Industrialized Nations

Sharp differences among the major industrialized nations over trade and agricultural issues are expected to be aired at a meeting of ministers from the 24-nation Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) being held Wednesday and Thursday. Senior officials of the group said Monday that they do not expect any dramatic breakthroughs such as occurred last year, when the ministers decided to measure costly subsidies to farmers as a first step to eliminating them.

CAMP DAVID, Md. - In a significant political victory for President Obama, the leaders of Germany and other European nations endorsed a policy of economic growth over austerity and emphasized that Greece, which is trying to battle its way out of a crippling debt crisis, should remain in the Eurozone. Meeting on the cloistered grounds of the presidential retreat here, the leaders of the Group of 8 industrialized nations said in a joint statement that Eurozone economies should work to narrow deficits through "fiscal consolidation" and that each country must decide for itself the best mix of policies for promoting economic recovery.

The Group of Seven leading industrialized nations Saturday expressed "total satisfaction" with President Clinton's $50-billion international aid package for Mexico after European critics of the plan were mollified by U.S. officials. In a joint statement delivered Saturday by Canadian Finance Minister Paul Martin, the seven finance officials meeting here also expressed deep concern about climbing inflation in Russia and Moscow's struggles in implementing economic reforms.

Wall Street was braced for a grim week as the U.S. government's downgraded credit rating and Europe's worsening debt crisis fueled fears of a repeat of the 2008 financial-system meltdown. Policymakers of the Group of 7 industrialized nations sought to head off another panic, pledging Sunday to "take all necessary measures to support financial stability and growth. " The European Central Bank announced Sunday that it would jump into the markets to buy euro-zone government bonds, hoping to stave off selling Monday by frightened investors.

In the two years since the United Nations recognized an economic and social crisis in Africa and established a special program of aid from the developed world, conditions on the continent have immeasurably worsened, according to officials and diplomats meeting here this week. Much of the blame should be shouldered by industrialized countries, diplomats from Africa and many Western nations agree.

When Iraqi troops marched into Kuwait on Aug. 2 and threw the world's oil markets into disarray, Philipp Holzmann AG, Germany's largest construction company, did not bat an eye. In the next month, Holzmann won contracts for a $57-million office building in Munich, a $40-million housing complex elsewhere in Bavaria and a $30-million apartment building in Dusseldorf. Marching into the new market in what was then East Germany, it also signed up for a $48-million hotel in Weimar.

The Colombian ambassador was clearly agitated. Negotiations for an unprecedented international treaty to reduce global warming had been difficult and there was no sign that the United States would agree to strong terms. Thanks to U.S. lobbying, watered-down language was emerging that allowed industrialized nations to avoid binding commitments that might hurt their economies by reducing the so-called greenhouse gases that cause global warming.

World economic growth should start gathering pace next year, but due to heavy private and public debts growth still will be too slow to stop an inexorable rise in unemployment, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Monday. Almost 35 million people, or 8.5% of the work force of the OECD's 24 member nations, could be without a job by mid-1994, up from slightly more than 34 million now.

The United States, Japan and West Germany--the world's largest trading nations--all showed a big increase in the value of their exports during the first half of this year compared with 1988, the International Monetary Fund reported Sunday. West Germany's exports increased from $159.1 billion to $169.1 billion; the United States' rose from $157.6 billion to $182.7 billion; and Japan's went up from $125.3 billion to $135 billion, the IMF said. At the same time, West German imports rose from $124.

President Reagan will hold a news conference today after the close of the economic summit of industrialized nations, his eighth and final meeting with America's chief trading allies. The late afternoon meeting with the media will follow the reading of the final summit communique by Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, the summit's host.

The United States apparently will have to go it alone in dealing with its fragile economy and near-double digit unemployment after the Group of 20 summit ended Friday with no commitment to immediate action to reduce trade and currency tensions. A U.S. proposal to set numerical limits on trade surpluses and deficits was rejected. Leaders of the world's 20 biggest economies pledged only to develop "indicative guidelines" to assess imbalances in the first half of 2011. They also refused to endorse a U.S. effort to force China to raise the value of its currency.

Iraq and the United States, at odds for decades over the gravest matters of war and peace, have a new point of conflict: a humble travel bulletin. During Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's recent visit to Washington, Iraqi officials complained to senior U.S. officials that the State Department's advisory for American travelers was painting too dark a picture of Iraq and scaring away U.S. investment, Samir Shakir Mahmoud Sumaidy, Iraq's ambassador to the U.S., told reporters Friday.

Chevron Corp. said Thursday that its earnings would be sharply lower for the first quarter because of falling oil and natural gas prices. Like others in its industry, Chevron, the nation's second-largest oil company, has struggled with wide swings in crude prices. Benchmark crude rose to more than $147 a barrel last year before plunging below $35 this year. Chevron's first-quarter results will include charges of about $100 million in write-offs related to exploration.

China must sharply improve environmental protection or it could face disaster after two decades of breakneck growth that have poisoned its air, water and soil, the country's top environmental official said Saturday.

Despite the Bush administration's resistance, nearly every industrialized nation agreed Saturday to talks aimed at producing a new set of binding limits on greenhouse gas emissions that would take effect in 2012. The Bush administration, which rejects the emissions cutbacks required by the current Kyoto Protocol, accepted a second, weaker conference decision, agreeing to join an exploratory global dialogue on steps to combat climate change.

The shock of oil above $50 a barrel Friday prompted the world's richest nations to call for a little help. Finance ministers from the world's wealthy nations, warning that high oil prices posed a threat to the global economy, urged producing and consuming nations to take steps to bring supply and demand in balance. Leaders of the Group of 7 industrial nations also called for more flexibility in exchange rates, a message that appeared to be aimed in part at Chinese currency policies.

Naples to Host Next G7 Summit: Next year's annual summit of the Group of Seven industrialized nations will be held July 8 to 10 in the southern Italian city, the prime minister's office said. Russia would once again be invited to join the summit, the statement added. Italy, which takes over the rotating presidency of the G7 next year, said last month it would like the Russians to be given a more active role in the meeting.

Latin American leaders urged industrialized nations to share in the burdens of the fight against poverty, drugs and environmental threats, saying the problems have often been spawned by the richer nations. The presidents of Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela, in speeches before the U.N. General Assembly, put strong emphasis on the need for urgent action to lead debt-ridden Latin American economies back to growth.

Fresh from a long weekend in Europe to mend transatlantic ties, President Bush today launches a new effort on another daunting diplomatic challenge: cultivating peace, democracy and human rights in the Middle East. Bush's forum at this posh resort off the Georgia coast is the Group of 8 conference, the 30th annual economic summit of the world's leading industrial countries. The meeting's official agenda includes items such as debt relief and trade promotion and fighting AIDS and global famine.

The houses and the church are in ruins. The narrow streets are silent. Everyone is gone. "Aghios Pavlos is totally deserted and the buildings have collapsed," said Eftyhis Sfakianakis, the former community president in this forsaken region of southwestern Crete. Greece's 2001 census listed two residents for Aghios Pavlos, but they have since died, he said. The same fate may someday befall the nearby village of Voutas, which has five children among its 61 residents.