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Africa Rising: Around the World in Asian Days |
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Join us for a Webinar on October 13
With more than 900 million consumers, the
continent
of Africa is one of the world's fastest
growing markets.
In Africa Rising, Vijay
Mahajan reveals
this remarkable marketplace as a continent with
massive needs and surprising buying power.
Crossing thousands of miles across the
continent, he
shares the lessons that Africa's businesses have
learned about succeeding on the
continent...shows
how global companies are succeeding despite
Africa's unique political, economic, and
resource
challenges...introduces local entrepreneurs and
foreign investors who are building a remarkable
spectrum of profitable and sustainable business
opportunities even in the most challenging
locations...reveals how India and China are
staking out huge positions throughout
Africa...and
shows the power of the Diaspora in driving
investment
and development.
Vijay Mahajan holds the John P. Harbin
Centennial Chair in Business at McCombs
School of
Business, University of Texas at Austin.
Mahajan is
author or editor of nine books including his
recent
books on the developing countries, The 86%
Solution
and Africa Rising. He is one of the world's
most widely
cited researchers in business and economics and
has been invited by more than 100
universities and
research institutions worldwide for research
presentations. He has consulted with Fortune 500
companies and delivered executive development
programs globally.
The only cost is the long distance phone call
to dial in.
Title: Africa Rising: Around the World
in Asian
Days
Date:Monday, October 13, 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/94744186
7
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China and the Great Divergence: An evening with Dr. Kenneth Pomeranz |
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The China
Research Center is proud to begin its
annual event series with a special
presentation by Dr. Kenneth Pomeranz,
Chancellor's Professor of History at
University of California, Irvine.
Dr. Pomeranz will lecture on China's
historic role in the world economy at
Atlanta's High Museum, Rich Auditorium, on
Wednesday, October 15th, 2008 at 7:00 p.m.
The well-known, award-winning author of The
Great Divergence: China, Europe, and the
Making of the Modern World Economy (Princeton
University Press, 2000) will discuss his
recent work on China's state, society and
economy in a presentation entitled
"Chinese Development and World History:
Putting the East Asian Model in Perspective."
This event is co-sponsored by:
▪The School of History, Technology and
Society at Georgia Tech
▪ The Sam Nunn School of International
Affairs at Georgia Tech
▪ The Program in World History and
Cultures,
Department of History at Georgia State
University
▪ The Stetson School of Business and
Economic
at Mercer University
▪The Confucius Institute of Atlanta
The High Museum of Art will host this event
in conjunction with their fall exhibition,
The First Emperor: China's Terracotta Army.
This event is free and open to the public.
The High Museum address is 1280 Peachtree St.
NE, Atlanta, GA 30309; directions are
available at www.high.org or 404-733-4444.
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Meet the Artist Dinesh Sharma |
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Studio Clout presents:
::A Conversation with Dinesh Sharma::
Saturday
October 4, 2008
6:30pm
Free Admission
: : Limited Seating : :
RSVP
[email protected]
404 . 688 . 2787
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Atlanta Indo-American Film Festival |
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Special Screening: Two Million Minutes
and Khayal Darpan
October 3, 2008, 7:30 p.m.
Rich Theatre, High Museum, Atlanta
$8 general admission, $4 for students,
seniors and Museum members, free for
Patron-level members.
One ticket includes admission to both
screenings.
The Atlanta Indo-American Film Festival comes
to the High for two screenings on October 3:
Two Million Minutes: A Global Examination and
Khayal Darpan: A Mirror of Imagination.
Two Million Minutes: A Global
Examination
Screening begins at 7:30 p.m.
This film takes a deeper look at how three
superpowers of the 21st century -China, India
and the United States- prepare their students
for the future. Follow two students from each
of these countries as the film composes a
global snapshot of education, from the
viewpoint of the children themselves.
Khayal Darpan: A Mirror of Imagination
Screening begins at 8:30 p.m.
This documentary explores the classical
musical traditions of urban Pakistan. Indian
filmmaker Yousuf Saaed traveled to large
cities in Pakistan to interview musicians and
scholars, attend music concerts and observe
the teaching of music in various
institutions.
