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The ICA Institute is pleased to introduce our new International Contributors Editorial Board (ICEB). Members of the ICEB will lead our mission to disseminate a broad scope of perspectives and news coverage from international media about the impact of the rise of China, India and other emerging markets on the world economy in our free weekly newsletter. Thank you to these dedicated and distinguished volunteers for helping us ensure a quality publication:

RJ Paulsick - Co-Editor
Roxanne Russell - Co-Editor
Geoff Hiscock - Australia
Harsha Harjani - Hong Kong
Dr. Nilay Yajnik - India
Farhad Mirzaei - Iran
Ajay Sharma - Netherlands
Melissa Steinmetz - UK
Dr. Daney Jackson - USA
Dr. John R. McIntyre - USA
Dr. Sudhanva Char - Academic Resources
Shree Pandya - Engaging Youth
Laurel Askue - Environment & Conservation
Christopher Chan - Intellectual Property

Get familiar with more of the talent and leadership of the The ICA Institute here.

Join us on September 22 for the first Webinar in our new series: Around the World in Asian Days

As the economies of China and India become larger players on the global stage, what are the policy implications for the West? Both countries continue to increase military spending and both countries have active space exploration programs as well as nuclear weapons. How will this alter the geopolitical balance?

As workforces and companies in both countries become more competent and more specialized, what are are the implications of certain skills disappearing from the West altogether. Could the West become hostage to China and India?

Flows of capital and currency are changing. As China holds more and more Western bonds and as companies from India and China start to acquire assets in the West, is it even relevant to measure these countries by the growth of Foreign Direct Investment from the West? How will the rise of companies and entrepreneurs from China and India alter the way that we look at the world?

The presenter, Gunjan Bagla, teaches an executive seminar at Caltech's International Business program and is the author of Doing Business in 21st Century India: How to Profit Today from Tomorrow's Most Exciting Market. (The book follows Ted Plafker's Doing Business In China). Bagla lives in California and travels to India and China on business frequently on behalf of his clients.

The only cost is your long distance phone call to dial-in.

Title: Around the World in Asian Days: Implications for the West
Date: Monday, September 22, 2008
Time: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM EDT

System Requirements
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows� 2000, XP Home, XP Pro, 2003 Server, Vista
Macintosh�-based attendees
Required: Mac OS� X 10.3.9 (Panther�) or newer

Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/616245225

The ICA Institute is now able to offer a convenient archive of our free, weekly newsletter. We currently have issues dating back to December 2007 available.

This archive contains issues of our free weekly sampling of news, analysis and opinion. Articles and opinion pieces are from a variety of sources and viewpoints and do not necessarily reflect those of ICA Institute. Access to some articles may require free registration to the site or may not be cited to the original source. Since our newsletter links directly to the news source, many links may no longer be active in this archive.

Link to Newsletter Archive

Banks in China and India will avoid crisis, analysts say (Financial Post, Sep 11)
Asian banks will not feel the full wrath of the financial crisis playing out in Europe and North America, according to analysts from Standard & Poor's Ratings Services. Banks in China, India and across the region will experience a slowdown in profit growth and some turbulence but no crisis, the S&P analysts forecast. "We are at different points in the financial cycle," said Scott Bugie, managing director of financial services for S&P, during on a conference call Thursday. "Asia is at a good point and Europe and the U.S. is not."

U.S. Economy: Trade Deficit of $62.2 Billion Exceeds Forecast (Bloomberg.com, Sep 11)
The U.S. trade deficit widened more than forecast in July because of surging energy prices that have since retreated. The gap grew 5.7 percent to $62.2 billion, the largest in 16 months, from $58.8 billion in June, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. Americans paid a record $124.66 a barrel for foreign crude oil, more than offsetting gains in exports of automobiles, aircraft and machinery, today's figures showed.

China, India Should Boost Trade, Investment Ties, Yang Says (Bloomberg.com, Sep 9)
China and India, the world's fastest- growing major economies, should boost trade and investment and improve mutual trust, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said. ``We should fully tap the potential in business cooperation, upgrade trade quality, improve trade mix,'' Yang said in New Delhi today. China is ready to ``take effective measures to remove trade and investment barriers,'' he said. India and China, which fought a border war in 1962, have improved political and military ties in recent years. The two nations, whose combined population accounts for two-fifth of the world's total, aim to consolidate trade and economic cooperation by ending years of mistrust. Trade between the two countries rose 64 percent from a year earlier to $33.5 billion in the first seven months, Yang said. Trade volume between the two nations was $38.6 billion last year and both countries have agreed to raise the target for bilateral trade to $60 billion by 2010, the minister said.

