Four international human rights NGOs lodged a complaint with the European Commission, saying that the human rights provisions in the 2019 Vietnam-EU free trade agreement were being ignored. They document 40 emblematic cases of men and women in prison for up to 20 years for their actions in favour of sustainable development and workers' rights.
Yesterday the former Thai prime minister made his first official outing as coordinator of a group of informal advisers to the head of the Malaysian government who is this year’s ASEAN rotating chairman. The former foreign minister of Singapore was also present. The Thai billionaire's knowledge of Myanmar’s situation and his business acumen underlie his role, but there is no shortage of critical voices.
Saudi Arabia will allow foreign capital to invest in Islam’s two holiest cities. Foreigners will be able to buy shares (up to 49 per cent) but direct ownership of real estate is excluded. Jordanian scholar Al Sabaileh told AsiaNews that with Mohammed bin Salman, the country is experiencing a "total change" with the economy dictating foreign and domestic policy choices. Peace with Israel would be a “gigantic step”.
Despite a 14.8 per cent rise over the previous 12 months, last year’s figures remain far from the record six billion domestic travellers reached before the pandemic. With upgraded transport infrastructure, more Chinese can discover new sites. The boom in Xinjiang is politically designed to promote sinicisation.
Clashes with Russia over northern territories is a constant in the history of the past centuries. But today there is no rush of Heilongjiang province residents to seek a home in Siberia at all. Rather, Beijing's advance is happening through the yuan, which is replacing the ruble in trade transactions. Natural resources the real issue at stake
Manufacturers in ASEAN countries are concerned about what might happen if a trade war with China breaks out once the US president takes office in a few days. The fear that Chinese products that no longer take the road to the West could be dumped in their markets, already grappling with tough competition from the “Made in China”.
The government imposed a P58-a-kilo maximum suggested retail price for higher quality outsourced rice, but for some stakeholders this is insufficient. In the fourth quarter of 2024, hunger reached levels not seen since 2020, involving about Philippine household one in four.
The pact was signed by Russian Prime Minister Mishustin on a visit to the Vietnamese capital. Cooperation agreements also in the digital economy and wireless communications. The aim is to strengthen bilateral trade, which between the two countries amounted to just .6 billion in 2023. Moscow seeks new markets to circumvent Western sanctions.
The water plant will be built in cooperation with a French group and will provide 300 million cubic metres of drinking water. It will be the country's largest infrastructure serving three million citizens; four years to completion. It will replace an earlier project studied with Israel that was supposed to connect the Dead Sea and the Red Sea.
The government in Colombo has run for cover by buying 35,000 tonnes from India, but in many areas of the country prices have skyrocketed and bad quality salt is being sold. The producers justify themselves with the floods, but workers and nutritionists recall that not even the tsunami 20 years ago led to such a crisis.
Twenty-five years after the 2000 campaign, Pope Francis marks the Jubilee relauncing an appeal in the footsteps of from John Paul II to forgive loans to those who cannot repay them. The denunciation of a UNCTAD report: ‘Worldwide 3.3 billion people live in countries forced to pay more money for interest on debt than for education and health. The South of the world has paid the heaviest bill for the crises’.
The authorities continue to claim that the target of GDP growth of ‘around 5%’ driven by electric car exports will be met in the year to come. But discontent remains widespread and even the anti-corruption crackdown in the Party is fuelling paralysis especially among senior cadres. While worrying analyses by two well-known Chinese economists have been taken off social media.
Demand is growing in Europe, especially in the health and long-term care sectors. Migrants’ contribution to the Philippine economy is critical, but they need legal protection and support, as well as repatriation plans in case of need. In 2023, remittances hit a record US$ 37.2 billion, or 8.5 per cent of GDP, the largest amounts coming from the United States, Singapore and Saudi Arabia.
The former president of Turkmenistan, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, despite having handed over the office to his son Serdar, still glories in the title of ‘father of the fatherland’ and in his honour, a brand new smart-city is being built under the name Arkadag. And he has called for the construction time to be shortened so as to settle a greater share of new inhabitants and attract more investment
The United Nations releases new report on migration in Thailand, five years after the last taking stock of the situation. Despite its ongoing economic crisis, thousands of people continue to arrive from neighbouring countries. While some progress has been made, working conditions and social assistance for migrants remain a problem. People fleeing Myanmar’s civil war are another major issue.
