It is profoundly disappointing to reach the stage of saying poor countries might be better off not signing this year. |
The hopes of a new development-friendly trade deal are dwindling and damage limitation is the order of the day. |
This is the worst possible time to cut funding. Palestinians are on the edge of survival. One in four people depend on aid. |
We are potentially in the final throes of this round of talks at the World Trade Organization, which was meant to help poor countries but has gone way off track. What is needed from Europe now is not self-interest and intransigence but genuine concessions that will put trade at the service of development. |
We think that developing countries should not sign up to what's there if that's all there is. |
We think that's a recipe for disaster. |
Whatever the politics of such a decision, it would be ordinary people who would suffer the consequences. Cutting aid now would undermine already fragile local institutions and only hurt ordinary people. |