What We’re Reading 11/16/09

Nov 16th, 2009 11:00 AM UTC
By Steve Wilson

Reuters—Some African countries not viable – Mo Ibrahim
African states must integrate immediately or some will not survive, business leader Mo Ibrahim said this weekend at his two-day conference in Tanzania promoting good governance in Africa. He said, “Intra-African trade is 4-5 percent of our international trade. Why? This is unacceptable, unviable, and people need to stand up and say this. Who are we to think that we can have 53 tiny little countries and be ready to compete with China, India, Europe, the Americans? It is a fallacy.”
 
Reuters—UN urges climate deal to fight “devastating” hunger
The United Nations said this morning that a climate change deal in Copenhagen next month is crucial to fighting global hunger, which Brazil’s president described as “the most devastating weapon of mass destruction”. Government leaders and officials met in Rome for a three-day U.N. summit on how to help developing countries feed themselves.

Financial Times—Obama rules out Copenhagen treaty
President Obama conceded on Sunday that next month’s Copenhagen summit would not produce a legally binding agreement to tackle global warming, but left the door open to a substantive deal at the climate change conference. Speaking at a conference of Asian countries, the President confirmed what the United Nations, the European Union and other countries had already admitted – that there would not be time for a fully articulated treaty to be drawn up at the summit. “We should not make the perfect the enemy of the good,” he said.

Voice of America News—Global Fund Approves $2.4 Billion to Fight AIDS, TB, Malaria
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis has approved grants worth $2.4 billion to fight the diseases during the next two years. The amount represents a slight decrease in funding levels. The $2.4 billion figure is $350 million less than last year’s amount, which was set before the full effects of the world economic slump were known.

Associated Press—Kenya harvest example on reversing food shortage>
A government program in Kenya that invests in irrigation and that has revived a rural economy that was in the dumps for years is being trumpeted by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization as an example of new, effective hunger-fighting strategy for the developing world. The agency says governments need to invest more in agriculture to reduce the number of people who need food aid — currently one in six people on the globe. Kenya’s program, the agency says, could serve as a model for scaled up agricultural investments across the continent, helping Africans feed themselves.

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