Day: November 15, 2022

The United States is hoping to boost commercial ties with countries attending the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit this week, where 21 economies representing nearly half of global trade will discuss efforts to promote trade and sign investment deals.

This is the first time officials are attending in person since the coronavirus pandemic, and follows years of pandemic-depressed economic growth as well as rising trade tensions between the bloc’s two biggest trading partners, China and the U.S.

Here’s what to expect:

Post-pandemic tourism, green economies

Thai officials say the summit is aimed at facilitating trade and investment, resuming post-pandemic, cross-border travel, and introducing an inclusive APEC business travel card, a five-year pass for eligible business travelers to get up to 90-day stays in participating countries.

Thai officials are also promoting a package of new environmental goals called the bio-circular-green (BCG) economy, which they say uses science and technology to reduce waste, restore ecosystems, and conserve resources.

Countries in Asia have been relaxing COVID pandemic controls, but China in particular is maintaining zero-COVID policies that have severely depressed international business travel.

U.S. State Department senior official for APEC Matt Murray told VOA in a recent interview that the government of Thailand is “setting up a safe passage task force” to include vaccine interoperability certificates and information sharing, bringing health experts together to ensure a return to safe travel and tourism in the aftermath of the pandemic.

The Thai government has issued an order prohibiting public rallies at 20 areas in Bangkok during this week’s APEC meetings to prevent disruptions at the convention center and hotels where delegates will stay.

Special guests

On Friday, the newly appointed Saudi Arabian prime minister, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, will speak at APEC meetings in Bangkok, becoming the first top Saudi royal family member to visit Thailand since the two countries severed diplomatic ties more than three decades ago.

Thailand and Saudi Arabia will sign agreements to boost diplomatic and investment ties on the margins of APEC. The oil-rich country is considering Thailand as a crude oil storage hub for Southeast Asia, according to the Thai Chamber of Commerce.

“MBS’s visit to APEC is a welcome sign for the group’s multipolarity and vision of the world’s future economy,” said Thanet Aphornsuvan, a professor at Thailand’s Thammasat University. “For Thailand, normalized relations and trade with Saudi Arabia will greatly improve the oil situation.”

Leaders from two other non-APEC members — French President Emmanuel Macron and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen — were also invited to attend this week’s meetings as the bloc looks beyond the Asia Pacific region to tackle pressing issues such as a global energy crisis and supply chain disruption. Hun Sen tested positive for COVID-19 this week and may cancel his appearance at APEC.

Biden’s nonattendance

Vice President Kamala Harris is representing the U.S. in this week’s APEC Leaders’ Meeting. President Joe Biden is expected to return to Washington for his granddaughter’s wedding after the G-20 summit in Bali, Indonesia.

“The president’s nonattendance at APEC is an unforced error,” said Matthew Goodman, senior vice president for economics at Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies during a recent event. “I think he should have found a way to be there for a few hours to reassure the region that he was committed, particularly as the U.S. is taking over the host role in 2023.”

Other analysts say Biden’s absence raises the question of APEC’s relevance and what some see as its waning role in regional trade liberalization.

“The real question is why the United States decided it wanted to host APEC in 2023 in the first place? If this is a meeting that President Biden could afford to miss in 2022, then how important is it for other leaders to show up at APEC in 2023?” asked Aaron Connelly who leads International Institute for Strategic Studies’ research on Southeast Asian foreign policy. He said Biden’s nonattendance is “a bit of a signal to APEC’s diminishing course.”

Connelly told VOA another factor is that the current Thai government’s position on a wide range of issues is not in alignment with that of the U.S.

Thailand is one of the three APEC members (China, Thailand, Vietnam) that abstained from an October United Nations General Assembly vote condemning Russia’s attempts to annex four regions of Ukraine.

Thai officials say Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the APEC Leaders’ Meeting and hold a bilateral with Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.

US to host APEC 2023

Harris, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Trade Representative Katherine Tai and other senior officials from the Biden administration will attend this week’s meetings to “promote free, fair, and open trade and investment,” said the State Department.

Several U.S. cities have been selected to host APEC ministerial meetings in 2023, including Honolulu, Palm Springs, Detroit, and Seattle. This will be the first time the U.S. has hosted APEC since 2011.

Overshadowed by Russia’s war in Ukraine

While members are facing economic challenges, officials noted it cannot be business as usual because this year’s APEC meetings are taking place in the shadow of Russia’s war in Ukraine, and the resulting soaring food and energy prices. Russia is also an APEC member.