The film documents the music of the area
while raising vital questions about cultural
identity, nationalism, and music's role in
religion and current affairs.
AIAFF is co-sponsored by the Indo-American
Film Society, High Museum of Art, Georgia
Department of Economic Development, Global
Teachers Research and Resources, Inc., and
Kapoor and Associates.
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Headlines |
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China, Australia, India tipped to limit
global fallout (The Australian, Sep
29) The world's "new economies", including
China and Australia, are being tipped to take
on more responsibility in the wake of the
global financial carnage. Long Yongtu,
secretary general of the Boao Forum for Asia
(famous in China as the negotiator who landed
World Trade Organisation accession in 2001),
said the market turmoil would lead to a
slowdown globally, but emerging economies
would limit the fallout. "The new economies
-- China, India, Russia, Brazil and Australia
-- will take on more responsibility to keep a
reasonable growth rate to help those
countries in trouble through these
difficulties. This is the future of
globalisation," he said.
India's ruling party hails nuclear deal
approval (International Herald Tribune,
Oct 2) India's government on Thursday
hailed U.S. congressional approval of a
civilian nuclear pact between the two
nations, calling it a "monumental
achievement," and an official said Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice would visit New
Delhi soon to sign the accord.
The U.S. Senate on Wednesday voted
overwhelmingly in favor of overturning a
three-decade ban on atomic trade with India,
allowing American businesses to begin selling
nuclear fuel, technology and reactors in
exchange for safeguards and U.N. inspections
of India's civilian nuclear plants.
China's economy shows signs of weakening
(The Vancouver Sun, Oct 2)
While China's official statistics show the
economy is still steaming ahead, there are
other signs the pace of economic growth is
already slowing down as many observers have
long feared it would.
According to the Purchasing Manager's Index,
published Wednesday by the China Federation
of Logistics and Purchasing, the country's
manufacturing output expanded for the first
time in three months.
India Banks Capitalize on Wall Street
Crisis (Business Week, Oct 1) A sign
of the times: Mumbai-based banks have
recently poached top talent from such firms
as Bear Stearns, HSBC, and Merrill Lynch.
Compared with its Wall Street rivals, India's
Ambit Holdings has long been considered small
fry. Launched in 1988, the Mumbai-based
investment bank has just 180 employees. With
the financial crisis engulfing the big Wall
Street firms, though, Ambit executives want
to grab the opportunity to gain ground on
their better-known competitors. Over the past
year and a half, Ambit has expanded into
wealth management, private equity, and
insurance brokerage. The expansion has helped
it emerge as one of the top five banks in the
Indian league table.
Europeans weigh a shift in banking
landscape (International Herald Tribune,
Oct 1) Shocked by the sudden exposure of
several of their banks to the global
financial crisis, European governments have
begun discussing a far-reaching revamp of
rules for lenders that could change the
regulatory landscape for European banking. In
Brussels, the European Commission on
Wednesday proposed new rules aimed at
toughening supervision, and approved the
nationalization of the British bank, Bradford
& Bingley, in a record 24 hours, brushing
aside fears that the rescue might distort
competition. But France, which holds the
rotating presidency of the European Union,
suggested going much further by strengthening
cross-border cooperation among regulators,
unifying rules on bank deposit guarantees,
altering accounting standards to no longer
require banks to write off all their losses
immediately and possibly suspending state aid
rules.
Indian bankers count on
HK's advantages (Hong Kong Trader, Oct 2)
When the State Bank of India (SBI) opened its Hong
Kong office 30 years ago, it was only one of a handful
of Indian financial institutions in the city catering to
Indian businesses trading in Hong Kong. "Indian
banks follow Indian traders. Wherever they go, we
follow," said R.G. Subramanian, CEO of SBI, India's
oldest bank.
India's future (The
Economist Intelligence Unit ViewsWire, Sep 29)
India's growing power will reshape the world as we
know it... How will the rest of the world react?
