"Nationwide some of the gains made toward realizing the MDG-1 have been wiped out by two severe natural disasters that struck Bangladesh in quick succession in 2007, as a result of climate change. To add to the country's catalogue of woes, high international prices of food, especially rice coupled with the rising fuel cost and the global economic recession that began around mid 2007, pushed the country backward in its battle against poverty.

In order to recover the lost ground and be back firmly on track for MDG-1, steps should be taken to accelerate the pace of growth and development that target the poor. The government should provide adequate policy support and fiscal incentives to set up labour-intensive, low investment industries designed to create new job opportunities to bring down the growing unemployment in addition to vigorously pursuing other relevant targets. Social safety net should also be extended and strengthened. Infrastructure should be improved and modernized particularly in the remote areas."

"The consistency of free-trade agreements (FTAs) with the rules of trade espoused by the WTO has always been an interesting subject of study to students of international trade. Skeptics who do not think that the WTO has a future will point to the rise of the regional trade agreements as evidence of the movement away from trade multilateralism and towards regionalism and even bilateralism.

While lip service will continue to be paid to multilateral trade liberalization, most national economies will in all probability seek ways to strike trade deals with select partners to gain economic advantage on a scale they do not think will result by pushing the multilateral trade effort vigorously. Like all good, substantive international agreements, the WTO is aware of this seeming dichotomy and, instead of ignoring it, has subsumed it into its legal structure."

"Basic services to India's urban poor -- integrated housing and the slum development program, the two components of Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission -- are set to be discontinued in their present form. The government plans to merge the two schemes with Rajiv Awas Yojna (RAY), an ambitious program to transform Indian cities by making them slum-free.

Rajiv Awas Yojna allows slum dweller to get property rights of a house. This implies that if need be, the dweller can mortgage his house in order to obtain loans. The strategy, as conceived currently, would give states greater flexibility of funds. Loans can be raised from financial institutions in India and abroad."

"Eighteen months after Cyclone Nargis, which killed at least 140,000 people, hundreds of thousands of survivors remain in desperate need, according to the United Nations. More than 170,000 people are still without adequate shelter, while the vast majority of the farmers in the Irrawaddy Delta devastated by last year's cyclone, are slipping into enormous debt.

The level of commitment from the international community has fallen well short of the amount of funding that was made available for Indonesia after the enormous Tsunami disaster in 2004, relief workers point out. Myanmar has received less than 10 percent of what was allocated there. The massive indebtedness of farmers in the Delta is fast becoming an insurmountable obstacle to recovery in the cyclone-hit areas."

"The poor state of Vietnam's roads and other infrastructure poses the key obstacle faced by foreign investors as the country battles to boost its exports, business leaders said Tuesday. Almost 96 percent of foreign trading firms rated the country's infrastructure as 'bad' or 'very bad' according to a survey presented to the Vietnam Business Forum.

Unless the government works to remedy the problem, the country's infrastructure status will act as a deterrent to foreign investment and the enhancement of Vietnam's export sector. Vietnam has already seen a precipitous drop in foreign direct investment this year. At about 19.7 billion dollars from January to November, the total was barely a quarter of the amount registered over the same period of 2008."

"Thailand may extend relief measures for poorer citizens when they run out at the end of the year, but some of the help may be scaled back, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said. The measures include free or subsidized utilities and public transport.

The government has launched several measures this year to help pull the economy out of its first recession in 11 years, although some of the help for the poor was originally brought in under a previous government in 2008. Together with loose monetary policy, the government also plans 1.43 trillion baht in stimulus spending over three years from September."

"The level of urbanization is an important benchmark for an economy in transit from poverty to middle income. During the process of urbanization in developed countries, the agriculture-based economy was gradually transformed to an industry-dominated structure and per capita energy consumption and energy intensity rose in tandem. After urbanization was completed and the tertiary industry became the main economic pillar, energy intensity declined correspondingly and per capita energy demand entered a stable stage with relatively low growth.

In 2007, China's GDP accounted for 6 percent of the global total while its steel consumption reached 30 percent and cement about 55 percent. From 2003 to 2008, China's energy consumption experienced near double-digit growth given the rapid development of energy-intensive industries and the acceleration of urbanization. The key to energy sustainability is dealing with the growth of energy demand brought about by urbanization."

"India is betting on a big boost in private power project commissioning to partly make up for the glaring slippages expected in projects during the current Eleventh Plan period. The private sector's share in power capacity is expected to be 34 percent, up from 10 per cent in the last Plan period.

Against the target of 78,700 MW for the current Plan, the expected capacity is likely to be around 60,000 MW, of which over a third is now slated to come through private projects. On the generation front, slippages are envisaged in hydro power projects."

"Indonesia is likely to fall short of achieving its Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target of significantly improving access to clean water and sanitation facilities by 2015. Indonesia had set its MDG target to ensure that 80 percent of urban dwellers and 60 percent of rural communities, which make up the total population, would have sustainable access to clean water by 2015.

Poor clean water management, leakages and wasteful use of water are likely to cause the failure, warns the Association of All Indonesian Tap Water Companies. Cases of pipe leakages in Indonesia have reached 32 percent. The association said only 60 percent of urban dwellers and 40 percent of rural residents in Indonesia would have access to drinking water by 2015."

"The Philippines needs as much as $4.42 billion, or P208 billion, to fully deal with the damage brought about by recent storms. According to a post-disaster needs assessment, raw materials and crops were lost, while machinery and infrastructure were heavily damaged, in the wake of Tropical Storm 'Ondoy' and Tropical Depression 'Pepeng.'

An estimated 480,000 more Filipinos slipped below the poverty line due to the impact of the calamities. This reinforced projections that poverty incidence in the country has actually risen this year, from 33 percent or 29.36 million in 2006, instead of declining as the government originally expected."

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