (Carter, n.p.). He and his other friends cherished the ownership of the guns. He used these guns for the purpose of hunting in his family woods and field and occasionally he also took his family along with his friends for hunting. He and his friend used to cultivate innovate ideas to do various things on the gun. He even used to display many of them in the whit e house. According to Carter, in case of hunting if one maintains safety there should not be any problem. But neither Carter nor his friends wanted to posses such an assault gun. Since they believed that the assault guns were used to either kill policemen or any other civilian. He believed that White House should not have given up trying to reinforce the law, even if there were lots of political difficulties. A lot of emotions were also attached with the ban of the Assault Weapons. The N.R.A. leaders were highly influenced by the firearm industry and they started believing that the firearms were being snatched away from them and the house owners were deprived of ways to protect themselves. He argues that the fire industry and other governing authorities should reassess the safety and accountability and should enact the ban again. And if the politicians fear the disapproval of N.R.A during election then it was not at all a solid reason (Carter, n.p.). The view of Wheeler should also be assessed in order to have clear understanding of the law. Wheeler has pointed some predictions by studying the psychology of the criminals. He argues that assault guns were not used by the criminals because they were difficult to hide. The data of National Institute of Justice says that â€Å"Assault Weapons were used in fewer than eight percent of gun crimes even before the ban† (Wheeler, n.p.). Moreover the criminals were more inclined to use high quality hand gun. â€Å"Handgun Epidemic Lowering Plan (HELP Network)† (Wheeler, n.p.) says that the end of the ban over the assault gun would lead to a wave of increase crime. And that the root of all evils was the gun. But this belief had no basis. As the panic of the assault gun faded, the activists try to discover a new type of gun. â€Å"California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s desk lies a bill to ban .50 caliber rifles† (Wheeler, n.p.). That has resulted into the myth that the terrorists used .50-calib er rifles and assault rifles were used by the criminals. But the reports actually suggested that .50 caliber was used by the criminals also. Wheeler also argues that Assault Weapon was deliberately misrepresented by the anti gunners as machine guns. In the year 2003 CNN showed a video of machine gun and