Hong Kong trade negotiations in secret session
Hong Kong: Trade representatives from leading developed and developing nations spent three hours behind closed doors yesterday, seeking solutions that would break an impasse in the six-day global trade talks.

After a second day of stalemate, the director-general of the World Trade Organisation, Pascal Lamy, warned ministers that time was running out for a deal to be arrived at.

In a flurry of accusations and counter accusations, Peter Mandelson, Europe's trade commissioner, said he was worried that the EU's proposal for the poorest countries to gain duty-free and quota-free access for their goods to rich western markets was being blocked. The US raised objections to Bangladesh and Cambodia being included in the list of countries granted special treatment, and also stated its opposition to textiles being included in the list of products. Japan has objections to allowing imported rice to ruin its heavily-protected domestic crop.

While the EU is under pressure to give ground on agriculture, cotton-producing countries in west Africa made it clear they were seeking concessions from the US over the subsidies it extends to its cotton farmers.
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IMF changes world growth forecast — will be higher than this year
Washington: IMF managing director Rodrigo Rato changed his organizations forecast for global economic growth on Wednesday, saying that global growth was likely to accelerate next year. This changes the forecast issued by the organization as recently as September.

"We now think global growth will be slightly stronger in both 2005 and 2006 than we had projected," Rato told reporters at the organisation's year-end press meet. "Growth has also become more broad based, with a modest pick up in most industrial countries."

Rato said the stronger outlook was based on signs that Europe's lackluster economy was stirring and on the momentum that the Japanese economy was exhibiting.

In September, IMF had forecast world growth would expand 4.3 percent this year and next, more than half a point above the 20-year world average. Rato however declined to say how much higher the growth would be, saying that the forecast would be made available at the IMF spring meetings.
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US trade deficit at record high in Oct.
Washington: The United States' trade deficit climbed to a record high in October, the government said Wednesday, with imports climbing much faster than exports even though prices for imported oil declined.

The trade deficit widened by US$3bn to US$68.9bn, a sign that the nation's huge trade imbalance is yet to stabilize. The nation's trade deficit is on track to top US$700bn this year, up from last year's record of US$618bn, and the country's foreign indebtedness is rising at least as rapidly.

The widening gap is likely to reduce the nation's overall growth in the final quarter of this year. Morgan Stanley reduced its forecast for growth this quarter to 3 per cent, from 3.4 per cent on Wednesday, and Merrill Lynch shaved its already pessimistic forecast to just 2.3 per cent.

The trade deficit with China through October hit US$166.8bn, exceeding the US$162bn deficit with China for all of last year. Over all, the Commerce Department estimated that American exports grew by 1.7 percent in October, while imports climbed 2.7 percent.
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MS to set up PC-to-phone service
New York: Microsoft has announced a cut-price pre-paid PC-to-phone service in a tie up with MCI, the US telecommunications group that is being acquired by Verizon Communications.

The service, which combines MCI's existing VoIP network service with Microsoft's software, is expected to be launched in the first half of 2006 and will be called MCI Web Calling for Windows Live Call.

Microsoft's move follows similar initiatives from Google, Yahoo and eBay's Skype unit which have all announced low price PC-to-phone VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) services in recent months. However, Microsoft's decision to develop its service in conjunction with an existing telecommunications operator gives it a powerful ally.
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