"Rising food prices threatened to wipe out a decade of efforts to combat global poverty. While most explanations highlight external causes, they ignore causes rooted in the policy choices of developing world governments that have led to the stagnation of agricultural sectors. India is a country with high inequality in terms of access to food. India boasts a food grain reserve of over 60 million metric tons but, at the same time, more than 200 million people remain undernourished.

Most of the world's hungry people do not use international food markets. In the poor countries of Asia, rice is the most important staple, yet most Asian countries import very little rice. Hunger is caused in these countries not by high international food prices, but by local conditions, especially rural poverty linked to low productivity in farming."

"As Beijing scrambles to feed its galloping economy, it has already scoured the world for mining and logging concessions. Now it is turning to crops to feed its people and industries. Chinese enterprises are snapping up vast tracts of land abroad and forging contract farming deals.

From Southeast Asia to Africa, the Chinese are farming oil palm, eucalyptus, teak, corn, cassava, sugar cane, rubber and other crops. The Laos government touts rubber as a miracle crop that will help lift the country from the ranks of the world's poorest nations. China is expected to consume a third of the world's rubber by 2020, become its largest car market and put 200 million vehicles on the road."

"Fourteen SAARC Summits have been held till date, but the South Asia Free Trade Area (SAFTA) is yet to take off. While ASEAN and EU are reaping the benefits of a common market, South Asian countries continue to lag behind. This raises the question: what should India do? With Pakistan unwilling to extend the MFN (Most Favored Nation) status, should we keep waiting for it to act, or should India unilaterally become more liberal towards imports and investments from small neighboring countries?

India must also take a lead in admitting more members. It may be a good idea to allow other countries like Afghanistan and Myanmar to become full members, while Central Asian countries could be admitted as dialogue partners. It is India, which can take the initiative by lobbying with SAARC nations. And, if it calls for amending the original SAARC charter, India should be able to carry other members along with it."

"Vietnam has just approved a project on planning and developing its border gate economic zones until 2020. From now to 2015, the country will found four more border gate economic zones, raising the number of border gate economic zones across the country to 27.

The whole country expects to have 30 border gate economic zones by 2020. The country aims to reach $42 billion in import-export revenue by 2020 and to welcome 7.8 million tourists through its border gates."

"On the face of it Sri Lanka does not face a food shortage in the short run, provided an alternative is found for animal food. However, that does not mean that every thing is in order. The biggest problem is the low productivity of paddy. As the population grows, Sri Lanka needs more land for housing and roads. Cultivated areas will shrink. Hence, the solution is increasing productivity.

To increase the productivity of paddy more, petroleum based inputs have to be utilized. In a scenario of drastically rising price of oil, this achievement is questionable. If we were to maintain the existing level of production we may have to spend lot more for imported inputs, as practically our entire agriculture and industry are oil intensive. Urgent policy intervention is that we may have to look for more indigenous low import intensive inputs for agriculture, if we were to get out of these shackles."

"The role of environmental impact assessments (EIA) is now under review in the Pacific. The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Program (SPREP) is leading this review, and is looking at several countries to provide sample case studies. Environmental impact assessments are carried out when a development project is proposed.

A decade has passed since the last review was held. It is hoped that the report will establish a clear starting point from where the Pacific island countries and territories can strengthen and improve their assessment capacities. The EIA aims to outline the effects the proposed development will have upon the environment and surroundings and how to best remedy the negative impacts and enhance the positive ones."

"China is preparing for the building of a project to transmit thermal power resources from the country's northwest to Tibet Autonomous Region in the southwest to boost the local economy. According to initial plan, the 1,100-kilometer long electricity transmission line starts from Golmud in Qinghai Province and ends at Lhasa, running in the same direction as the Qinghai-Tibet railway.

The transmission line, dubbed as 'Qinghai-Tibet electricity route', is a 500KV power transmission line, with the first phase project target of transmitting 6.5 billion kwh annually. The project is expected to be completed and go into operation in 2010."

"Indonesia's central bank said on Friday it would be tough to contain year-end inflation below 9 percent in 2008 and a 100-150 basis point hike in interest rates would not hurt loan growth. Analysts said deputy governor Hartadi Sarwono's remarks signaled a further hike in the benchmark BI rate, after a 25 basis point increase to 8.25 percent this week, the first hike in more than two years.

Indonesia, like other countries in the region, has been feeling the brunt of rising food and energy prices which pushed annual inflation in April to 8.96 percent, the fastest pace since September 2006. The government has said it will cut its costly fuel subsidies by as much as 30 percent in the near-term, prompting worries of further pressure on prices."

"Malaysia says it will spend more money subsidizing oil and gas this year than on developing the country, with Prime Minister Badawi calling for a review of all major projects. Abdullah said the government would spend $14 billion on fuel subsidies this year. This will exceed the annual budget for major development and infrastructure projects under the country's ninth development plan.

Malaysia, which imports about 30 percent of its rice needs, heavily subsidizes more than 20 daily food items including milk and salt. Abdullah also said the government was uncertain whether the funds set aside to moderate the present soaring prices of food was enough."

"Energy-hungry Vietnam started building its second oil refinery on Saturday, a $6.2 billion complex, in a bid to feed the nation's booming economy. The oil monopoly PetroVietnam set up a joint-venture with its counterparts from Japan and Kuwait to build the Nghi Son refinery in the north of the country.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung hailed the project at the ground-breaking ceremony, saying it was the country's most important and biggest power scheme. By 2013, this project combined with Dung Quat refinery would ensure 65 percent of Vietnam oil and gas demand."

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