Newswire: South-South / Emerging Market Cooperation

[China - ASEAN] - China to Boost Cooperation With Asean on Investments - Bloomberg

China wants to boost cooperation with members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to develop trade and increase investment, said Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming.


[ASEAN] - Five Asean Nations May Form Rice-Trade Body, Thai Official Says - Bloomberg

Five Southeast Asian nations may set up a rice-trade association next year to cooperate in stabilizing rice prices, a Thai official said.

Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar will also cooperate on other issues related to food security and production, said Chiya Yimvilai, a spokesman at a meeting of Asean economic ministers in Bangkok. The countries would also work together on developing rice products, he said.


[Venezuela - Russia] - PDVSA, Russian Group to Start $30 Billion Oil Venture - Bloomberg

Petroleos de Venezuela SA and a group of Russian oil companies plan to spend $30 billion on a joint venture in Venezuela’s Orinoco region.

The 40-year venture will seek to produce crude in the Junin 6 area and may expand to other Orinoco blocks, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin told reporters in St. Petersburg today after meeting with Venezuelan Vice President Ramon Carrizalez. Russian investors will include OAO Gazprom, OAO Rosneft, OAO Lukoil, TNK-BP and OAO Surgutneftegaz. The venture will be signed “in the coming months,” Sechin said.


[Mexico - Uruguay] - Mexico/Uruguay sign strategic association accord and advance trade - MecroPress

Mexico president Felipe Calderón and Uruguay’s Tabare Vazquez signed on Friday in Montevideo a Strategic Association accord to strengthen political dialogue and bilateral trade relations in the framework of the 2004 free trade agreement.


[Mexico - Colombia - Venezuela - Ecuador] - Mexico offers to mediate between Colombia and Venezuela and Ecuador - MecroPress
Mexican president Felipe Calderón on an official visit to Colombia offered his country’s mediation in the conflict between Bogotá and neighbouring Ecuador and Venezuela.


[Peru - Brazil] - Brazilian President to visit Peru to strengthen strategic alliance - Andina
The next arrival to Lima of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will contribute to create a new strategic alliance to face Asian markets when signing several trade agreements, the President of Peru-Brazil Integration Chamber Miguel Vega Alvear.

“The arrival of Brazilian President will strengthen the progress achieved up to now in this Peru-Brazil strategic alliance and it will create a new stage in which both countries can face Asia-Pacific markets,”

Building China's position in multilaterial organizations

China announced plans to create a $10 billion fund for investment cooperation between itself and its fellow ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) members.

Additionally China will provide a $15 billion credit line to its South East Asian neighbors, further extending its influence in the region.

China has been making its presence known in multilateral organizations around the globe. Recently pledging increased levels of support for organizations like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

Bloomberg reports in this article:

The investment fund will promote infrastructure development linking China with the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, while the loans will be offered over three to five years, according to a statement on the Foreign Ministry Web site today citing an interview with Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi.

The measures from the world’s third-largest economy, and one of the few forecast to maintain growth this year, may help speed recovery from the global financial crisis and cement China’s leadership in the region. The nation has already signed currency swap agreements with Indonesia, South Korea, Hong Kong and Malaysia this year to help ease foreign-exchange shortages and aid bilateral trade and investment.

“China is going to take the opportunity of this crisis to further establish itself in Asia,” said Huang Jing, a visiting professor at the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. “All this will have a huge political and diplomatic impact in the region, in addition to the economic impact.”

Check out this link see a post a few weeks back on China & the IMF / IDB.

Asean summit cancelled amid protests -- FT

Anti-government protesters derailed Asia’s most important multi-lateral summit on Saturday, invading the conference venue in the Thai resort town of Pattaya and forcing the cancellation of the bulk of the three-day meeting.

The Thai government was forced to cancel the much-anticipated summit and declare a state of emergency, which was later lifted, after hundreds of red-shirted protesters broke through lines of police and military guards to reach the heart of the conference venue.


Click here to access this full article from the FT, written by journalist Tim Johnston who is reporting from Pattaya, Thailand

News Line: Live from Tokyo!

1) Asia-Latin America Collaboration by Lim Hng Kiang

Most people think of Latin America and Asia as two regions separated by culture, language and history. Yet, Asia and Latin America are more connected than we imagine.

In recent years, political and economic ties between Latin America and Asia have deepened. Not only have government–to-government links and interactions grown, but companies from both regions have increasingly come to realize the potential for doing business with each other. The growth in total trade flows between Latin America and Asia bear testament to this, having risen to reach US$267.3 billion in 2007, an increase of 24 percent over 2006 (click here to read more)....

ASEAN AND UNASUR

In ASEAN, there has been good progress made towards achieving the ASEAN Economic Community. The recent conclusion of negotiations for the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand FTA as well as the ASEAN-India FTA Trade in Goods during the ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting in August will not only continue to deepen ASEAN’s internal integration, but also expand its external reach. In Latin America, 2008 bore witness to the establishment of the Union of South American Nations or UNASUR, which aims to create a single market and to integrate infrastructure (click here to read more)...

SINGAPORE'S GROWING LINKS

While trade links between Asia, as well as Singapore, and Latin America have grown, there is scope to do much more. For example, bilateral trade between Singapore and Latin America increased at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17 percent over the last three years to reach US$8.89 billion (SS$ 13.4 billion) in 2007. But this only represents 0.07 percent of total world trade and 1.6 percent of Singapore’s total trade with the world last year. There are many areas where there are opportunities for collaboration, be it in agri-business, food and beverage, electronics, oil and gas, transport, logistics or infrastructure. In fact, an increasing number of our companies have made successful inroads into Latin America in these sectors. To date, there are about 56 Singapore-based companies with 191 points of presence throughout Latin America engaged in a variety of business and investment projects.