The government of Colombo announces a plan to make the management of representative properties economically advantageous. A symbolic gesture in a country that has just renegotiated its debt with the International Monetary Fund.
Even mayonnaise at the holidays this year will be 13.5 per cent more expensive, while the real savings of citizens are shrinking despite growth figures inflated by warlike industrial production. China takes note of the liberation of large market spaces and tries to occupy them while avoiding risks as much as possible.
Ašgabat possesses natural gas reserves of 17.5 trillion cubic metres, ranking 4th after Russia, Iran and Qatar. Today it can no longer sell it to Moscow on the agreed terms, and this could open up new possibilities for Uzbek neighbours living in the cold. But it would require a political choice that is anything but simple.
The International City of Commerce in the south-eastern province of Zhejiang is the place of origin of most of the Christmas decorations sold these weeks all over the world. A gigantic 6.4 million square metre wholesale market open seven days a week for traders from all over the world who are arriving en masse again in 2024.
In spite of distancing itself from the invasion of Ukraine, Kazakhstan continues to cooperate intensively with Moscow, but also intensifies agreements with Western countries. Today it is ‘closer than Europe’ for Russia, and at the same time ‘brings Europe closer to China’. And precisely the meeting of different worlds could be the great opportunity for the heirs of the nomads of Central Asia.
The government in Biškek is looking to Singapore as an avenue to imitate. And the enhancement of agricultural production, one of the most significant chapters of Kyrgyzstan's exports, is an important opportunity for relations with the city-state, where there are no great natural resources.
From education to the oil industry, discontent is growing among workers, who are demanding better wages and working conditions. Declining energy and a poor economy are sinking prospects for recovery, in a country already affected by Western sanctions. The cost of essential goods and services has increased by up to 40 per cent in recent months. Pressure is growing on the Pezeshkian administration.
Clean' energy in Russia remains just over 30%, and entire sectors such as automotive and heating still run exclusively on fossil fuels. Mind you, with the invasion of Ukraine, hopes of seeing Moscow as a major contributor to the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism have faded.
On the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea, just a few kilometres from the city of Turkmenbaši, five-star hotels, services of all kinds, an international airport and various entertainment, sports and catering facilities have been built. There really is everything, only now the sea is missing.
The gigantic Manas logistic-commercial centre in the village of Leninskoe, which the Chinese are building not far from Biškek, is a candidate to become a fundamental junction (and alternative to the Russian route) for trade between East and West. With Kyrgyz Prime Minister Žaparov having already dubbed it the ‘great seaport’ of a landlocked country.
After pressure from investors, Japan becomes one of 38 countries with visa-free entry to China. This follows a meeting in Lima (Peru) between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. In the background, historical animosity lingers, as evinced in the latest match between the two countries’ football teams a few days ago in Xiamen.
In the inaugural session of the new Parliament, the president of Sri Lanka announced an imminent new debt agreement with the International Monetary Fund. Tourism, trade, and new technologies are the leading sectors for a type of development that distributes benefits to all. He also stressed that “racist politics would not be allowed to re-emerge”.
In recent days, CEO Nadhmi al-Nasr, media executive Wayne Borg and Antoni Vives have left. The former allegedly threatened to 'shoot' employees, the latter is accused of denigrating the Muslim religion. Meanwhile, the aim now is to complete 'the sporting aspect' in order to be able to hold the events on the calendar.
To meet rising demand, the Vietnamese government has announced that coal-fired plants, which still account for 48.7 per cent of total electricity production in the country, will operate for a record number of hours. In the meantime, the electric vehicle business is growing, with domestic manufacturer VinFast signing partnerships and conquering market shares.
Xi Jinping's announcement at the Lima summit. The Asia Pacific Economic Forum is one of the few international bodies where both Beijing and Taipei are present. Xi Jinping aims to establish himself as the pivot of Pacific trade against the threat of protectionism with Trump's return.
