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,”

Vietnam's first ETF begins trading in the US

Vietnam's first ETF, which tracks Market Vectors Vietnam index .MVVN, not the country's Hochiminh index began trading today.

Van Eck bets on Vietnam's growth with new ETF - Reuters

The Market Vectors Vietnam ETF (VNM) will be the first U.S.-listed ETF exclusively dedicated to Vietnam, mirroring the performance of the Market Vectors Vietnam index .MVVN, which tracks companies that generate at least 50 percent of their revenues in the country, Van Eck said in a statement.

"Vietnam is one of the world's most populous nations, and its well-educated, young population -- nearly half of the country's 90 million residents are under the age of 25 -- provides strong underpinnings for local economic growth," Van Eck said in the statement.

Click here to access the full article from Reuters by Walter Brandimarte

* Vietnam Flag, courtesy of CIA World Factbook

News Line: Commodities in Focus - China, Vietnam, Italian Investments in Peru and Venezuela, Petrobras to suffer from global credit crisis

1) Falling prices give China chances to buy copper mines -- reports Mining Journal Online via Reuters

Falling copper prices are providing opportunities for cash-rich Chinese firms to buy overseas resources, a senior executive at China Nonferrous Metal Mining said on Monday...

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"The winter is coming. It may be a good timing for Chinese firms to go out to buy resources," Liu Guoping, director of the exploration department at China Nonferrous, said at the conference. Liu said some overseas exploration firms might find it difficult to obtain funds to finance their projects, giving cash-rich Chinese firms good opportunities to buy their assets...

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Liu at China Nonferrous said Chinese firms had acquired copper resources in the past few years at high prices as China`s need for the raw material rose. The demand for imported copper materials would stay strong in the long term. Jiangxi Copper, China`s top producer and the owner of the country`s largest open-pit copper mine in Jiangxi, will need to import 70% of its materials for refined copper production by the end of this year when its capacity rises by nearly 30% to 900,000t/y, president Li Yihuang said.

Click here to view the full article, courtesy of Reuters and Mining Journal


2) Saipem wins $1.1 billion contracts in Peru and Venezuela

Italian oil and gas industry contractor Saipem announced it had won onshore drilling contracts in Peru and Venezuela worth a total value of about $1.1 billion...

Click here to access the full article, courtesy of Living In Peru


3) Vietnam Lion Field Fires up production offshore Vietnam

Cuu Long Joint Operating Co. has commenced oil production from the Su Tu Vang (Yellow Lion) field located in Block 15-1 offshore Vietnam, according to a Dow Jones Newswire citing the Thoi Bao Kinh Te newspaper. Su Tu Vang, estimated to be Vietnam's fourth-largest field, is situated in the Cuu Long Area near the Bach Ho, Rang Dong and Ruby Fields and was discovered in 2001. The 'Yellow Lion' field is set to produce 65,000 barrels of crude per day...

Click here to access the full article, courtesy of Rigzone


4) Credit crunch may block 20% of deep oil rigs, slow Petrobrad reports Bloomberg LP

Oct. 28 (Bloomberg) -- As many as 20 of the 100 deepwater oil rigs on order worldwide may be delayed or canceled as loan availability erodes, possibly slowing developments including the biggest petroleum discovery in the Americas in three decades...

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Norway's Sevan Marine ASA has lost 70 percent of its value this month amid concern it won't get financing for two drilling units. Houston-based Atwood Oceanics Inc. said Oct. 16 that it won't exercise an option to build a deepwater rig at Jurong Shipyard Pte. Ltd. in Singapore. New rigs were being ordered to ease a shortage of deepwater gear needed to exploit offshore prospects like Brazil's Tupi, announced in November by Petroleo Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras.

``Petrobras would probably be the dominant oil and gas company that gets hit by this,'' Uhlmer said.

Jose Sergio Gabrielli, chief executive officer at state- controlled Petrobras, said the Rio de Janeiro-based company may need to help find financing for some of its suppliers. ``We are concerned about the supply chain of products for Petrobras,'' Gabrielli told reporters at a conference in Houston last week...

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Click here to access the full article, courtesy of Bloomberg LP

South-South Cooperation in Focus -- Brazilian president seeks stronger trade ties during his first trip to Vietnam

Brazilian Present Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is in Hanoi, Vietnam meeting with Vietnam's leader, Nguyen Minh Triet to discuss increasing trade ties between the two nations. Vietnam's state media released a statement saying quite comically "it hoped to benefit from Brazil's foodtball skills."

Hanoi, Vietnam - Lula and Triet

"Vietnam wishes to strengthen cooperation with Brazil in all areas, particularly the economy, trade and investment, oil and gas, seafood processing, education, health and fighting poverty," Triet said.

Trade between Brazil and Vietnam rose to US$323 million last year from US$43 million five years earlier, said Silva, who is traveling with a delegation of business leaders.

Lula will be moving on in the coming days to East Timor and Indonesia to discuss increasing trade and bilateral connections with them as well. These developments indicate Brazil is expanding its horizons beyond China and India, the regions big players and now seeking to shore up support and new markets in South-East Asia.

Lets go Globalization....!