Latin America’s infrastructure sector in particular has attracted the interest of a number of Singapore companies. Latin American governments are placing increasing emphasis on investing in robust, well-integrated and efficiently managed infrastructure to sustain growth. This presents opportunities in transportation & logistics, urban planning, water and waste management, industrial park development, and oil & gas, amongst others, in both regions. Latin America’s need for expertise in infrastructure development dovetails well with Singapore companies’ infrastructure development capabilities and search for new markets (click here to read more).

Click here to access the full article from Latin Business Chronicle


2) Venezuela's Chavez calls for creation of an Oil Bank reports Rigzone via Dow Jones Newswires

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez on Tuesday called for oil producing countries to create an oil bank and warned oil prices could fall further.

"We once proposed the creation of an OPEC Bank...but it wasn't adopted. Lets work with the idea of an oil bank, a couple of oil (producing) countries can do it," Chavez said as he arrived in Brazil for a state visit.

Click here to access the full article via Rigzone.com


3) China has muscles to push domestic growth - Xinhua

SINGAPORE, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- China has the muscles to push short-term domestic growth, but Japan and South Korea will continue to grapple with various difficulties in trying to rev up their sluggish economic engines into higher gear, said Standard & Poor's Ratings Services here on Tuesday.

In recent separate reports on the three countries, S&P said China will steer its economic policy toward supporting growth, despite some anticipated hurdles, while Japan and South Korea both face political stalemates, high oil and food prices, decelerating growth, among other issues.

The report said China is counting on its strong domestic demand to pull its economy ahead this year and next, "We expect tight labor market conditions, together with the implementation of the new Labor Contract law this year, to keep wage growth strong and lower uncertainties faced by employees."

Click here to access the full article from Xinhua


4) China's economy in good shape despite global financial chaos

TIANJIN, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- China's economy was in good shape and capable of maintaining financial stability despite global chaos, Liu Mingkang, chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC), said on Saturday.

Liu made the remarks at the ongoing 2008 Summer Davos forum, also known as the Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2008, which kicked off on Saturday in the north China metropolis of Tianjin.

Though feeling gloomy about the outlook of the world economy, most attendees were confident about China's economic prospects.

"China has full confidence and capabilities to ensure sound and fast economic growth for a long period of time," Premier Wen Jiabao said at the opening ceremony.

Click here to access the full article from Xinhua


5) South American leaders blame financial crisis on US irresponsibility reports Mecropress

Four of South America’s leaders meeting in the Amazon accused the United States on Tuesday of "irresponsibility" in its handling of a financial crisis that has dried up credit markets and threatens economies around the world.

Brazil’s Lula da Silva said that rich nations are responsible for the global financial crisis, and called on the US Congress to pass a solution quickly. Emerging markets, including Brazil, are better prepared to weather the crisis than the US, he said.

“We did our homework and they didn't”' Lula said. “Those that spent the last three decades telling us what to do didn't do what they had to do. The crisis is very serious and so profound that we don't know how big it is”.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez warned the crisis could slow economic growth across Latinamerica and predicted that US economic power is in dramatic decline.

"This crash of capitalism and of neo-liberalism will be worse than that of 1929" Chavez told reporters at the Manaus city meeting. “No country can say it won't be affected''.

Click here to access the full article from Mercopress


6) Brazil and Argentine markets suffer record day losses

Brazil’s Bovespa suffered its greatest loss in one day since 1999. Trading dropped 13.8% before beginning to recover towards the end of the day.

Before President Lula da Silva had to come out and insist that the global financial crisis would have a limited contagion for Brazil. Trading had to be stopped for 30 minutes after the crash reached the 10% threshold but once restarted continued to fall until at the end of the day the index settled at 46.028 points, down 9.4%.

In Argentina the MERVAL index skid 8.7% and in Mexico the IPC, 6.4%; in Chile the loss was 5.7% and in Colombia, 2.37%.

For Chile it was the worst daily fall in a decade and for Argentina’s Merval the blackest day since February 11, 2002 when the market crashed 10.68%. The Argentine stock exchange has lost 13,5% in September and 30% since the beginning of the year.

Click here to access the full article from Mecropress


7) US representatives extends benefits to Andean Countries

The United States House of Representatives voted unanimously on Monday to approve a one-year extension of trade benefits for Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia that expire at the end of the year....

Click here to access the full article from Mercopress


8) Lima's stock market plunged 15.35% in September

Lima, Sep. 30 (ANDINA).- Lima Stock Exchange (BVL) plunged 15.35 percent in September, the second biggest month drop in 2008, after a 18.73 percent decrease in July, amid an international financial crisis worsening, said Tuesday the general manager of Seminario Brokerage (SAB), Roberto Seminario. The BVL was hurt by external factors linked to a metal price drop and a collapse of several American financial institutions such as Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual...

Click here to access the full article from Andina News


9) Chinese buyers of Indian Iron Ore demand discounts

Chinese buyers of Indian iron ore are defaulting on import contracts and refusing to lift the ore unless the seller offers a discount on contracted prices, a top industry official said on Monday.

"Our exports are in deep red as there is no demand from China," said Rahul Baldota, president of the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries and managing director of miner MSPL Ltd.

Chinese appetite for Indian ore has fallen despite rival Brazilian miner Vale`s demand for higher prices for the ore it exports to China -- a move that initially cheered Indian suppliers.

Nearly 75% of India`s annual iron ore exports of about 100Mt go to China, and shipments normally rise after the annual rainy season ends in September.

"The Chinese are backing off old contracts. They are saying either you reduce the price or we can`t take the shipments," Mr Baldota said. "I, myself, have had to suffer two cancellations."

Click here to access the full article from Mining-Journal