"Vietnam must rethink the growth strategy that propelled it from poverty to the ranks of Asia's fastest-growing economies, analysts say, or risk stagnating. Vietnam, which aims to become an industrialized nation by 2020, risks losing out both to poorer, lower-wage nations and richer ones that are more innovative and have a higher-quality labour force, they say.

The Vietnamese economy depends too much on exploitation of natural resources and its industry, often dominated by large state-owned groups, lacks dynamism, they said in a joint report which added that transport and other infrastructure is underdeveloped. Another obstacle is education, which experts have said is far from an international standard, afflicted by corruption and unsuited for providing the skilled workforce the country needs."

"Pakistan's worst floods in decades have left millions hungry, the United Nations said on Monday, while parts of the south were on high alert for rising waters that could further tax aid groups. The flood has been spreading through the rice-growing belt in southern Sindh province district by district, breaking through or flowing over embankments.

Waters have been rising in southern Sindh and hundreds of thousands of people have fled cities, towns and villages for safer ground, disaster management officials said. Sindh is home to Pakistan's biggest city and commercial centre Karachi, but the floods have affected mostly rural areas and far smaller urban centers. Over 100,000 people have fled the Sindh city of Shahdadkot, and officials say one of their biggest concerns now is growing water pressure in the Indus River along the southern cities and towns of Hyderabad, Jamshoro and Thatta which could lead to more flooding."

"On Aug. 9, 2010 a new Indonesian financial institution was formally launched -- PT Indonesia Infrastructure Finance (IIF). Its objective is to provide long-term rupiah financing and advisory services to private infrastructure projects in Indonesia. The establishment of this new institution is an important milestone in the overall process that the government has initiated to funnel more investment into infrastructure.

Indonesia has among the lowest levels of access to infrastructure in East Asia. Following the 1997 financial crisis, infrastructure investment in Indonesia fell from over 7 percent of GDP to just over 2 percent in 2001. Since then, infrastructure investment has risen to over 3 percent of GDP. China and Vietnam, by contrast, spend nearly 10 percent of their GDP on infrastructure. Inadequate infrastructure is now widely seen as a key constraint to sustained economic growth and poverty reduction in Indonesia."

"India and Japan are set to wrap up talks on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (Cepa) early next month. Senior trade negotiators and chief interlocutors will be visiting Tokyo during September 8-10. The talks, once concluded, will be followed by final legalities after which the deal will be formally signed during Prime Minister Singh's visit in Japan in October.

Under the deal, India's main interests lie in expanding access to the Japanese market in the field of services and pharmaceuticals, which does not enjoy much favor within the Japanese industry. However, both sides will also preserve a negative list on which the tariffs will not be reduced keeping in mind the sensitivities of both countries."

"The Millennium Development Goal (MDG) to reduce the world's 1.020 billion undernourished people by half between now and 2015 is still possible. Dr. William Dar said the MDG target could still be attained if the 'business as usual' approach is replaced by a new strategy to fight hunger, which is inclusive of poor women and children.

This strategy is a dynamic progression of smallholder farmers from a subsistence level toward market-oriented agriculture. Studies have shown that dryland poverty rates in Asia are declining compared with that of sub-Saharan Africa as emerging Asian urban markets absorb farm produce as opposed to their African counterparts."

"India's middle class population, which will exceed 600 million by 2030, will be a major driving force in global consumption. Asian consumers are likely to spend $32 trillion by 2030, accounting for 43 percent of total global consumption, in which India and China will have major shares. The emergence of a substantial middle class in India has created new avenues for employment and entrepreneurship, and a louder voice for improved public infrastructure and services.

To help unlock the full potential of the Indian middle class as consumers and drivers of growth, the government must continue to remove structural and policy impediments to the segment's development and improve income distribution. Infrastructure constraints, like unreliable power supplies may also hamper consumption of durable goods."

"Ministers of the Greater Mekong Sub-region have endorsed a plan of action for improved transport and trade facilitation in the region, which is expected to help bolster economic growth in the wake of the global financial crisis. At a meeting in Ha Noi, the ministers discussed the plan to connect regional rail lines and approved, together with other strategies, roadmaps and action programs that will determine a new generation of co-operative undertakings in the region's various priority sectors and areas.

The rail link, which is expected to be operational by 2020, will be built largely on the existing lines or those already under construction. The plan cites four possible ways of connecting the railways, but it indicates the most viable route would stretch from Bangkok to Phnom Penh, then HCM City and Ha Noi, and finally up to Nanning and Kunming."

"The Aquino administration is looking at initially raising $10 billion in 'cheap' funds to finance key infrastructure projects through a partnership with the private sector. Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares said Friday the amount should be enough to jump-start the government's infrastructure program.

Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said the government was now working with various multilateral agencies to create a pool of cheap and longer maturity peso-denominated funds. He said the type of financing would be made available to infrastructure project proponents to lure the private sector. The projects being lined up in the program are those that will support tourism and the food supply chain of the country and general infrastructure."

"China, facing the risk of embarrassment if it misses a looming environmental deadline, has ordered thousands of companies to close high-polluting plants as its leadership vies to retool economic growth. Beijing has pledged to slash China's energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product by 20 percent between 2006 and 2010, as the world's biggest greenhouse gas emitter seeks to reduce pollution and clean up its environment.

Beijing this month ordered 2087 firms producing steel, coal, cement, aluminium, glass and other materials to close their old and obsolete plants by the end of September -- or risk having bank loans frozen and power cut off. Authorities in the eastern province of Anhui have reportedly already cut off electricity to more than 500 factories for a month after they failed to meet emission reduction targets. But only about a dozen factories will be closed entirely, with the rest ordered to shut down specific production capacity, according to the government order."

"For all its excellent growth figures, Asia remains besotted with its own problems. And for all its de facto accumulation of economic power, Asia is patently not interested in institutional economical leadership. One sign of Asia's hesitation on institutional developments lies in individual countries' lack of willingness to give up national sovereignty by creating some sort of an Asian currency area.

However, there have been some signs of greater solidarity. Finance ministers from the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), plus China, Japan and South Korea, are slowly adding content and structure to their $120bn multilateral currency swap mechanism that became operational earlier this year. The Chiang Mai Initiative could eventually grow into a reserve-pooling scheme that could supplant the IMF as a conduit for Asian countries to make balance of payments loans."

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