While preaching liberalization the developed countries raise the highest barriers to foreign imports, Indian Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha said at an international seminar in Prague. The loss to poor countries due to unfair terms of trade is many times the level of development assistance. Pascal Lamy, European Commissioner for Trade, outlined plans to open the fortress Europe to imports from 48 of the world s poorest countries. Commentators consider this a move to gain support for another WTO trade round. Cities without Slums Initiative launched by the World Bank and the United Nations in December 1999 was a landmark in readdressing urban problems.
Internet is a powerful tool to bring the poor closer to the rich in the world.
Yet the lack of access to computers and telecommunication infrastructure prevents developing nations from benefiting to the full. Despite the UNDP Human Development Index ranking Canada at the top seven years in a row, Canada still has room for improvement in human development. The report specifically charges the discriminative education funding to Catholic schools in the province of Ontario. He also opposes the idea of imposing democracy on other countries, which leads to opposite results in Cuba and Iraq. Over 100 countries met in Poland to draft a new declaration on democracy.