More Chinese enterprises aiming for investment in Africa (China View, Sep 9)
More Chinese enterprises are investing in Africa with their technological and personnel advantages and the abundant resources in Africa, said Wang Chao, assistant minister of commerce, here on Monday. "In recent years, the African economy has developed rapidly. China has a huge market, rich experiences in development, and capital, technology and professionals needed by the African countries. Powerful and reputable Chinese enterprises are eager to invest in Africa," Wang said at the African Countries Investment Seminar, one seminar of the 12th Xiamen International Fair for Investment and Trade which opened on Monday. The annual growth rate of China-Africa bilateral trade volume remains at more than 30 percent since 2000. Mutual trade volume was 73.3 billion dollars in 2007 and 53.1 billion dollars in first half of this year, Wang said.

Indian Bank uses Hong Kong as its global platform (Hong Kong Trader, Sep 1)
State-owned lender Union Bank of India (UBI) has opened its first full-service overseas branch in Hong Kong, to allow the bank to explore opportunities emerging from growing Indo-Chinese trade relations.

China to review Coca Cola bid for juice maker (ajc.com, Sept 8)
The Atlanta-based firm's $2.5 billion offer last week for China Huiyuan Juice Group Ltd. already has stirred nationalist opposition. Comments posted on Chinese Web sites criticized the sale as the loss of a leading company to foreign owners.

Bush Asks Congress to Approve U.S.-India Accord (Update1) (Bloomberg.com, Sep 11)
President George W. Bush asked the U.S. Congress to approve the nuclear energy agreement with India, saying the accord meets the terms lawmakers set almost two years ago and poses no risk to security. ``The proposed agreement provides a comprehensive framework for U.S. peaceful nuclear cooperation with India,'' Bush said in a statement issued late yesterday. The accord ``will promote, and will not constitute an unreasonable risk to, the common defense and security."

Nuclear agreement with India criticised (The Norway Post, Sep 11)
The Norwegian government is being strongly criticised for approving a new agreement for cooperation on nuclear technology between the US and India. Conservative MP Peter Gitmark is afraid the technology could be used in the development of nuclear arms in India or other countries. In his opinion, Norway should therefore have maintained the demand that all nations must have signed the non-proliferation of nuclear arms agreement before acquiring such tecnology.

Energy Firms Prepare for Ike (wall Street Journal, Sep 9)
With Hurricane Ike on the horizon, energy companies in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico are bringing employees onshore again and preparing to halt production just days after they began restaffing following Hurricane Gustav. Production shutdowns will further stress the U.S. oil supply chain, which continues to strain in the wake of Gustav, and could pressure prices higher.

Global IT spending is still growing, especially in emerging markets, a report has shown (IT Pro, Sep 11)
Doom and gloom about an economic downturn is yet to hit global IT spending, according to a new market report. Around the world, the IT market will grow by 5.2 per cent to EU963.5 billion (�766.7 billion) this year, according to data from the European Information Technology Observatory (EITO), a research group supported by UK trade body Intellect. Growth will continue next year, as the group predicted a rate of 5.6 per cent - which would push global turnover for computers, services and software over the trillion euro mark for the first time ever.

South Africa IT co buys 50 pc in Inflow Technologies (The Economic Times, Sep 11)
South African IT company Datatec Ltd said on Thursday that it had bought 50.01 per cent stake in Bangalore-based Inflow Technologies Private Ltd, an ICT distribution business, for an undisclosed amount. "India is a very large and fast growing market offering strong prospects in our sector with a lower cost of entry compared to many other developing markets and potentially higher returns and greater organic investment opportunities," Datatec Chief Executive Jens Montanana said in the statement.

China gets into chips with Godson-3 (vnunet.com, Sep 4)
The Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Computing Technology has been showing off a new processor that it plans to roll out next year. The Godson-3 is the third iteration of the processor line from the Dragon family. The quad-core processor includes an x86 emulator allowing it to use Western commercial software. Zhiwei Xu, deputy director of the Institute of Computing Technology, told the MIT Technology Review: "Twenty years ago in China we did not support R &D for microprocessors.

China Biotechnology Update--2008 (Resource Investor, Sep 11)
In July 2008, the Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao made an announcement of an additional $3 billion in state support for the development of agricultural biotechnology over the next 15 years. This signals China's intent to use biotechnology as a key means to address food security and re-affirms its position that the technology can be used safely. This strong pro-biotech policy suggests that major food crops may soon break free from a long regulatory limbo and be permitted for planting. A change to permit the planting of biotech food crops (rice, corn, and soybeans, in particular) could significantly alter Chinese production and rural economy in the coming years. However, concerns still remain about transparency in China's biotechnology regulatory and approval system and its ability to evolve with this rapidly changing technology.

China's New Wind of Agricultural Protectionism (The Economic Observer Online, Sep 11)
A sudden wind of protectionism is stinging foreign agriculture firms in China, the latest round being a verbal mandate by central grain authorities halting new grain purchasing permits to foreign firms. In an absence of clear black-and-white document backing the directive, local grain authorities from south to north have begun denying purchasing permit applications by foreign firms and ignoring existing ones.

Chinese President underscores breakthroughs in reform, development in rural areas (China View, Sep 11)
Chinese President Hu Jintao stressed three breakthroughs in rural restructuring, modern agriculture and rural public facilities to push forward reform and development in the countryside. Hu made the remarks during a visit to central Henan Province from Monday to Wednesday, where he met with local officials, farmers and entrepreneurs. Vigorous efforts should be made to improve rural operation mechanism, promote the transformation of agricultural business mode and optimize the system supporting the development of agriculture and rural areas, Hu said.

StanChart: China's interest rising in African farms (Reuters, Sep 10)
Chinese investment in Africa is expanding beyond a race to secure minerals and energy sources to put an increasing focus on agriculture, the chief executive of Standard Chartered Bank said on Wednesday. Standard Chartered, with deep historic roots in Asia and Africa, believes it has benefited more than any other bank from the growing trade between China and Africa -- expected to reach $100 billion in 2008.

Beef consumption in India becoming popular: USDA (The Economic Times, Sep 9)
Beef consumption is becoming more popular in India as a source of protein intake as some pulses have become costlier than the meat, says the American Agriculture Department. " Beef (buffalo meat) is increasingly becoming popular as a protein source compared to pulses, some of which have become more expensive than buffalo meat," the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said in a report. In its 'India Livestock and Products Annual 2008', USDA said both poultry and buffalo meat have "no specific religious sentiments attached" to their consumption.

US asks India, others to help achieve success in Doha talks (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Sep 11)
The US is committed to move the multilateral trade talks forward this year but India, China and Brazil need to contribute to a positive outcome of the WTO negotiations, US Trade Representative Susan Schwab has said. Schwab said the advanced developing countries had earned benefits from a global trading system and it was time they gave back to the world. "It is an opportunity particularly for the advanced developing countries, the Chinas, the Brazils, the Indias of this world, to contribute to as well as gain from a multilateral trading system that has had a such a positive impact on their development," the Schwab said in a speech posted on USTR website.

Okaya plans Rs 50 cr manufacturing plant in India (Business Standard, September 11)
Global battery and inverter major Okaya Power is planning to set up a manufacturing plant in India with an investment of Rs 50 crore. The 8.4 lakh annual capacity Sealed Maintenance Free (SMF) batteries plant would be set up in Himachal Pradesh and is expected to begin commercial production by November this year, Okaya said in a statement.

China's Manufacturing Economy in Recession? (The Market Oracle, September 2)
Since July, Chinese policy makers have put extra emphasis on sustaining the economy's expansion rather than cooling inflation. Growth has slowed for four quarters and Vice Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng said last week that weakness in global demand will weigh on China's exports for the rest of the year.

Reduce tax, interest rates to boost manufacturing: Assocham (The Economic Times, September 8)
Suggesting a 20-point agenda for boosting India's manufacturing sector, which include reduction of interest rate and lowering of corporate tax, the Assocham on Monday said the economy during the current year is likely to grow at the rate of 8 per cent.

Wipro unveils its 2nd manufacturing unit in Kotdwar (The Economic Times, September 11)
Wipro Infotech, the India and Middle East IT Business of Wipro Ltd and a leading provider of IT and business transformation services, on Thursday unveiled its second manufacturing unit at Kotdwar in Uttarakhand.

London Taxi's famed black cabs made in China (ajc.com, Sept 4)
London Taxi International, which will continue to build nine out of 10 cabs used in Britain at a factory in Coventry, England, couldn't grow production at its small-scale, high-cost plant. So it turned to a partner - and to China - as a way to drive overseas expansion.

India must tackle climate change: French development agency (AFP, September 10)
India, like other fast-growing emerging nations, must effectively tackle climate change to maintain its strong economic performance, the head of France's international development agency said Wednesday. "Countries which do not take seriously the fight against climate change will be deeply affected in their economic growth," Jean-Michel Severino, chief executive officer of state-run Agence Francaise de Developpement (ADF), said.

Climate change and the poor (The Economist, September 11)
Environmentalists have long said the world should concentrate on preventing climate change, not adapting to it. That is changing.

North hottest for 1500 years (The Australian, Sep 2)
Leigh Dayton, Science writer. THE northern hemisphere is hotter now than at any time in the past 1500 years, according to the most comprehensive reconstruction of the earth's temperature over the last two millenniums. It's likely the southern hemisphere is also warmer than ever although data is sketchier, claim US and British scientists. While the new research also concluded that the so-called Medieval warmth from 950-1100 was hotter than previously thought, the last decade was hotter still. "The findings deeply reinforce the incontrovertible conclusion that we are warming rapidly outside natural variability," said climiate scientist Andy Pitman, co-director of the Climate Change Research Centre at the University of NSW.