“Although we had convened eight ministerial meetings already this year, we weren’t able to achieve a consensus joint statement because of diverging views on the wording of certain paragraphs in the draft of joint statements,” said Thani Thongphakdi, permanent secretary for foreign affairs for Thailand, during a recent press conference.

A Thai official said there will be no family photo, as several leaders — including Russian President Vladimir Putin — are not attending this week’s APEC Leaders Meeting.

Source: Voice of America

While nibbling on pork noodle soup at a food court, undecided voter Patricia Wong, 33, scrolled through her smartphone looking for updates on the election campaigns.

“I haven’t decided who I’m voting for yet,” Wong said. “There’s a lot for me to consider and there are lots of stories to read about the election as well as the candidates.”

Malaysia’s general election is November 19 and from political rallies to street-by-street campaigning to coffeeshop conversations, the candidates are making their pitches to the public in what is a very tight race for control of parliament.

“We’ve had regular elections for more than 60-years now in Malaysia and I think it’s never been as competitive as this particular election,” said Ibrahim Suffian, programs director at the Malaysia-based Merdeka Center for Opinion Research. “Competitive in the sense that there are three large coalitions competing and at the same time there’s a great deal of uncertainty in terms of how the vote is going to go.”

Recent polling by the Merdeka Center shows a very strong likelihood that Election Day will not bring any of these three coalitions the majority of seats in parliament. “The immediate aftermath of that is that these coalitions will start horse-trading, talking to each other and trying to form a [government],” says Heikal Rosnan of the Bower Group Asia political consultancy.

The three major coalitions all have populist policies that tend to favor lower income groups according to Suffian, but he points out there are differences in terms of the image each coalition portrays.

“The oldest [coalition] — Barisan Nasional or National Front — takes on a conservative nationalistic ideology supporting the … Indigenous Malay population agenda,” Suffian said. “The second coalition is Perikatan Nasional or National Alliance. This is a newly formed coalition that has as its core party a splinter party from Barisan Nasional and also the Malaysian Islamic Party.”

He describes the traditional opposition coalition, known as Pakatan Harapan, as “slightly left of center, multiracial in its outlook so not favoring any particular community but strongly supported by the minorities in Malaysia.”

In 2018, an opposition alliance won the general election for the first time since Malaysia gained independence from Britain in 1957, but two years later that alliance collapsed due to infighting and defections.

The country has had four prime ministers during the past five years.

One of them, Najib Razak, who left office in 2018, is serving a 12-year sentence after losing his final appeal following a 2020 conviction on charges connected to a multibillion-dollar corruption scandal.

And the country is currently struggling with inflation as it tries to rebuild a pandemic-battered economy. Suffian says all of this is weighing on voters’ minds.

“The most important thing on the minds of voters is basically cost of living issues, because wages haven’t grown,” Suffian said. “The second issue is governance, the issue of corruption and the issue of government transparency. The third area is political uncertainty in the context of who’s going to run the country, who’s going to supply the leadership of this country.”

With the election so closely contested, political analyst Bridget Welsh, who has been traveling across Malaysia listening to voters, says these last few days are crucial.

“This is the time when vote buying happens, especially in the last few days of the campaign,” Welsh said, adding that the laws against it are not well enforced. “The second factor is the campaigns really ratchet up their messages on identity politics, trying to evoke emotions—and emotions are really important in Malaysia, because love, hate, anger, fear, these are issues that galvanize [voters].”

Malaysia is entering monsoon season and there has already been flooding in parts of the country. Suffian of the Merdeka Center says if there are widespread floods around the time of the election, it could significantly impede voter-turnout which could affect the election results.

“If voter turnout is low it tends to benefit the ruling party, Barisan Nasional. The reason is because Barisan Nasional has a very large base of supporters who will come out to vote no matter what happens,” Suffian said. “But if voter turnout is high, then the impact of the base of supporters is going to be diluted in a wider participated election. So, opposition parties will benefit more in a higher turnout election.”

Source: Voice of America

DUBAI, 14 November 2022 – Overseas Filipinos (OFs) in Dubai and the Northern Emirates learned how to start their own businesses at the fourth and final module of the Financial Literacy seminar series organized by the Philippine Consulate General in Dubai and the Northern Emirates on 29 October 2022.

The last session was attended by over 50 OFs who received insights on entrepreneurship, business development, and reintegration programs in the Philippines.

