"Developing countries have joined U.N. officials in calling for more money and a greater role in regulating the world economy in the wake of the worst global financial crisis since the Great Depression, which has taken a disproportionate toll on poor nations. Bangladesh's Foreign Minister Dipu Moni, speaking on behalf of the world's poorest nations, said reforms are needed to enhance productivity and capacity to cope with risks.

A draft document agreed upon by rich and poor nations calls for the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other lending institutions to be flexible in imposing conditions on developing countries so they can take action to deal with the economic crisis, including adopting stimulus packages. The draft also calls for measures to avoid a new debt crisis and new approaches to restructuring debt."

"Mongolia will get a financial aid of $1 billion to help cushion the impact of the global economic crisis on the country's poor, who make up a third of the total population, the Asian Development Bank said on Thursday. Mongolia is one of the most exposed countries in the world to poverty fallout from the crisis, due to its reliance on volatile mining revenue.

Mongolia's economy has expanded quickly over the past decade, driven by the rising value of its vast copper deposits, but the onset of the global economic crisis and slump in mineral prices have severely dented its fiscal resources, forcing it to pare back planned social sector spending. Unless the government is able to bring about an orderly adjustment to this external shock, the social consequences will be severe, potentially unwinding the gains of recent years."

"There has been much talk about Asia's rising middle class and the development of a new model based on domestic consumption. So far that is all it has been: talk. The plain fact is that the region has become more, not less, dependent on foreign demand. A decade ago, when Asia was in the midst of its home-grown crisis, exports accounted for 37 percent of regional output. Now, overseas shipments account for 47 percent of output.

Asia's heightened reliance on external demand has been masked. In many countries, particularly China, consumption has conspicuously risen; people have been trading in their bicycles for scooters, and their scooters for cars. But consumption has lagged behind overall economic expansion. Inter-regional trade has also risen sharply, creating a false impression that Asia has somehow broken free of dependence on western consumers. But as much as 60 percent of inter-regional trade is in components, part of a sophisticated regional supply chain whose final demand has nevertheless remained primarily American and European."

"Like other developing countries Pakistan has poverty, illiteracy, population growth, unplanned urbanization, unemployment, gender discrimination dysfunctional families, rural-urban as well as cross-border migration, and non prevalence of a comprehensive social security and support system. All these problems are contributing factors for promotion of human trafficking. During last 10 years, estimated number of 200,000 women and girls, between 12-30, has been trafficked from Bangladesh to Pakistan.

The reason why women and children are primary targets for traffickers is that they can in turn be sold to cater to a variety of needs ranging from sex-slavery to menial labor. Women and children trafficked within the confines of national borders may be used to settle disputes, or sold off to begging mafias. Recently trafficked women are also suspected of being used to operate 'baby farms', which cater to the growing demand for adoption in richer countries. Incidences of trafficking being linked to organ trade have also been reported."

"Bangladesh is a highly patriarchal society and gender discrimination is present at all community levels. It is often the demographic composition of a woman's household that determines her qualification for and access to bank loans and other forms of credit. A woman's lack of mobility, particularly in rural areas, forces her to depend on male relatives for any entrepreneurial activities. While Bangladesh's NGO's provide microcredit to a large number of women, there is a growing concern to whether or not these women actually retain control over their loans.

According to the national law, men and women have equal rights to property, but in practice women have only very limited access to property. Their situation is further impaired by discriminating inheritance laws and Bangladeshi women are not likely to even claim their share of the family property unless it is given to them."

"Slum-dweller Krustin bin Juri lost everything when floodwaters swept through his home and shop on the banks of Jakarta's filthy Ciliwung river two years ago. But when the next flood hits, and it will because Jakarta sees frequent floods in the rainy season, bin Juri may have a modicum of protection thanks to a low-cost insurance policy that he purchased this month. He is among millions of the world's poor who are covered for natural disasters by cheap insurance, or microinsurance, as commercial firms recognize that insuring the poor is not just good public relations but also profitable.

Some governments have taken a more active role in promoting such insurance schemes to the poor. For example in India, it is compulsory for insurer firms to offer a microinsurance product, though the results have been mixed. Insurance experts say such microinsurance schemes tend to be more successful when a community-based organization works in partnership with a private insurer, as both have strengths in different areas. For insurers, the sheer number of potential customers in the low-income bracket makes this an attractive market."

"A massive expansion of investment is one of the priority areas of this year's budget proposal. The finance minister in his budget speech has repeatedly mentioned that every effort would be made for creating an investment-friendly environment to attract increasing number of local and foreign investors as well as expatriate Bangladeshis. A firm commitment has been made to provide all possible incentives to support any new initiative for setting up any small and medium enterprises, and the existing ones for increasing production and improving quality of goods for export.

According to the finance minister, efforts would meet the probable investment gap in infrastructure development and maintenance alongside the government's investment. In line with the budget announcement, economic zones would offer opportunities to underdeveloped regions as well as regions with potential for industrial growth. In this connection, priority should be given to the less developed areas like northern regions of the country and the hill tracts that have ample scope for development through economic activities."

"New reports from global ratings agencies are indicating that recovery is already taking place across a broad front in Asia, ahead of any turnaround in the US and Europe. Moody's and Standard & Poor's reported signs of fragile bamboo shoots a few weeks ago, but now they are stating more confidently that the downturn has already bottomed out.

Surprisingly, it is being led by an export revival and an upturn in industrial production -- core features of Asia's long growth that came to a shuddering halt last year. Except for India, the growth rate in February-March was substantially higher than November-December. The agency reports the same pattern in industrial production, again with a single exception -- in this case Singapore, which slipped further down."

"Vietnam's inflation rate eased to 3.9 percent in June, thanks to falling transportation and telecommunication costs, the government said Wednesday. That's a sharp decline from recent months, when inflation was 9.3 percent in April and 11.3 percent in March. Last year, the country's inflation rate soared to nearly 23 percent, the highest since 1991.

However, prices still rose this month for food, medicine, beverages, home appliances and garments and textiles. Overall, food prices were 3.4 percent higher compared to last year, while beverage and textile prices both rose nearly 10 percent. Prices for medicine increased by 7 percent."

"Through 10 months' efforts, Chinese workers completed a new tunnel running beneath the Huangpu river bed as of Tuesday. The tunnel, with a length of 2,254 meters, connects the international shipping center of Shanghai Port and Lujiazui finance and trade district on the other side of the river.

The project is financed by the municipal government and costs about 1.8 billion yuan ($265 million). Six tunnels crossing the river have opened to traffic, while workers are still building eight others, including the one completed Tuesday."

"If pharmaceutical companies are now making such healthy profits from vaccines in the developed world, why not give them away free in developing countries to save the lives of poor children? It is a seductive idea, but there are two reasons for them to charge. First, if developing countries do not pay for vaccines, there is a danger that drugs companies will stop producing enough of them. Vaccines have a high marginal cost of production because they have to be cultured in eggs, and stored and distributed carefully.

Indeed, one-off gifts of childhood vaccines can cause more harm than good. Developing countries obtain far greater benefits from being offered guaranteed low prices for a vaccine over several years, enabling them to plan vaccination properly. What matters most is not one-off initiatives but the long-run cost of a vaccine."

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