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Energy |
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Beijing, Riyadh Buttress Oil Prices
(The Wall Street Journal, Oct 2)
Two stalwart forces are still standing
between the world's slumping economies and a
steep drop in oil prices: China and Saudi
Arabia. The credit crisis and fears of a
recession have sparked some predictions in
recent weeks of an imminent plunge in crude
prices. A global recession could clobber
demand, causing a surplus in supply and a
swift fall in oil prices, the argument goes.
But so far, prices have been surprisingly
resilient, bobbing around $100 a barrel for
weeks, despite the U.S. stock-market turmoil
and congressional wrangling over a
financial-rescue package. Two of the main
forces keeping oil aloft, analysts say, are
China's continuing thirst for oil and the
ability of Saudi Arabia to tighten the spigot
on world supplies when it pleases.
Pressure mounts on uranium sales to India
(The Age, Oct 3)
THE Opposition has stepped up pressure on the
Federal Government to allow the sale of
Australian uranium to India now that the US
Senate has given its support to a resumption
of nuclear co-operation between Washington
and Delhi.
WA Premier Colin Barnett says he will allow
mining of his state's uranium deposits.
"Labor's blind ideological objection to
Australia concluding a similar arrangement
with India is a missed opportunity to
generate jobs and build the economy," Senator
Coonan said. Critics of the US arrangement
say that an agreement to sell nuclear
material to India without it signing the
nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty will badly
weaken international efforts to stop the
spread of nuclear weapons.
France to sell India nuclear reactors
(The Australian, Oct 2) India signed a
historic deal with France last night for the
supply of nuclear reactors and fuel, thereby
signalling its entry into the global nuclear
marketplace for the first time and the end of
more than three decades of isolation.
The deal, concluded during talks between
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President
Nicolas Sarkozy, ties India's civilian
nuclear future firmly to France and its
extensive use of nuclear power, though
another similar agreement with Russia is on
the cards for signature before the end of the
year.
Google unveils $4.4 Trillion Clean power by
2030 plan (Silicon India, Oct 2)
Search engine giant Google has unveiled a
$4.4 trillion plan dubbed Clean Power by 2030
that calls for all energy in the US to come
from renewable sources.
The web giant in a release posted on its site
said: "While this plan will cost $4.4
trillion (in undiscounted 2008 dollars), it
will ultimately save $5.4 trillion,
delivering a net savings of $1 trillion over
the life of the plan".
The three basic elements of the clean energy
plan are new transmission lines and policies
like national renewable portfolio standard,
new generation vehicles running on non-oil
fuels and greater energy efficiency by
installing smart meters and real time pricing.
China open to renewable energy (Sydney
Morning Herald, Oct 1) The solar power
magnate and Chinese-Australian billionaire
Zhengrong Shi has not made his fortune by
being pessimistic. Dr Shi believes China is
well on the road to becoming a renewable
energy superpower. He said he would not be
surprised if China did commit to binding
targets for reducing its soaring emissions at
the United Nations climate negotiations in
Copenhagen next year. "I think China will be
heavily involved. It is already very high on
the Government agenda," he said.
Off-Shore
Wind Power Set to Expand (Worldwatch Institute,
Sept 29) Denmark, China, Germany, and South
Korea all share an interest in off-shore wind power.
Strong ocean winds mean one off-shore turbine can
generate substantially more power than its on-shore
counterpart. Despite more difficult maintenance and
higher costs, off-shore wind has the potential to
provide significant energy without disrupting inland
communities.
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ICT |
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Data
theft more common in India, China
(Business Standard, Oct 2)
Enterprises in emerging countries including
China, India and Brazil - where IT adoption
is at a nascent stage - are more prone to
loss of company data and other sensitive
information due to flouting of company rules
by employees.
Even though the behavioural risks of
employees behind the data loss are common
across different countries, certain practices
that result in a serious breach of company
policies are more common in China and India,
according to a recent study by US-based
market research firm InsightExpress.
Employees in this region, for instance, carry
company data on portable devices and alter
the security settings on work devices to
access unauthorised websites.
