"For at least a decade now, the world has been preparing for the emergence of Asia. Many have dubbed the 21st century as Asia's. On a review of some basic economic statistics, the shift in world economic power over the next 10 years will be stark. All of Asia today, with about 45 percent of the world's population, adds up to only $7 trillion of global consumption. But by 2020, Asia will consume $21 trillion of global produce.

Asia's average age will rise from 29 to 32 in the next 10 years while it will go from 40 to 43 in Europe and 37 to 38 in the US. But until now, Asia has seen itself at the fringe of the global economy and has been focused quite substantially on selling to the American consumer and competing with one another to do so. The idea of Asia as a single region has been slow to develop despite the attempts of some regional groupings such as Asean and Saarc. The relations between many countries are soiled by bitter histories and the maturity that wealth brings in such discourse is largely lacking."

"Indonesian President Yudhoyono is widely expected to use his strong electoral mandate to push reforms in his second term to attract foreign investment. But the re-elected leader's first 100-day plan is already raising concerns that much-needed liberalization measures may be slow in coming. Indonesia will need at least $200 billion in spending each year to accomplish Yudhoyono's vision of faster growth, lower poverty and higher employment, according to government estimates.

The government's budget as currently designed will contribute only 15% of that total, meaning that the rest will have to be raised from local and foreign investors. Greater foreign direct investment will be pivotal to Yudhoyono's stated goals of achieving 7% gross domestic product growth and substantially reduced poverty and unemployment rates by the end of his term in 2014."

"China's $585 billion stimulus plan is not all it's cracked up to be. While the additional government spending has clearly played a part, it is not the only reason why China's economy has remained so sound this year. The unsung heroes of China's economic success this year are its ordinary consumers. It's their continued confidence and increased spending that have really made the difference.

China's consumers, with an ever-increasing choice of products, services and shops, are spending ever-increasing sums on improving the quality of their lives. Car sales in China are at an all-time high, and China is now the world's largest car market. Based on a percentage of average disposable income, car prices in China are probably among the most expensive in the world. Same goes for property prices. Yet, Chinese keep buying."

"In the run-up to the G-20 summit this fall, development groups from across the world rallied behind a currency transaction levy, an innovative new funding mechanism for addressing global poverty. A tax of just 0.005 percent on currency exchanges between the U.S. dollar, the yen, the euro and the British pound, a CTL could generate up to $33 billion in additional funds each year to help the world's poorest. Yet the Group of 20 hardly even discussed it.

Every year, the foreign currency market handles almost $800 trillion in trades. Taxing those transactions at 0.005 percent is small enough that it would have practically no negative effect on global economic growth. And since the currency exchange market is already completely computerized, the levy could be collected electronically, making implementation logistically painless."

"Education specialists from more than 30 countries gathered at the International Topic Network Conference on Quality Education in Phnom Penh last week. The conference aimed to review Cambodia's achievements in education since the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime. There are now nearly 8,000 school buildings across the country, but even that is not enough to meet the demand of new and existing students.

The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport has developed an action plan to ensure all Cambodian children have access to quality education at all levels regardless of their gender or class by 2015. The ministry seeks to recruit an additional 500 teachers per year and plans to build some 800 to 900 additional school buildings in remote rural areas."

"Women in less developed economies that are less able to cope with the impact of climate change are the most vulnerable to hunger and disease due to the difficult roles they assume in homes, farms and workplaces, according to the annual report of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The report said women, particularly those in poor countries like the Philippines, will be affected differently than men.

They are among the most vulnerable to climate change, partly because in many countries they make up the larger share of the agricultural work force and partly because they tend to have access to fewer income-earning opportunities. Women manage households and care for family members, which often limits their mobility and increases their vulnerability to sudden weather-related natural disasters. Girls drop out of school to help their mothers with these tasks. This cycle of deprivation, poverty and inequality undermines the social capital needed to deal effectively with climate change."

"Hundreds of thousands of hectares of forest are to be handed over to Nepal's rural poor, helping them to earn an income from their natural resources and put a stop to the rampant deforestation currently blighting the country. The new landowners will be able to sell the wood, thatch, fruits and essential oils that the forests provide naturally. Similar existing projects have shown that communities who depend on the forests for survival are motivated to manage them in a sustainable way.

The government of Nepal does not currently have the capacity to monitor all of the nation's forests, which cover 40 percent of the country, and has already handed over a fifth of Nepal's forests to local communities to help counter this. By allowing communities to earn a living from the forests, the program aims to increase the incomes of 1.2 million people by 50 percent."

"Despite some progress in coping with the impacts of the global financial crisis, labor and social trends in Indonesia year will likely remain gloomy, the International Labour Organization (ILO) has warned. The global economic downturn has forced foreign employers to terminate hundreds of thousands of jobs held by Indonesian migrant workers, while falling orders have forced many processing companies at home to rationalize the size of their labor.

The government has been urged to provide social protection for unskilled and semi skilled workers, especially for those who had not been included in the government's pro-employment programs. Due to the stagnant growth of the formal sector affected by the global crisis, a part of the labor force, mainly dismissed workers, returned migrant workers and job seekers, have been entering the informal sector where they are not insured."

"The meetings of APEC ministers and leaders during the week to November 15, set the scene for pursuing a post-Bogor agenda in APEC, working alongside other forums and institutions, including the G20 and the multilateral development banks. A breakfast meeting led to a realistic approach to the Copenhagen meetings on climate change. That informal gathering may come to be seen as the first in an annual sequence of meetings where APEC leaders who are part of the G20 help shape a common approach to global issues.

The importance of capacity-building, based on sharing information, experience expertise and technology, is now well accepted. In 2009 there was welcome attention to practical ways to enhance the efficiency and security of supply chains which are becoming increasingly important to international commerce. Work on connectivity includes efforts to eliminate logistic bottlenecks and promoting region-wide access not only to the internet, but to broadband."

"The Indonesian government is set to push for the commencement of the Palapa Ring fiber optic project for Eastern Indonesia by the end of this month. President Yudhoyono is expected to launch the Palapa Ring project on Nov. 30. The Palapa Ring project aims to lay a 11,000-kilometer-long fiber optic cable in eastern part of Indonesia.

The consortium of investors for Palapa Ring project has complained about the lack of funding and government support for the project. The consortium members have shrunk to three telecom operators, from the original six. They include PT Telkom, PT Indosat and PT Bakrie Telecom."

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