Welfare Officer Melvin Caseda and Ms. Maria Fatima Dazal of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration discussed the various national reintegration programs and services provided by the agency. Ms. Charmaine Mignon Yalong, Philippine Commercial Attaché and head of the Philippine Trade and Investment Center in Dubai discussed the capacity-development training and programs offered by the Department of Trade and Industry.

Dubai-based financial and business experts Mr. JR Papel and Mr. Lyndon Magsino talked about the rewards and risks of entrepreneurship and shared some advice on developing a sound business plan. The mentors offered further marketing and branding consultancies to participants who intend to start a business.

In his closing remarks, Consul General Renato N. Dueñas, Jr. underscored the importance of raising financial literacy among OFs. He urged participants to share their learnings with colleagues, friends, and family members to help them make informed and effective financial decisions.

The Financial Literacy Seminar series has been a project of PCG Dubai since 2017. It includes four modules, (1) savings, budgeting, and debt management; (2) investments and insurance; (3) investing in real estate; and (4) entrepreneurship, business development, and reintegration programs – all of which were developed with the assistance of Dubai-based financial experts and mentors.

The seminar series is in line with the vision of the Post to promote personal financial responsibility and empowerment among the Filipino community in Dubai and Northern Emirates. It also aimed to create a new breed of Filipino entrepreneurs and facilitate reintegration of Filipino migrants in the Philippines. The seminar series, which was held over four Saturdays, was attended by over 200 OFs from different backgrounds.

Source: Republic of Philippines Department Of Foreign Affairs

PHNOM PENH – Cambodia and Brunei, yesterday, vowed to reinforce their bilateral relations and cooperation for mutual benefits, according to a joint statement.

The statement was issued at the end of a one-day state visit of Brunei’s Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah to Cambodia, as the two countries marked the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations this year.

During the visit, the sultan had a meeting with Cambodian King, Norodom Sihamoni, and also met with Cambodian Prime Minister, Samdech Techo Hun Sen, the statement said.

It added that, the sultan and Hun Sen had fruitful discussions on a wide range of bilateral cooperation, and exchanged views on regional and international issues of common concern.

“Both sides also expressed their strong commitment to reinforce ties of friendship, and enhance bilateral cooperation in areas such as defence and security, trade and investment, energy, education and human resource development, culture, tourism, information and communication technology, and public health,” the statement said.

“The two leaders agreed to further consolidate defence and security cooperation, through exchanges of information on terrorism and transnational crimes and senior level defence personnel, capacity building projects and the possible signing of a memorandum of understanding on defence cooperation,” it added.

Both leaders were determined to bolster the two countries’ two-way trade and investment, by encouraging the private sector to explore more business opportunities in various potential areas and ensuring effective implementation of an agreement on avoidance of double taxation.

The Cambodian side encouraged direct investment from Brunei, to jointly develop agro-processing and knowledge-based industries, the statement said, adding that, both leaders agreed to expand cooperation in emerging areas, such as green and digital economy.

Both leaders also emphasised the importance of ASEAN centrality and unity, to address common challenges and advance ASEAN’s community-building efforts, it added.

At the end of the meeting, the two leaders witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the two governments, on bilateral consultations.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

HANOI– Vietnamese Prime Minister, Pham Minh Chinh, and his New Zealand counterpart, Jacinda Ardern, yesterday, witnessed the signing of bilateral cooperation documents, after their talks here.

Cooperation deals between the ministries of education, and transport were signed. One of the deals involves civil aviation cooperation.

During their talks, the two leaders agreed to increase the exchange of visits by delegations, people-to-people exchanges and cooperation among localities, and to effectively implement the existing bilateral cooperation mechanisms.

The two sides also agreed on the export of Vietnamese agricultural products, including dragon fruit and lemon to New Zealand, while some New Zealand farm products, including pumpkins and strawberries, will be imported into Vietnam, helping bring the two-way trade turnover to reach two billion U.S. dollars in 2024, according to media report.

The two prime ministers also reached a consensus on effectively coordinating in the implementation of agreements, including the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.

The two sides will continue to beef up cooperation in traditional fields, including education-training, labour, agriculture-forestry-fishery, education, culture-sports-tourism and transport, as well as, climate change response, digital transformation and green growth.

Chinh said, Vietnam welcome investment from New Zealand in such fields as education and training, processing technology, manufacturing, agriculture, construction, and information technology.

Ardern said, New Zealand has decided to expand a project on assisting Vietnam in reducing the risk of dike disasters, and that it is ready to assist Vietnam in developing environmentally friendly agriculture, and combating climate change.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK