Business Asia articles from April 2004

Business Asia archives from April 2004

The Thais that bind: while there is much talk of the Australia-US FTA at the moment, Tim Harcourt casts his eyes eastwards to take a look at a FTA somewhat closer to home which is already bringing great rewards.(FRONTLINE)
April 1, 2004... "Australia is a good friend of Thailand and a good friend of Asia." That was the key message from Dr Supachai Panitchpakdi, the deputy prime minister of Thailand back in 1993 at the APEC summit in Seattle. Now, 11 years on, Australia is an even...

Food for thought across Asia.(UPDATE--ASIAN BUSINESS NEWS & VIEWS)
April 1, 2004... "Australian companies must move quickly to take advantage of growing Asian food markets before opportunities are lost to Europe, the USA, Canada and other Asian countries," warns Austrade's Senior Trade Commissioner in Singapore, Sean Riley....

Shangri-La in the Maldives.(UPDATE--ASIAN BUSINESS NEWS & VIEWS)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Over in the Maldives, the Shangri-La Maldives Resort & Spa, Villingili Island, a fully integrated spa resort, is scheduled to open on the Addu Atoll in the south of the Maldives this December. The neighbouring Gan Airport, the Maldives' largest...

Taiwan's GDP to rise 6 per cent--report.(UPDATE--ASIAN BUSINESS NEWS & VIEWS)(gross domestic product)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Lehman Brothers has predicted in its latest report a 6.0 per cent GDP growth for Taiwan, somewhat higher than most other market estimates. Rob Subbaraman, a senior economist at Lehman Brothers Asia, says that Taiwan has got it right thanks to...

EFIC taking the risk out of politics.(UPDATE--ASIAN BUSINESS NEWS & VIEWS)(Export Finance and Insurance Corp.)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... The Export Finance and Insurance Corporation (EFIC) has introduced a new political risk insurance policy for plant and equipment to meet the specific needs of the mining, engineering and construction sectors. "Companies take out political...

FreightLink opens bridge to Asia.(UPDATE--ASIAN BUSINESS NEWS & VIEWS)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... The first international-bound freight to be carried on FreightLink's new Adelaide to Darwin railway has set off to south east Asia in the first of what's expected to be many shipments leaving the Port of Darwin after being carried by rail from...

China to power on with nuclear.(UPDATE--ASIAN BUSINESS NEWS & VIEWS)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... China's energy needs are growing at such a rate that new power stations producing power equivalent to all of Germany's needs are being built every year. This has been happening for the last nine years and will continue as long as the economy...

Bharti outsources IT to IBM in billion dollar deal.(Biz bites)
April 1, 2004... India's Bharti Tele-ventures has signed an IT outsourcing deal with IBM worth up to $1billion over 10 years. "The total deal size for the 10-year period is likely to be in the range of US$700-750 million. For the first five years, it is likely...

Wipro loses Capital One over quality concerns.(Biz bites)(Capital One Financial Services discontinues Wipro Spectramind's services)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... US-based Capital One Financial Services has discontinued use of Indian-based Wipro Spectramind's telemarketing services, citing a fall in quality of service in a move which is being touted as an "I told you so" by unions opposed to offshore...

Vietnam gets in top gear.(Biz bites)(Viet Nam Engine and Agricultural Machinery Corp.)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... The Vietnamese government has given the go-ahead to the country's leading diesel engine producer, Viet Nam Engine and Agricultural Machinery Corporation, to produce and assemble commercial vehicles. Company management board head Quan Thang said...

Macquarie Bank ramps up Korean investment.(Biz bites)(Baekyang Tunnel Ltd. and Machang Bridge)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Two more assets have been acquired for $239 million by Macquarie Bank's Korean road fund. Macquarie says its Korean Road Infrastructure Fund (KRIF) bought a 99 per cent stake in Baekyang Tunnel Ltd for $146 million and a 49 per cent interest in...

South Korean exports rise 50 per cent.(Biz bites)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... If proof were needed that Asia's economies are on a roll then take a look at South Korea whose exports have risen a mighty 49.4 per cent year-on-year to $7.07 billion this month, despite political instability in the region, a shortage of raw...

China's foreign trade soars, IT up, restaurants boom.(UPDATE--ASIAN BUSINESS NEWS & VIEWS)
April 1, 2004... Just at the moment it seems nothing can stop China's meteoric economic growth. A whole swag of financial figures, booming businesses and foreign investments continue to underpin growth in the country. As an example, China's foreign trade...

Avon calling, in Chinese.(Biz bites)(Avon Products Inc. acquires stake in Masson)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Avon, the global cosmetics company, is to become solely foreign funded in China, acquiring the stake of its Chinese partner Masson for $71.42 million. Prior to the deal, Avon, Masson, a Guangzhou-based private company, and several individual...

Indonesia to oil the wheels of investors.(Biz bites)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... The Indonesian government is set to offer 17 new energy blocks to investors this year, including oil and gas offshore blocks off Natuna, South China Sea. off South Sulawesi and off Arafura in Papua. Since 2001. the government has signed 26 new...

On the rise, or on the nose? Like most other economies, Japan's has had its ups and its downs. But this is no ordinary economy, this is the country that back in the 1980s was number two in the world and tipped to overtake the US within a decade, Tony Bosworth looks at what went wrong and examines what could happen if Japan's sun start to rise once more.(JAPAN)(Cover Story)
April 1, 2004... Back in 1981 a friend of mine, a fellow journalist, came back from Japan and penned a story for his national newspaper that began, "I didn't know whether to laugh or cry". At the time we knew what he was talking about. Japan was a rising star...

Reaching for the sky.(BEST BUSINESS HOTELS IN ASIA AWARDS--2004)
April 1, 2004... The Grand Hyatt, Shanghai towers over most other buildings in this most frenetic and fashionable of Asian cities so it is perhaps fitting that the five-star Grand Hyatt took out the Best Overall Hotel Award in our Business Hotels of Asia annual...

One community for the future: Ambassador Mario Artaza, Executive Director of the APEC Secretariat, recently spoke at a business breakfast hosted by The New Zealand Asia Institute at the University of Auckland on the role of APEC. We take a look at what he says is in store for the region this year.(APEC: THE 2004 AGENDA)
April 1, 2004... Mario Artaza stressed that though Auckland is no stranger to the APEC process, having successfully hosted an Annual Economic Leaders Meeting in 1999 and again playing host to a major APEC meeting when the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC),...

Access almost all areas: in one of the swiftest negotiations of its kind ever witnessed, the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement is being touted as one of the most significant deals ever. Tony Bosworth asks if that really is true ...(SPECIAL REPORT: AUS-US FTA)
April 1, 2004... The Australia-US FTA agreement is being lauded--primarily by John Howard and his government it should be said--as one of the most far-reaching and most equitable trade deals ever achieved. What makes the FTA notable for sure is certainly the...