News

Mar. 27 – China and Brazil have signed an agreement on a swap line allowing them to trade approximately US$30 billion of goods per annum in their own currencies. This move will cut their current bilateral usage of the United States (U.S.) dollar as a trading currency in half. The agreement, which is expected to […]

China’s continuing evolution can perhaps best be explained in a re-calibration of the popular opinion at the turn of the century that the 2000s will belong to China, much like the 1800s were dominated by the British Empire and the 1900s saw America’s rise to prominence. No, the 21st Century will more aptly be headlined as “Asia’s Century,” and although China will very much be a part of that, other countries in the region will be too.

Mar. 25 – The BRICS nations of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa are expected to establish a development bank to pool funds to capitalize an infrastructure-focused lender at their communal meeting in Durban tomorrow. It is argued that the established players in this field – the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and the […]

Mar. 22 – Facebook is actively partnering with numerous Indian mobile telecoms and device operators in India to grow its user base. As the portal is blocked in China, it means that India is now the number one target and most populous market for the popular social media site. Facebook is driving this strategy through […]

Mar. 22 – The unusual diplomatic circumstances in which India and Italy have become embroiled in reached a highly unusual point when India’s Supreme Court issued a travel ban on Daniele Mancini, the Italian Ambassador to India, effectively contravening international law on diplomatic immunity. The incident occurred following a situation in which two Italian marines […]

Mar. 21 – Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi declared Egypt’s desire to join the BRICS bloc, making it E-BRICS, during his visit to Delhi this week. Morsi made his intentions known to the Indian Commerce Minister Anand Sharma after revealing that Egyptian-Indian bilateral trade is expected to double in the next three years. He also noted […]

Mar. 20 – Signs assuring customers that fruit, vegetables and other consumable products are not imported from China are beginning to pop up in wet markets across Asia, especially in Vietnam, due to an ensuing problem with heavily contaminated fruit originating from China. Several regional newspapers throughout Hanoi, Manila and Jakarta have carried stories of […]

Mar. 19 – Sri Lanka recently unveiled its second international airport in the southeast region of Hambantota. The main focus of opening this new international airport is to promote Sri Lanka’s growing tourism industry along with its southeast coast, and to also assist with freight traffic coming from Sri Lanka’s new Hambantota Port facility that is currently […]

Mar. 19 – In a sure sign that the battle for Asian air passengers is heating up, Indonesia-based budget air carrier Lion Air recently signed a US$24 billion deal with Airbus to purchase 234 A320 aircraft over the next decade. Included in the purchase are the current A320 aircraft and the soon to be introduced […]

A survey by Knight Frank, the Wealth Report 2013, has clearly demonstrated that the bulk of Asia’s high net-worth individuals (HNWI) are concentrated in China and India, and that the fastest growing rates for the accumulation of wealth will also be in these two countries.