Saturday, April 20 2024 | ASIA TODAY INTERNATIONAL - Reporting the Business that Matters in Asia
JAPAN is seeking high-value inward investment, with a focus on research and development and global and regional headquarters. The new vision is of Japan as a hub which can harness rapid growth in the region . . .
BURMA shares borders with 40 per cent of the world’s population – and should help forge development of the Greater Mekong Sub-region . . .
THAILAND has committed to move to renewable energy for 25 per cent of total energy requirements within nine years, and is seeking overseas technology and investment to help achieve that.
CHINA is investing in a series of port projects in other countries that will provide it with a virtual coastline stretching from Myanmar to Pakistan. Highways and gas pipelines are also adding to its bank of strategic infrastructure . . .
AN equitable investment environment, supported by rule of law, will be crucial to attract international investment to large infrastructure projects in Asia, says Julian Vella. Head of KPMG’s Asia Pacific Infrastructure practice.
“The big challenge is to create an environment where the private sector is comfortable,” says Vella, giving as examples same high-profile instances of investors being exposed to significant risks in China and Mongolia.
Mongolia is attractive to international mining companies because of its rich reserves of coal, copper and other resources. But the risks are high. It took Rio Tinto six years to conclude negotiations on a mining agreement.
INVESTORS will not commit to companies that are not managing water properly, says Robert Kimball of the Washington-based Water Resources Institute . . .
AN Innovation Interchange is match-making those seeking a solution (Adopters) and those who have developed solutions (Enablers) in water, transport, energy and agri-business . . .
MANY projects are proceeding with international aid funding, but Vietnam is moving on several fronts to facilitate more foreign investment to meet its needs for port, airport, energy and rail infrastructure over the next decade . . .
INDONESIA is becoming more active in helping plan and finance projects desperately needed to improve infrastructure. They include power plants, water systems and toll roads . . .
JAPAN could privatise up to 29 airports, according to industry sources. Anoop Seth, AMP Capital’s Head of Infrastructure, Asia. AMP believes Japan, China and India offer sizeable infrastructure investment opportunities . . .
THE Asian Development Bank says it will co-finance 70 per cent of the cost of a project approved by the fledgling ASEAN Infrastructure Fund, which plans to issue AIF bonds to central banks to tap into Asia’s large pool of foreign reserves . . .
WANTED: Institutional investors with deep pockets. The Berne Union says new forms of bond structures, backed by risk management tools, may offer one way of addressing a shortage of liquidity to facilitate export trade . . .
ATI Magazine - April/May 2013 issue
AS EUROPEAN banks withdraw, Japan is taking a leading role in encouraging Asian and Australian banks to take up the slack. The Japan Bank for International Co-operation (JBIC) is prepared to offer funding guarantees for these banks, says CEO Hiroshi Watanabe, and significantly, only 30 per cent of loans will now be tied to Japanese suppliers . . .AS EUROPEAN banks withdraw, Japan is taking a leading role in encouraging Asian and Australian banks to take up the slack. The Japan Bank for International Co-operation (JBIC) is prepared to offer funding guarantees for these banks, says CEO Hiroshi Watanabe, and significantly, only 30 per cent of loans will now be tied to Japanese suppliers . . .
ATI Magazine April/May 2013 issue
THE Australian Government’s Asian Century White Paper is a decade overdue, says Trevor Rowe, one of a small group of genuinely influential Australian executives with deep links into the region. Rowe, now Executive Chairman of Rothschild Australia, says the aspirational objectives of the White Paper are laudable, but he finds it disappointing that it fails to discuss how Australians can engage more meaningfully with Asia. If Australia is going to be other than Asia’s ‘quarry’, he says, it needs to develop its comparative advantages – and an understanding and respect of Asian culture . . .
ATI Magazine February/March 2013 issue
EVEN China is now becoming increasingly irritated as Pyongyang lifts the level of anti-US rhetoric in the run-up to further nuclear tests . . .
ATI Magazine February/March 2013 issue
INDIAN authorities must grasp the opportunity of reform in the good times, rather than waiting any longer . . .