South
Asia making great progress in mobile
connectivity (Silicon India, Oct 2)
South Asia is making rapid progress in the
field of telephony, specially mobiles, with
even smaller countries in the region throwing
up some unexpected facts and figures.
The island-nation Maldives, Asia's smallest
country in terms of population, has more than
100 SIM cards per 100 people and all the
major islands are covered. Maldives is spread
over 26 atolls and 1,192 islets, out of which
around 250 are inhabited.
Bangladesh has 98 percent of the population
covered by mobile telephone signals. Nepal is
seen as a "laggard" though, according to a
South Asian ICT (information and
communication technologies) policy and
regulation think tank called LIRNEasia.
Innovation May be the Big Loser in the
Financial Meltdown (IT Business Edge, October 2)
Yesterday, IT Business Edge blogger Ann All offered
a sobering look at prospects for IT as the economy
melts down. Ann concluded that hard times are
ahead, and that it may not be a bad idea for IT folks to
brush up on job-seeking strategies.
Skype messages being monitored in China,
researchers say (cbcnews.ca, Oct 2)
University of Toronto researchers have
uncovered a huge filtering system in China
that tracks and keeps records of text
messages containing politically charged words
sent through the internet phone application
Skype.
The system keeps track of text messages, but
not voice calls, sent through TOM-Skype, a
joint venture between the Chinese wireless
company TOM Online - a division of the Hong
Kong-based TOM Group Ltd. - and eBay, the web
auction company that bought online phone
service Skype in 2005.
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Agriculture |
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India: Self-sufficiency in vegetables
(Fresh Plaza, Oct 1)
It was encouraging to learn of last week's
initiative, announced at a workshop by
Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac, Local
Administration Minister Paloli Mohammed Kutty
and Cooperation Minister G. Sudhakaran, of
around 300 representatives from 100
panchayats having adopted the "Mararikulam
Declaration for Self-Sufficiency in Vegetable
Production".
The Declaration, which will anchor Kerala's
efforts to achieve food security in the
foreseeable future, lists 16 resolutions that
will form the foundation of a multi-pronged
campaign to increase the State's annual
vegetable production from 10 lakh tonnes to
20-30 lakh tonnes.
Chinese peasants explore new path to
development (China View, Oct 2)
"In recent years, we peasants have become
more clear that farming individually cannot
bring us a prosperous life," Yan Hongchang
says. |"It's an inevitable trend to amass the
land and combine production forces. "
He Kaiyin, an expert on rural issues from
Anhui, considered it reasonable to aggregate
the land for better utilization, as a lot of
farmland remained idle and irrigation and
other rural infrastructures were left
dilapidated after farmers swarmed into cities.
The need to
feed (part one) (chinadialogue, Sept 22)
Forty years of cheap, abundant food supplies are over.
As the world consumes more each year than it
produces, panic is sparking calls for a second "green
revolution".
Consumers must say no to additives
(chinadialogue, Sept 26) The dairy scandal that
has poisoned thousands of children raises difficult
questions about food safety regulation,
manufacturers' responsibility and consumer
awareness.
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Industrial Resources | Manufacturing |
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India Sept manufacturing PMI
at 14-mth low (Reuters India, October 1)
India's manufacturing output expanded at its slowest
pace in 14 months in September as domestic
demand cooled in the face of seven-year high interest
rates, a survey showed on Wednesday.
China's manufacturing sector worsens
(The Star, October 2)
Business conditions within the Chinese
manufacturing sector deteriorated for a second
consecutive month in September, according to the
latest survey data from CLSA Asia Pacific
Markets.
Manufacturing
slows, but does better than rest of the world
(Livemint, October 2)
The growth of output has cooled somewhat in recent
months as have output prices, but the big fall has
been in new orders.
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Environment | Climate Change |
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China is
open to renewable power (The Sydney Morning
Herald, October 1)
The solar power magnate and Chinese-Australian
billionaire Zhengrong Shi has not made his fortune by
being pessimistic. While China's attitude to cutting its
greenhouse gas emissions loomed large over Ross
Garnaut's climate change report, Dr Shi believes
China is well on the road to becoming a renewable
energy superpower.
