"It is now official that the Lawari Tunnel is part of the larger infrastructure development program to link Pakistan's commercial centers with those of the Central Asian countries through a trade road. In other words, this tunnel is the start of the highway that will be connected with the old Silk Road network that is being reconstructed through building modern highways in Central Asia.

There can be little doubt that the Durah Highway will open enormous commercial opportunities all along its length. In twenty five years from now, the Durah Highway will be as busy as the Karakoram Highway, perhaps busier considering the proximity of the major cities of Central Asia to Chitral and shorter distance than any other rout to Pakistani cities."

"Asia is leading the world economy out of recession. The region's most populous nations -- China, India and Indonesia -- appear to doing particularly well, setting the pace for renewed growth in Northeast Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia. Yet amid the buoyancy are concerns over food security and rice prices. Asia produces and consumes about 90 percent of the world's rice. The amount of rice available and its price help determine progress in reducing poverty, since poor families spend as much as 40 percent of their income to buy the grain.

Access to affordable rice underpins social welfare and political stability. The record rice crop of 2008 helped reduce prices after they jumped to their highest level in 30 years in 2007-2008, triggering riots in several dozen countries and prompting a number of Asian countries to curb exports of the staple. But Asia may be on the verge of another destabilizing rice price surge following weather-related crop losses in India, the Philippines and Australia."

"With a per capita non-oil GDP of $348 (2007), Timor Leste is one of the poorest countries in the world. Human development indicators are also low with literacy rates at 50 percent, a longevity rate of 57 years, and high infant and maternal mortality rates. High rates of population increase combined with widespread poverty and a history of civil disturbances has created substantial pressures for the nation to deliver on employment generation and greater prosperity for the majority of the population.

Development challenges in Timor Leste are considerable, but they are not insurmountable. The main reason for this optimism is that Timor Leste has access to large revenues coming on stream from oil and gas deposits in the Timor Sea. Timor Leste's overarching challenge is to employ its oil revenues to develop and create jobs in the non-oil economy while maintaining macroeconomic stability. The resource curse has stymied development in numerous oil-rich economies, and there is widespread recognition of this in Timor Leste."

"The 37.2 percent poverty number put out by the expert group headed by Suresh Tendulkar last week sounds a lot less pessimistic than the 78 percent figure of Indians living on less than Rs 20 per day put out by Arjun Sengupta. But the question is whether it is more reliable, and if so, by how much. Another report, by NC Saxena, put the figure at around 50 percent some months ago. And at 42 percent, the World Bank has yet another number!

All the estimates are based on what you take as the poverty line. The existing government method used an expenditure poverty line which Tendulkar said was too low as it didn't take into account expenses on education and health, and so he sensibly added on a cost for this. He also felt the distinction between urban and rural consumption norms was outdated and decided to use the same urban consumption basket for rural areas, but obviously with different prices to reflect the difference in costs."

"Pacific island governments are not playing enough attention to addressing major urban problems such as housing, sanitation and waste management, the United Nations says. Rapid population movement out of rural areas is threatening health and economic conditions in capital cities and towns throughout the Pacific.

Fiji is more than 50 percent urbanized, while Nauru and Cook Islands are 100 percent urbanized, putting pressure on housing, health services and jobs. Among other countries rapidly becoming urbanized are Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands. The growth is typically putting pressure on one urban center, which has become the focus of government and trade and a lure for people seeking work."

"For Indonesia, the key risk in store next year is not of an economic meltdown or financial crisis, but a recovery toward mediocre growth. With Indonesia now in the spotlight of the global investment community, the momentum for catapulting the country out of the doldrums is stronger than ever. There couldn't be a better time to draw in foreign direct investment for manufacturing industries that have been experiencing sub-par growth for almost a decade.

Many problems such as poor infrastructure, power shortages, labor market rigidities and legal uncertainties remain as barriers to real sector investment that need to be removed by the government. In this regard, expectations are high that President Yudhoyono will be more assertive in pushing ahead with reforms, having emerged from the elections with a stronger mandate."

"Can India follow the same model as China? Clearly not in its entirety. We need to pay urgent and focused attention to improving the investment climate in the country. The issues to be tackled are too well-known to merit repetition here. But one which is often not discussed is the manner in which we effectively tax our corporate and producer sectors to subsidize consumers.

Industrial electricity tariffs are higher because they are used to cross-subsidize domestic consumers. Railway freight charges are used to subsidize passenger travel. Petrol and diesel prices are higher so that cooking gas and kerosene can be subsidized. Interest rates cannot be brought down because the government must run a huge fiscal deficit to fund subsidies directed at raising consumption."

"Electricity shortages, blackouts and brownouts have become common phenomena in Indonesia, including in the capital Jakarta recently. Elsewhere in Indonesia, including world-class oil- and coal-producing regions like East Kalimantan and Riau, electricity shortages have long been an ironic truth for the local people.

To address lack of investment, re-inviting private sector participation and developing (central and local) government responsibilities are the major keys. A system that is more suited to the regional condition must be developed faster and more widely. Securing primary energy supplies can be realized by strategically developing two of our indigenous energy resources: geothermal and natural gas."

"Although complicated, there are a number of possible reasons for China's high savings rate. The imperfect social security network has restrained household consumption as families realize the need to save for unforeseen problems that may arise in the future. In addition, a huge aging population needs to be supported, thus forcing the next generation to save more for their own old age. The income growth as a result of urbanization, industrialization and market reform allows people to earn more, but also save more.

The Chinese government has committed itself to investing heavily in rural-urban medical insurance, cutting individual income taxes, and reforming the taxation system to encourage consumption and discourage savings. But these measures are not the answer to solving China's high savings rate dilemma. China has to rely on the investment and export sectors. And with exports shrinking as a result of sluggish overseas demand, we can only turn to heavier investment."

"Asia should keep interest rates low even as China, Korea and other emerging economies in the region may grow at the fastest pace in three years in 2010, the Asian Development Bank said. Some policy makers in Asia have started raising borrowing costs to contain accelerating inflation. Vietnam raised its benchmark rate by one percentage point to 8 percent in November.

Developing Asia, which includes economies such as India and Pakistan, will probably expand 6.6 percent next year after growing 4.5 percent in 2009. Recovery in East Asia also hinges on the revival of growth in Europe and in the US, as this will affect the region's export-dependent economies."

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