IV. International
(01-01-07)
.
Cathay Pacific
has entered into a new code share arrangement with
wholly-owned subsidiary Dragonair, as part of the
integration of the carrier.
. Former Philippine president Fidel Ramos has
proposed the conversion of ASEAN into a political
union so that it can continue to play a significant role
in the region. He also recommended the restructuring of
the ASEAN Secretariat to prepare future generations of
Southeast Asian leaders to cope with new and complex
challenges in the 21st century.
.
DHL,
the world’s leading express and logistics company,
remains committed to stay in RP, confirmed DHL Express
Asia CEO Scott Price.
.
Asia United Bank
plans to raise P500 million through an initial public
offering (IPO) of about 10% of total shares most
likely in 2007. The IPO will not only beef up capital
but also comply with requirements imposed by Bangko
Sentral ng Pilipinas on those applying for universal
banking license.
. China
is facing an increasing social security burden within
the rapid growth of its aging population.
.
The Department of
Agriculture (DA) in RP is putting up an initial 272k
hectares of arable lands for planting to rice, corn and
other crops with the help of Chinese companies which
have signified their intention to pour in the capital
needed to develop these areas into agribusiness hubs.
.
A total of 150 million rural students in China will be
exempted from paying tuition and incidental fees for
their 9-year compulsory education.
.
Acer’s (Taiwan) market share of the total PC market (desktops,
notebooks and X86 servers) grew to 8.61% in Q3 of
2006, compared to 6.3% registered for the previous
quarter, which was a 252.8% year-on-year growth, which
catapulted it to a #2 ranking from #4.
.
A free lance journalist (Craig Meer) and correspondent
(Jonathan Adams) of Newsweek exposed the social
and economic costs of the growing income disparity that
plagues Taiwan’s dynamic economy.
. Former Presidential Office Deputy
Secretary Chen Cha-nan was sentenced to 12 years in
prison on charges of bribery. He was found to have
accepted bribes totaling NT$6 million from a former land
developer and convicted criminal Liang Po-shun, though
he had not delivered his promise to extricate Liang from
a legal tangle.
.
Bio-diesel producer, Chemrez Technologies Inc, is eyeing to
penetrate Japan
in 2007 as an export base for the surplus in its coco
mythel ester (CME) products. Chemrez is already
exporting its products to European countries, with a
sizeable chunk going to Germany.
.
Tokyo Electric Power
(TEPCO) and
Marubeni Corp said they would buy Mirant Corp’s
power assets in the Philippines for $3.42 billion in
what would be RP’s biggest ever known takeover.
.
A court said
Mitsubishi Motors Corp (MMC) and its 3 former
executives falsified a report of defective wheel hubs
following a fatal accident in 2002, but acquitted them
because of a technicality.
.
Talks on North Korea’s nuclear
program resumed in Beijing on 12/18, said the Chinese
Foreign Ministry, ending a 13-month boycott of the talks
by North Korea.
.
Generous aid from
South Korea
underpins North Korea’s elite who want to return their
country to Stalinism. Most of the elite know it is
doomed, but just want to hang on for a few more years.
.
The export earnings of the
Philippines
went up by 15.5% in October, sustaining a double-digit
growth seen since March this year due to strong global
demand for electronic products. The National
Statistic Office (NSO) reported that exports rose to
$4.19 billion in Oct. from $3.63 billion in same period
last year.
. The Bureau of Treasury (Btr) and the
Department of Finance (DOF) released the Nov.
fiscal numbers, and officials said initial indications
show government agencies having difficulty sending their
budget allocations. The government is likely to end 2006
with lower-than-expected budget deficit.
.
Eighteen Muslim and non-Muslim congressmen from Mindanao
have asked GMA through the Department of Finance to
support the revitalization and strengthening of the only
Islamic financial institution in the country to enable
it to accomplish its mission in the development of
Southern Philippines. The bank is Al Amanah Islamic
Investment Bank.
.
The Philippine economic outlook for 2007 looks
promising, improving in 2006 and expected to get even
better in the coming year, according to the first
chairman and president of the Bares Conversion
Development Authority (BCDA). The GDP grew 5% in
2006 and should increase further in the next two years
in consumer spending, propped up by the service sector,
agriculture and remittances of overseas Filipino workers
. Other drivers of growth are exports, mining, BPO call
centers, housing and energy.
.
The Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) is
implementing a 5-month moratorium on all loan repayments
for GSIS members in Albay, Camarines Sur and
Catanduanes. GSIS will resume accepting loan
repayments in May 2007.
.
A raft of bilateral agreements between
Jakarta
(Indonesia)
and Moscow,
including new
arms, energy and trade deals, is tipping the strategic
balance in Southeast Asia as Washington and Beijing aggressively compete
for influence in the archipelago.
.
BPH Migas will conduct a survey on household
kerosene needs to make sure that the country’s supply
will meet domestic demands
.
A former rebel leader
swept to victory in landmark elections in Aceh
province one year after a peace deal ended a
decades-long civil war that claimed 15,000 lives,
pollsters said.
.
The UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the
Palestinian People announced the UN Asian Meeting in
support of these rights on December 15-16 in
Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia.
.
Indonesia and Malaysia have much in common: language,
a border that slices across
Borneo, overlapping
ethnic groups.
But they differ on what it means to be a “nation.”
Malaysia is sticking to its long-standing policy that
Malay Muslims, the largest ethnic group in the country
are “bumiputras” or sons of the soil who have
special rights above and beyond those of the country’s
Chinese and Indian minorities.
.
Malaysian dignitaries and tearful staff bid farewell to
King Syed Sinajuddin Syed Putra Jamalullail as he left
the palace after completing his 5-year reign as the
Constitutional Monarch.
.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide a record $1 billion
to India
to fund affordable credit for farmers and help improve
the quality of life of the urban poor, the bank
announced.
.
The loan will finance a
comprehensive reform of the cooperative credit structure
of five states—Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh,
Maharashtra, Rajasthan and either
Gujarat or Orissa.
The weakness of the cooperative credit structure has
immense adverse economic social and political impact on
the rural sector.
.
About 2/3 of India’s population depends on agriculture
for survival, but the bank said growth in the sector has
been declining. If the Indian government is to realize
its poverty reduction goals, widening inequities between
rural and urban areas have to be reversed.
. Pakistan
rejected a report of the International Crisis Group
(ICG) alleging the peace agreement in North
Waziristan had facilitated attacks on foreign troops
in Afghanistan and allowed militants to expand on this
side of the Durand Line.
.
Opposition leader (Mian
Raza Rabbani) in the Senate vowed to continue a
boycott of the proceedings of the parliamentary
committee on provincial autonomy unless the military
operation in
Baluchistan
was halted and all stakeholders included in the dialogue
process.
.
Islamic militants are using a recent peace deal with the
government to consolidate their hold on
North Pakistan,
vastly expanding their training of suicide others &
other recruits and fortifying alliances with al Quaeda
and foreign fighters, diplomats and intelligence
officials from several nations say.
