"The 21st century has been heralded as the age of Asia that is marching forward, and the rate of economic growth of emerging Asian giants like China and India is much more than that of the US and EU. Asian markets that were completely dependent for investments and aid for trade on the Western capitalist countries have now become global players.

But Asian countries are saddled with serious domestic problems of poverty, inequality and social strife. And with mutual relations among these countries being based on distrust and conflicts, Asia has miles to go before it can become a real center of power in the global context. The majority of the nation-states of Asia still have to establish their legal authority over their socially-discontented and volatile sections."

"The former Soviet republics of Central Asia are growing in importance as suppliers of electricity, grain and construction materials to Afghanistan. It is hoped that new roads and railways criss-crossing Afghanistan will provide a shorter route to South Asia and the Gulf for these exports. Afghanistan's first railway is a 75-kilometer line between the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif and Hairaton on the Uzbek border. The line opened on May 25.

Uzbekistan's role in its war-torn neighbor is growing in other areas too. It started exporting electricity in 2009 and by April was supplying electricity to Kabul round the clock. While the $1.28bn reconstruction of Uzbekistan's Talimarjan power plant is expected to boost electricity exports further when it is completed, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan are also looking at ways to benefit from Afghanistan's demand for power."

"India looks set this week to hike borrowing costs for a second time in a month as it battles the highest inflation among the leading Group of 20 economic powers, analysts say. The central bank is widely expected to increase interest rates to tackle surging prices which began in the food sector but have spilled over into other parts of India's fast-accelerating economy.

Over the last seven months, annual food inflation in Asia's third-largest economy has swung between 13 and 20 percent, causing huge hardship, especially among the 450 million people who struggle below the poverty line. The bank has hiked rates three times this year but inflation is still stubbornly high -- driven by surging incomes, low farm output and a rebounding economy running up against capacity constraints as supply struggles to keep pace with demand."

"The Chinese -- like those in many parts of Asia -- remain wary of debt. In China, a high proportion of cars, even houses, are paid for in cash. Chinese officials talk scornfully about US consumers' proclivity to buy now and figure out the consequences later. However much Asians trumpet the value of parsimony, their governments have been as bold as any in opening the fiscal sluices.

The scale of Asia's stimulus may have matched, even surpassed, the West. Fiscal stimulus packages as a percentage of gross domestic product amounted to 6.9 percent for Vietnam, 7.7 perent for Thailand, 8 percent for Singapore, 13.5 percent for China, and a whopping 14.6 percent for Japan. The question in most of Asia is not whether to remove stimulus, but how fast. Asia is in orthodox territory, balancing well-trodden trade-offs between growth and inflation."

"Every pundit and China hand says it: The next decade will be a critical one for China. After an unprecedented three decades of 10 percent annual growth in gross domestic product, in which hundreds of millions of its people were lifted out of poverty as the country became the workshop of the world, China faces a more difficult second act.

Its government must spread the wealth beyond the great coastal cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen to deep in the interior. The safety net is key. Right now, many Chinese retire early -- often with government pensions. But by 2015, there will be some 200 million Chinese aged 60 and over and a shrinking population to support them."

"At the core of many of the MDGs is the fact that many problems we face are linked to poverty and a lack of access to resources, including education and healthcare. Poverty breeds poverty when people do not have rights to these sorts of resources and lack the empowerment to move outside economic and cultural settings that maintain disadvantage.

Concepts such as the bottom of the pyramid are now well rehearsed. This approach to development argues that there are opportunities for corporations to source from or sell to disadvantaged people in ways that generate wealth, improve their quality of life while being simultaneously profitable. The argument goes on to purport that there is an undeveloped and untapped market waiting at the bottom of the world's economic pyramid -- a market of over three billion people who earn less than $2 a day."

"Investment in Indonesia, including from both foreign and domestic investors, rose 40 percent in the second quarter of 2010 from the same period a year ago. The increase could show that strong economic growth and increasing consumer demand in Indonesia is leading more investors to make longer-term bets on the country, which has struggled to attract as much foreign direct investment as regional peers.

The state investment agency forecast that foreign direct investment would rebound 15 percent this year, after falling 27 percent to $10.8 billion last year. Indonesia has so far failed to match the levels of direct foreign investment attracted into regional powerhouses China and India, as investors are often put off by red tape, rampant corruption, and a shaky legal system."

"Papua New Guinea's economic boom from the Liquefied Natural Gas brings increased opportunities and challenges for the country. Papua New Guineans are faced with substance spin-off benefits including employment and micro investment opportunities for local businesses in areas such as construction, hospitality, catering and real estate industries.

A major challenge for government is to mitigate the negative consequences of the resource boom and achieve meaningful development for the people and country. The LNG project currently under construction, which is scheduled from 2010 to 2015, will provide both employment and business opportunities."

"Pakistan is facing a severe crisis as a ballooning population and inefficient farming combine to reduce the availability of water. Up to a third of Pakistan's 175 million people lack safe drinking water and nearly 630 children die each day from diarrhea.

Many scientists predict global warming could have a significant impact by shrinking the glaciers that feed Pakistan's rivers. Experts also point to inefficient irrigation methods in Pakistan as a key factor. At least 90 percent of Pakistan's water is used for farming, and around 25 percent is wasted by farms that use flood irrigation."

"Bamboo is an enduring natural resource and provides income, food, and housing to over 2.2 billion people worldwide. There is need for improving the livelihood of forest dwellers and generating employment through the bamboo development program. Bamboo in many ways is the mainstay of the rural Indian economy, sparking considerable social and ecological spin-offs.

But in the absence of a clear policy of husbanding of the resource there was rapid degradation and decimation of the resource in much of the country. Bamboo resources plummeted so alarmingly that at present the resource is limited to few pockets in the country. But there is hope for the resurgence of bamboo based on evidence of significant new and contemporary economic opportunities that have emerged over the past decade. A bamboo revolution that holds the potential of reversing economic downturns and ensuring profitability is very much possible."

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