The On Going US-China Trade Dispute Enters New Arena: “Green.”

By:  Ainsley Brown The tit for tat trade battles, one could even say bordering on a trade war, has entered a new area – Green. More precisely the U.S. is investigating China’s alleged subsidization of its green technology sector (wind, solar and advanced batteries, etc.) in breach of WTO rules. The US Trade Representative has launched the investigation under section

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Ethical investing vs. Shareholder activism

By Charles Wanguhu   Churches are once again taking the lead in ethical investing. A short while ago I wrote about the catholic church pulling out of a fund which was found to have investments in defense, contraception and other companies contrary to the catholic faith. Consequently the Church of England has sold its £3.8 million stake in Vedanta Resources,

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China and Africa

  By Charles Wanguhu A lot of column inches have been taken up trying to dissect the emerging Sino-African relations. In Africa more and more Chinese goods as well as people are visible. The Africa -West relationship has been largely characterized as an aid relationship or “carrot stick diplomacy”. Experimental policies such as the structural adjustment programmes have been imposed

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Kit Kat Goes Fair Trade In the UK

By: Ainsley Brown “Gimme a break, gimme a break, break me off a piece of that Kit Kat bar,” has taken on a new meaning in the UK as Kit Kat ‘breaks off’ some cash cocoa to farmers. Nestlé, the Swiss makers of Kit Kat, has announced that the very tasty chocolate snack as of mid-January will become a Fair

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Banana Trade War At An End?

By: Ainsley Brown Could the longest running trade dispute in World Trade Organization (WTO) history be coming to an end? If newspaper reports are to be believed, and I have no reason to doubt them, then the 16 year old trade war could be very close to ending.  At the center of this row is the Banana – yes the

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Innovation may just be the solution

By Charles Wanguhu In many international forums the developed nations are always pushed to provide more aid in the fight against poverty. Several reviews on the effectiveness of aid have proved time and time again its ineffectiveness in poverty eradication. The latter has led to current aid driven projects to often try and include sustainability options in all projects undertaken.

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