BLOG NEWS: "My Blog List" clean-up

Readers have certainly noticed that some of the blogs appearing on my blog list had not been updated for a long time. So I have done some housekeeping: a couple of blogs have changed names. I have made the necessary changes so that readers can access the most up to date version. I have also removed an "idle" blog (not updated since several months).

INDIA: fishermen in the State of Karnataka get increased subsidy for... housing!

According to the Daijiworld Media Network the Indian State of Karnataka has increased the housing subsidy fro fishermen from Rs 40,000 to Rs 60,000 (from USD 753 to USD 1130).

The article mentions that the State government "has set apart the sum of Rs. 11.41 crore for construction of 2,000 houses for fishermen in 2011-12." (Rs 11.41 crore is approximately USD 2.15 million).

The article also says that "...the Cabinet also decided to release Rs 2 crore to cooperatives of fishermen for granting loans at 3 per cent rate of interest." (Rs 2 crore amounts to + USD 377,000)

Here is the link to the article:

http://www.daijiworld.com/news/news_disp.asp?n_id=122320

USA: negotiating fisheries subsidies disciplines in the Trans-Pacific Partnership

On 5 December 2011 the Office of the United States Trade Representative released a document titled  "USTR GREEN PAPER ON CONSERVATION AND THE TRANS-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP".

In the paper it is stated that:

"The United States and other TPP countries have proposed TPP disciplines on subsidies that contribute to overcapacity and overfishing, potentially lighting the way for a WTO multilateral agreement on fisheries subsidies."

I am impressed by the move of the move of the US "and other TPP countries" to propose binding rules (disciplines) in the context of bilateral/multilateral trade deals. I tried to find the documents relating to this proposals but I did not succeed. So if readers know more about the subject I will be very glad to hear (or read) from them.

When reading in detail the USTR text a number of questions came to my mind:

Will these "disciplines" apply in the same way to all countries in the TPP or will the rules take into account different degrees of development? Will they apply to trade (i.e. to products) among TPP participants? Or rather to the harvesting of some species? Does this mean that some countries that are providing subsidies now will have to change their policies because of bilateral/plurilateral rules?

At any rate, this is a remarkable (and bold) development!

Here is the link to the USTR document:

http://www.ustr.gov/about-us/press-office/fact-sheets/2011/ustr-green-paper-conservation-and-trans-pacific-partnership