India, EU leaders
talk on economy, climate change (The Hindustan
Times, September 29)
India and the 27-nation European Union began their
ninth summit on Monday in this port city of France.
The two-day talks will culminate in the signing of a
joint statement and a revised plan of action to
improve their relationship.
Fostering Global Climate Change
Cooperation: How Can China Help Reduce
Emissions Policy Costs? (Resource Investor,
October 1)
Policymakers seeking to fight global warming need to
reach an international agreement for post-2012
climate change policy, but developing countries seem
unlikely to immediately participate. This article
explains the importance of full global participation in
reducing greenhouse gas emissions and proposes
means of inducing developing countries, most notably
China, to participate in an international
agreement.
China Needs New Environmental Policies, SEPA
Says (Worldwatch Institute, Sept 25) At a
Green China Forum meeting earlier this month, Pan
Yue, the vice president of China's State Environmental
Protection Administration (SEPA), made an
unequivocal statement about the need to address the
nation's mounting environmental challenges.
China Launches Energy Conservation Guide for
Citizens (Worldwatch Institute, Sept 13)
China's Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST)
has launched a new energy conservation guide for
citizens in an effort to promote the twin goals of saving
energy and reducing emissions.
A mountain's "revenge" on people,
pollution and power? (chinadialogue, Oct 1)
Experts attribute the melting of the Mingyong glacier to
climate change, but the Tibetan villagers who live in
the area have a different explanation.
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Health | Medicine |
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India latest to ban
smoking in public places (The Associated Press,
October 2)
India banned smoking in public places on Thursday,
leaving public health officials with a much tougher
task: get the nation's estimated 120 million smokers
to stub out their cigarettes.
Lack of medical workers causes new health
crisis in developing countries (International
Herald Tribune, October 1)
When her baby turned blue, Nivetha Biju rushed the
child to the emergency room of an Indian hospital and
watched helplessly as the baby lost consciousness
because the nurses on duty had no idea what
to do. Eventually, a doctor saved the baby's life.
But many patients are not so lucky in India and in
other developing countries, where a scarcity of
doctors and trained nurses means there is often no
helping hand in times of need.
Big Pharma Ranks China as Number
One Destination in Asia for Pharmaceutical
Outsourcing (MarketWatch, October 2)
Big pharmaceutical companies now rank China as
the best location for outsourcing in Asia, followed by
India, Korea and Taiwan, respectively, according to a
newly released PricewaterhouseCoopers index. The
index evaluates Asian countries according to cost,
risk and market opportunity for the pharmaceutical
industry.
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Logistics | Transportation |
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China sees 55.5 mln
travellers on 2nd day of "golden week" (Xinhua,
September 30)
Some 55.5 million people traveled in China on
roads on Tuesday, the second day of the
"golden week" travel peak, an increase of
7.4 percent year on year, said He Jianzhong, the
Ministry of Transport spokesman on Tuesday.
Indian Railways to levy busy season
surcharge (Steel Guru, October 2)
It is reported that Indian Railways have decided to
levy a busy season surcharge of 5% to 7% on
transportation of all products. Under the decision, the
transportation of goods on trains will be costlier by
5% to 7 % with effect from October 1st.
China Keeps Car Rules
Imposed for Olympics (The Washington Post,
October 2)
The government began taking 30 percent of its cars
in the capital off the roads Wednesday in an attempt
to make permanent some of the traffic restrictions
imposed during the Olympic Games, officials and
media reports said.
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Newsletter staff |
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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
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The ICA
Institute
is a non-profit research institute working to
foster research and dissemination of
knowledge on the rise of China and India and
their impact on global markets, global
resources and geopolitics of the world. The
ICA Institute's mission is to generate new
perspectives on the role of market and
resource driven economic development. ICA
Institute fosters interaction and dialogue
between academic scholars, industry leaders
and policy makers on the impact of emerging
economies in general and China and India in
particular. Specifically, The ICA Institute is
positioned to be a catalyst between faculty
and students in International Business and
industry leaders and managers.
Learn more about the ICA institute
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