The Globalization of Corporate Responsibility (Cultural Diplomacy News, September 11)
Dr. Simon Zadek is the Chief Executive of AccountAbility, one of the world's leading organizations in promoting accountability in the private sector. In this interview with CD News, he discusses the global impact of corporate responsibility and its role in different parts of the world. After providing insightful answers that underscored the need for further study and understanding of corporate responsibility in a global context, Dr. Zadek also provided his opinions on the career climate in CR today.

Bharti launches India's first telecom innovation fund (Telecom Tiger, September 11)
With an aim to promote innovation and entrepreneurship, India's leading operator, Bharti Airtel announced the launch of 'Airtel Innovation Fund'. Bharti will infuse Rs 200 crore into the Fund and will lead and administer it.

New materials and innovation fuel growth (The People's Daily, September 11)
The 7th China (Zibo) International New Material Technological Forum will start on September 16 with over 500 academicians and experts from home and abroad gathering to give suggestions on the development of Zibo's new materials and new technologies.

India, Germany start partnership on technological innovation (The Economic Times, September 9)
Seeking to address challenges faced by the two countries in several areas, India and Germany on Tuesday launched a 20 million euro strategic partnership on innovation in skill development, industrial growth and life sciences.

Patent Manual Causes Debate in India (Managing Intellectual Property, 22 August 2008)
A draft of India's new manual for patent examiners is causing controversy because of clauses dealing with the patentability of new drugs and software programs. If approved, the Manual of Patent Practice and Procedure would not have the force of law, but would act as a guide for examiners. Campaigners for open source software are also worried that the manual will open the way for software patents in India.

Baby milk powder suspected in new China health scare (Reuters, September 10)
A Chinese hospital has received 14 kidney stone patients, all infants under 11 months who drank the same brand of milk formula, reviving memories of a milk-powder scandal that killed at least 13 babies.

India to implement telemedicine projects in SAARC: Pranab (The Hindu, September 8)
After implementing the tele-medicine project in Bhutan and Sri Lanka, India would do undertake the exercise soon in other SAARC countries, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Monday. Projecting e-health as the new mantra in healthcare field, India is implementing tele-medicine projects in SAARC countries with the help of two super-speciality hospitals as part of its "Look East' policy.

Ministry: 15% Chinese suffer high blood pressure in China (Xinhua, September 10)
Some 200 million people, or 15 percent of the Chinese population, are suffering high blood pressure, China's Health Ministry said Tuesday. However, only 30 percent of the patients knew about their disease, 25 percent sought treatment and only a meagre 6 percent got their disease under control, the ministry said on its website.

In-depth Analysis of China's Shipbuilding Industry for 2008 (MarketWatch, September 10)
In terms of the global shipbuilding market competition, in the first half of 2008 China contracted 455 new ships, down 48.30 per cent year-on-year; carrying capacity 29,004,700 DWT, down 44.97 per cent year-on-year.

Investment Report of China Transportation and Logistics Industry 2000 to 2008 (PR Inside, September 4)
Transportation industry contains many sectors such as highway transportation, water transportation, air transportation, railway transportation and logistics. Since 2000, China has poured huge amount of money into the construction of transport infrastructure, and the whole industry has developed rapidly.

Tougher immigration rules for Indian students (The Australian, Sep 3)
An immigration crackdown will make it harder to recruit students from India, the fast-growing big market in Australia's $12.5 billion education export industry. University of NSW's pro vice-chancellor (international) Jennie Lang told the HES all universities were likely to have urged students to get their visa applications lodged and processed before the September1 change in immigration risk levels, which affects a host of overseas markets."We will also be encouraging (Department of Immigration and Citizenship) staff in offshore posts to ensure that university sector applicants are given priority," Ms Lang said. A spokesperson from the department said "genuine applicants had nothing to fear from the changes".

International Baccalaureate education method gains fans (Houston Chronicle, Sep 8)
As education buzz words go, International Baccalaureate is a mouthful.But the 10-syllable program is cropping up at many Houston-area schools, where educators tout its ability to foster curiosity, global citizenship and critical-thinking skills.

International Contributors Editorial Board
RJ Paulsick - Co-Editor
Roxanne Russell - Co-Editor
Geoff Hiscock - Australia
Harsha Harjani - Hong Kong
Dr. Nilay Yajnik - India
Farhad Mirzaei - Iran
Ajay Sharma - Netherlands
Melissa Steinmetz - UK
Dr. Daney Jackson - USA
Dr. John R. McIntyre - USA
Dr. Sudhanva Char - Academic Resources
Shree Pandya - Engaging Youth
Laurel Askue - Environment & Conservation
Christopher Chan - Intellectual Property