{OCDE REVUE DE PRESSE/OECD PRESS REVIEW} •••• May 14
Transcription
{OCDE REVUE DE PRESSE/OECD PRESS REVIEW} •••• May 14
{OCDE REVUE DE PRESSE/OECD PRESS REVIEW} •••• May 14 Mai 1991 •••• LE TEMPS - Région parisienne: Quelques rayons de soleil ce matin, puis le ciel va se couvrir. Il fera 14 . •••• SG/PRB/D(91)87 REUTER - WORLD NEWS SUMMARY CAIRO - US Secretary of State James Baker takes his Middle East mission to Jordan and Israel, warning that he cannot foist peace on the region if Arabs and Israelis lack the will to strive for it. WASHINGTON - In an effort to encourage approval of an international ban on chemical weapons, President George Bush has agreed in principle to renounce US use of such weapons for any reason and eventually get rid of them completely. JOHANNESBURG - The conviction of Winnie Mandela on kidnap and assault charges has raised the prospect of violent protest by her supporters in the African National Congress that could further fuel tension in South Africa’s war-ravaged townships. BELGRADE - The Serbian minority in the Yugoslav republic of Croatia has voted overwhelmingly in favour of uniting a large chunk of the republic with the rival republic of Serbia, TANJUG news agency said. *************** OECD IN THE NEWS NIHON KEIZAI SHIMBUN: OECD to invite Taiwan to experts’ meeting "The Taiwanese English newspaper CHINA POST of May 13th reported that a Financial Ministry’s high ranking Official disclosed that the OECD will invite a high ranking official of the Taiwanese Financial Ministry to an experts’ meeting which the Financial Committee will hold next year. It is said to be the first time that a government official of a non member country or region participates in that meeting. Among the Asian NIEs, Korea has already made a move towards the joining the OECD. The Taiwanese move can also be interpreted as another example of the recent rapprochment of the Asian NIEs to the OECD which has a charactor as a ’Developed Countries Club’." POPULATION MONDIALE AFP: La croissance démographique entrave le développement, affirme l’ONU PARIS - "La forte croissance de la population mondiale entrave le développement et seule la maîtrise de la fécondité peut contribuer à améliorer les conditions de vie (croissance urbaine chaotique, famines...) et l’espérance de vie, souligne le rapport annuel du Fonds des Nations-Unies pour la population. La population mondiale (5,4 mrds en 1991) pourrait atteindre 8,5 mrds en 2025 si une véritable ’stratégie de survie’ mondiale n’est pas adoptée, ont affirmé des représentants de l’ONU lundi à Paris. L’objectif est de parvenir à ’une croissance équilibrée’, en réduisant la fécondité de 3,8 à 3,3 enfants par femme d’ici à l’an 2000, ce qui revient à fournir une contraception moderne à 567 millions de couples dans le monde, pour un coût évalué à 9 mrds de dollars par an." GERMAN MONETARY POLICY/MARKETS WALL STREET JOURNAL: Speculation increases that Poehl will quit FRANKFURT - "Expectations that Bundesbank President Karl Otto Poehl will resign by year end roiled financial markets as economists pondered how German monetary policy might change with his sudden departure. Speculation that Germany’s long-serving central bank chief might quit escalated Monday after the bundesbank and Mr Poehl declined to quash the rumors... The mark was pressured downward by the rumors. In European trading the dollar rose more than a pfennig but settled back by midday in New York. When Mr Poehl declined to comment, the dollar was pushed higher again. But in late New York trading, the dollar slipped and was quoted at 1.7140 marks. Mr Poehl’s tenure has been the subject of speculation since last year when he publicly disagreed with Bonn over the terms and speed of German monetary union... Meanwhile, bonn’s DIE WELT newspaper reported today that Mr Poehl has informed a small circle of people that he plans to leave in the second half of this year for personal reasons, not because of policy disputes with Bonn." POLAND REUTER: Polish unemployment could top 2 million by end of year WARSAW - "Unemployment in Poland threatens to rise above 2 million or some 10.6% of the work force by the end of 1991 if present trends continue, the government said on Monday... Official figures released last week showed that 1.37 million people, or 7.3% of the work force, were out of work at the end of April." TRADE REUTER: China, anxious over trade status, will buy American goods BEIJING - "China announced a buying mission to the United States on Tuesday in what will be a last-ditch chance to win goodwill before US President George Bush decides on whether to renew Beijing’s Most Favoured Nation trade status. China stands to lose billions of dollars of trade if the preferential trade treatment, under which its goods are taxed at low levels in the US market, is not extended... ’The main purpose of the mission is to reverse the drop in US exports’, said Zhu, who is in charge of the US section of the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations and Trade. ’We want to send a strong message to the US business community and Chinese entrepreneurs that we’re absolutely serious about addressing the problem of falling imports. We also want to send a strong message to our trading companies to buy more from the US’, he said... A similar mission last year signed contracts for imports worth US$ 700 million." OECD ECONOMIES Japan FINANCIAL TIMES: Bank of Japan urges review on foreign workers TOKYO - "The Bank of Japan has called for an immediate review of Japan’s virtual ban on the employment of foreign workers, in a rare public comment on a highly-sensitive political problem. In a report on the country’s labour shortage published this month, the central bank says that ’the employment of foreign workers is an urgent issue which requires examination from every angle’. The fear that labour shortages increase the risk of inflation has played a central part in the bank’s decision to push up interest rates over the past 2 years. It will remain a key factor in future management of the economy, says the report." REUTER: Japan urged to boost official development aid TOKYO - "Japan should boost official development assistance and lead in helping Africa to fight poverty, former World Bank president Robert McNamara said on Monday. Japan’s ODA spending must reach at least 1% of GNP by the end of the decade, he told delegates on the first day of a 3-day forum on least developed countries sponsored by the United Nations and the Japanese foreign ministry. Japan was only contributing 0.32% of GNP compared with an average 0.51% from OECD countries, excluding Japan and the US, McNamara said." Italy FINANCIAL TIMES: Cossiga revokes powers of top judge ROME - "Italy’s President Francesco Cossiga has withdrawn his support for Mr Giovanni Galloni, the deputy president of the Consiglio Superiore della Magistratura (CSM), the ruling body for the judiciary, in a public row over increasing Mafia violence. In a step bound to trigger a new crisis between the presidency and the legal establishment, Mr Cossiga yesterday revoked Mr Galloni’s powers to represent him as constitutional head of the CSM. Mr Cossiga, who as head of state is also head of the CSM, cannot sack Mr Galloni, as he is elected independently by judges and magistrates. The president’s unprecedented step, which has come as a shock to judges and politicians alike, follows growing friction with Mr Galloni and the judiciary on the question of organised crime, notably in southern Italy. Gang warfare in the south, especially Calabria, has reached new heights in the past fortnight, with almost daily tit-for-tat murders." Autriche AFP: Bons résultats de l’économie au début de 1991 VIENNE - "L’économie autrichienne a obtenu de bons résultats au cours des 2 premiers mois de 1991, annonce le dernier rapport mensuel de l’Institut autrichien de recherches économiques, WIFO, publié lundi. Selon WIFO, la production industrielle a progressé de 5% durant cette période par rapport aux 2 premiers mois de 1990 et ce malgré la guerre du Golfe, essentiellement à cause de la progression de l’industrie du bâtiment. Le commerce extérieur a bénéficié directement de l’ouverture économique des pays d’Europe de l’Est vers lesquels les exportations ont été intensifiées en 1990, en particulier vers la Tchécoslovaquie et la Hongrie." • T END-OF-TEXT