"Inadequate infrastructure is one of the principal risk factors companies face while doing business with India, according to the latest annual survey on the international operations of Japanese firms, conducted by the Japan External Trade Organisation. India was ranked highest in 'inadequate infrastructure' category with 53.5 percent while Vietnam was voted next at 50.3 percent. The other major constraint identified was 'lack of clustering of development of related industries'. In this category India was ranked second after Vietnam.

China and India were ranked highest in the 'size of the consumer market' and 'potential for growth of the consumer market' categories. Vietnam was atop the 'low business costs' category, at 40.8 percent, followed by China (25.6 percent) and Indonesia (23.9 percent)."

"Based on this rising awareness of the damage of uncontrolled development in Asia, governments are now requiring more than just new factories and new jobs, they also are beginning to be serious about requiring companies to control pollution of all kinds. What is emerging is a new legal regime both national and international, previously absent, which forces responsibility on enterprises to reduce their environmental impact or face serious financial consequences.

Building a green Asia will require a genuine shift in fundamentals. The tidal waves of foreign investment sweeping Asia have grown accustomed to current circumstances. Changing the channel will require a concerted effort by governments to convince domestic and foreign partners that the rules and expectations have changed. Coordinating policies across ministries for a single unified powerful set of incentives will get the attention of companies. These incentives need to be focused on both today's and tomorrow's environmental problems if they are to succeed in driving marketable innovations."

"The Chinese government is mulling to lift the benchmark poverty line from the current 1,067 yuan ($152) to 1,300 yuan ($185). The per-capita annual income of 1,300 yuan allows a real purchasing power of one US dollar per day in China, which would for the first time make the level of China's poverty in line with the international standard.

Once the new criteria is adopted, China's impoverished population would be doubled to 80 million, according to experts. China has measured the poverty standard in line with changes to per-capita income. The low-income level was 1,067 yuan a year in 2007 and that for abject poverty was pinned at 785 yuan ($112) and less per year."

"Last week, New Delhi hosted the first India-Africa summit, which adopted the 'Delhi Declaration' and the 'Africa-India Framework for Cooperation' as a blueprint for substantially enhanced cooperation. The summit was attended by eight heads of African states and delegations from 14 African countries. In a clear indication of New Delhi's quid pro quo approach to garnering new business, India offered duty-free access to 34 African nations under a 'Duty-Free Tariff Preference Scheme' for least-developed countries.

India declared it would increase more than twofold credit lines to projects in Africa, from $2.15 billion in 2003-4 to $5.4 billion in 2008-9, and boost grants and aid. Observers have highlighted common features between the latest Indian approach to engage with Africa and the Chinese strategy put in place in 2004. Beijing's efforts have yielded results and India has been feeling the pinch of lost business opportunities. India is now pursuing a similar line, though on a smaller scale."

"The European Union is trying to speed up negotiations for a free trade agreement between the EU and ASEAN and has set an ambitious target of completing negotiations by the end of 2009. A fair trade agreement between the two regional groups is expected not only to bolster bilateral trade, but also to strengthen each bloc's position on the world economic map, which has been marked by the rise of new economic giants China and India.

The EU, the world's largest single market, is the third largest importer of products from ASEAN countries, after the United States and Japan. Around 12 percent of ASEAN's imports are from the EU, and 15 percent of its total exports are destined for the EU."

"China ranks as the world's second-largest economy and India is fourth, according to new World Bank data on Friday, which uses new measurements of countries buying power in U.S. dollars. China remained in the No. 2 spot despite a downward revision in its purchasing power parity estimates. The revision put China's share of the global economy in PPP terms at 9.7 percent, down from a previous estimate of 14 percent. India's share dropped to 4.3 percent from a previous estimate of 6 percent.

Developing countries now produce 41 percent of the world's output, up from 36 percent in 2000. Combined, output of the world's economies reached $59 trillion in 2006. According to the rankings, five of the 12 largest economies are in the developing world."

"The Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) signed with Indonesia last year is expected to enter into force by July 2008, paving the way for more Japanese investment and trade between the two countries. The EPA, which was signed by Indonesia and Japan on Aug. 20, 2007, in Jakarta, is a comprehensive economic pact that involves the cutting or elimination of various import tariffs, increasing of Japanese investment in new sectors in Indonesia and capacity-building programs for Indonesian industry and manpower.

Japan is Indonesia's largest trading partner as well as foreign investor. The balance of trade has been in favor of Indonesia for many years because Japan buys more oil and gas, minerals and commodities from Indonesia. Bilateral trade in 2007 between Indonesia and Japan jumped to a record high of $30 billion, a 10 percent increase from 2006."

"Bangladesh has approved the go-ahead of a $3 billion investment by Saudi Arabia to set up an oil refinery with a capacity to produce 300,000 barrels of oil products a day. The plant will be set up with foreign investment and will import more than 5 million tons of crude oil from Saudi Arabia. Bangladesh currently imports 3.8 million tons of fuel a year, including about 1.5 million tons of crude oil.

The refinery's production capacity will be more than three times that of the state-run Bangladesh Eastern Refinery Limited (BERL), the only refinery in the country. BERL, at the port city of Chittagong with 1.5 million tons capacity, supplies refined oil to three state-owned oil firms for distribution across the country."

"India will soon join the world league in the business of undersea power transmission. State-run PowerGrid Corporation of India proposes to lay an undersea line between India and Sri Lanka. The proposed undersea high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission line would be for the transfer of 500 mw and would subsequently be upgraded to 1,000 mw.

So far, undersea HVDC transmission lines are in place between the UK and France to transfer 2,000 MW of power. PowerGrid Corporation's plan is in accordance with the bilateral investment arrangement between India and Sri Lanka. The proposed undersea transmission line can be useful for state-run NTPC, which plans to set up a 500 mw imported coal-based power project at Trincomalee, Sri Lanka. PowerGrid Corporation of India already has an installed inter-regional transmission capacity of 18,000 mw and plans to increase this to 37,000 mw by 2012."

"Although Vietnam is an agricultural country, the agricultural insurance market is underdeveloped. Every year, Vietnam incurs numerous disasters, in which farmers are most affected. In recent years, farmers have suffered from epidemics such as bird flu, blue-ear pig disease and foot-and-mouth disease. Vietnam is an agricultural country, 60-70 percent of its population lives in rural areas, thus agricultural insurance ought to have a large market, but the reality is otherwise.

Agricultural insurance is very complicated and costly, profits are low and the risk of losses is high. Insurance companies cannot be forced to carry out the business without profit if they are not compensated for losses by state mechanisms or policies. Experience from other countries in the world shows that agricultural insurance is not a developed business, so countries that want to develop an agricultural insurance market must use state support for businesses. At present, the Ministry of Finance is cooperating with relevant agencies to implement a pilot research project on agricultural insurance based on weather index. Peru and India, countries hit by many disasters like Vietnam, have successfully implemented this model."

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