US Senate Triples Funding For Global AIDS Fight

“The US Senate has given a major boost to a program to combat AIDS and malaria around the world, voting to triple funding for a cause championed by President George W. Bush.

The Senate on Wednesday voted 80 to 16 to authorize $48 billion over the next five years - $18 billion dollars more than Bush had requested - for the program, which also includes funds to battle tuberculosis. ‘This bill will expand American leadership on global health and foster hope around the world. …’ said Paul Zeitz, Executive director of the Global AIDS Alliance. …” [Agence France Presse/Factiva]

AP adds that the statement “…said that when the program was launched in 2003, about 50,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa were receiving anti-retroviral treatment for HIV/AIDS. Today, the program supports lifesaving anti-retroviral treatment for more than 1.7 million people around the world, he said. It also has supported treatment and prevention programs that have helped HIV-positive women give birth to nearly 200,000 infants who are HIV-free. …

The bill passed by the House in April approved $50 billion, including $5 billion for malaria, $4 billion for tuberculosis and $41 billion for AIDS. Of the AIDS money, a proportion -- $2 billion next year -- would go to the international Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Actual spending levels still have to be approved in annual appropriations bills.

Earlier Wednesday, the Senate, acceding to arguments that Congress must also address humanitarian issues closer to home, agreed to set aside $2 billion of the $50 billion for American Indian water, health and law enforcement projects. …” [The Associated Press/Factiva]

UN Sees Humanitarian Aid Shortfall

“The UN blamed the increasing price of food and fuel worldwide for a shortfall in emergency humanitarian aid of more than $3 billion for 34 nations.

UN officials said that those costs along with natural disasters and worsening conflicts are making it more difficult to raise funds from donor nations, mostly Western governments.

‘The donors will need to dig deep into their pockets to try to find that money,’ said John Holmes, the UN's humanitarian chief. …But new donors are needed to step forward, he said, both among governments and the private sector, beyond the mainstays, the US and the EU. …” [The Associated Press/Factiva]

Reuters adds that “…A mid-year review meeting to assess UN aid funding needs for 2008 heard that the original appeal for $3.8 billion announced in December and quickly revised to $5.4 billion to accommodate extra crises now stood at $6.5 billion. The cash is needed to meet appeals for food, shelter, clean water and other necessities in 10 countries, mainly in Africa, plus the West African region. …

So far this year donors have contributed $2.9 billion, meaning another $3.6 billion is needed if the revised target is to be met. …The biggest focus of the appeal is Sudan, where the 5-year-old conflict in the western Darfur region has driven an estimated 2.5 million people from their homes. The new funding requirement for Sudan is $1.95 billion. …” [Reuters/Factiva]

Food Prices Steady, Inflation Push Eases-FAO

“Food commodity prices have now stabilised after surging early this year while a weak dollar may reduce inflationary pressures in many countries …Economist Abdolreza Abbassian of the Rome-based UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) told Reuters in a telephone interview.

Abbassian said the weakness of the dollar was also becoming an increasingly important influence, reducing the cost of food commodities in national currency terms for many importers.

The FAO's monthly Food Price Index for June, to be published later this week, is set to be close to May's revised 216.0 and below the peak of 217.8 set in March, he said. The June total would still, however, be more than 40 percent higher than the same month last year reflecting a sharp jump in cereals, oils and fats prices. …” [Reuters/Factiva]

WTO powers seek compromise trade deal amid widespread skepticism

“The United States, European Union, China and other trade powers are sending negotiators to Geneva for talks next week with the aim of erasing seven years of failure in the Doha round of free trade talks….

U.S. President George W. Bush at the G-8 summit of world leaders last week cited the "critical importance of concluding" the talks, while British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said another debacle in the dragging World Trade Organization talks would destroy the "best basis for continued economic growth." [International Herald Tribune]

The July 21 meeting in Geneva aims to revive the Doha round of World Trade Organisation talks, which seek to create a new global agreement to remove barriers to trade and spur cross-border exchanges. [Agence France Presse]

World Trade Organisation head Pascal Lamy on Tuesday said that a global liberalisation deal could add between 50 and 100 billion dollars each year to the world economy. [Reuters/Factiva]

Also in this Edition, Briefly Noted…

OECD Calls For Modification Of Biofuel Policies. “The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said Wednesday that biofuel policies in OECD member countries are costly and ineffective, and should be modified. Government support for the production of biofuels ‘is costly, has a limited impact on reducing greenhouse gases and improving energy security, and has a significant impact on world crop prices,’ the OECD's Economic Assessment of Biofuel Support Policies said. If present biofuel support policies are maintained, 12 percent of global coarse grain production and 14 percent of vegetable oil production could be used for biofuels in the 2013-2017 period, up from 8 percent and 9 percent respectively in 2007, the OECD report said. …” [Kyodo News (Japan)/Factiva]

The World Bank and US lawmakers launched a new forum on Wednesday to improve cooperation between the poverty-fighting institution and Congress. The new bipartisan Caucus for Congressional-World Bank Dialogue hopes to deepen, and in some cases launch discussions between the Bank and the US Congress on development, poverty and trade issues. [Reuters/Factiva]

Zimbabwe's annual rate of inflation has surged to 2,200,000 percent, official figures have shown. The figure is the first official assessment of prices in the troubled African nation since February, when the rate of inflation stood at 165,000%. [BBC News (UK)]

The US signed a pair of agreements on Wednesday to boost trade and investment ties with countries in Southern and Eastern Africa, the US Trade Representative's office said. [Reuters/Factiva]

Companies operating in Indonesia have criticised the government over power cuts and Jakarta’s attempts to deal with them, including an edict forcing factories to move production to weekends from next week. A series of potential blackouts are scheduled for this week and next in Jakarta and the nearby industrial zone of Tangerang. [The Financial Times (UK)/Factiva]

Asia's economic giants, under pressure to yield ground in key global free trade talks next week, are ready to open their markets to spur growth, but not at any cost, analysts said. [Reuters/Factiva]

German Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul called on oil producing countries, to give financial assistance to developing countries suffering because of higher oil prices impact. Rich countries, with high oil revenues should contribute to a World Bank fund, said Wieczorek-Zeul on Wednesday in Berlin at the presentation of the White Paper on development policy. [Agence France Presse/Factiva]

The US, EU, China and other trade powers are sending negotiators to Geneva for talks next week with the aim of erasing seven years of failure in the Doha round of free trade talks. [The Associated Press/Factiva]