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Tour guides to learn Mandarin as Chinese tourists on the rise

AN INITIAL 15 tour guides from Cebu and other provinces in Central Visayas will take an intensive Mandarin language course organized by the Department of Tourism-Region 7 (DoT-7) in preparation for the continued influx of Chinese tourists. DoT-7 Regional Director Joshur Judd S. Lanete II said the training is seen to break the language barrier, which has been a major concern among Chinese tourists. Cebu Association of Tour Operations Specialists (CATOS) President Alice Queblatin confirmed that tour operators have been facing difficulties in handling Chinese visitors because of communication problems despite the use of mobile translation applications. Based on the latest arrival record from DoT-7, Central Visayas registered a 68% growth of Chinese visitors from January to May this year. Ms. Lanete said the DoT will be mounting more road shows in China next year to give the country a bigger share of the traveling Chinese market. — The Freeman

Bali’s erupting volcano raises air travel warnings

DENPASAR — Indonesian and regional authorities heightened flight warnings around Bali’s Mount Agung on Sunday as the volcano’s eruptions sent a plume of volcanic ash and steam more than 6,000 meters into the skies above the popular holiday island.

Ash from the eruption covered roads, cars and buildings near the volcano in the northeast of the island, while overnight a red glow of what appeared to be magma could be seen in photographs by Antara, the state news agency.

“Since last night the eruption has been a magmatic type eruption, not phreatic,” Sutopo, a spokesman for Indonesia’s Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), said in a Twitter message, referring to the switch from a steam-driven eruption to one with magma.

“That’s what has caused the eruption to continue to produce smoke and dark volcanic ash.”

Vulcanologist Simon Carn said on his Twitter account: “Summit glow at #Agung indicates magma likely at or near surface. Satellites also detected thermal anomalies overnight.”

Bali, famous for its surf, beaches and temples, attracted nearly five million visitors last year, but business has slumped in areas around the volcano since September when Agung’s volcanic tremors began to increase.

Agung rises majestically over eastern Bali at a height of just over 3,000 meters. When it last erupted in 1963 it killed more than 1,000 people and razed several villages.

Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology said in an advisory from it’s Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VACC) in Darwin that the eruption was “expected to be ongoing.”

Maps provided by VACC show an area of ash cloud heading southeast over the neighboring island of Lombok, away from Bali’s capital, Denpasar, where the main international airport is located.

Indonesia also upgraded its Volcano Observatory Notice for Aviation (VONA) to red, its highest warning, and said the ash-cloud top could reach 19,654 feet (6,142 meters) or higher.

However, officials said the airport would remain open for now as the ash could be avoided.

“The volcanic ash has only been detected in a certain area,” the airport and other officials said in a joint statement.

All domestic flights and the airport itself were operating as “normal” and tests for ash had been negative, it said.

Yunus Suprayogi, general manager of Bali airport operator Angkasa Pura I, said food and entertainment would be provided as well as extra bus services if conditions changed and passenger numbers increased.

The airport would also “make it easier” for passengers to seek refunds and make other arrangements, he said, while noting that airlines had their own rules.”

Carriers said they were assessing the situation on Sunday morning with several airlines including Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin resuming flights.

If ash tests came up positive, Lombok airport would be closed, airport officials said. Several flights to and from Lombok were canceled on Sunday, according to the airport’s website.

Indonesia’s disaster agency has said Bali is “still safe” for tourists except for a 7.5-kilometer (4.7-mile) zone around Mount Agung.

“Despite the string of eruptions, there has not been an increase in volcanic activity,” it said in a statement, noting that the emergency status for Agung remains at level 3, one below the highest.

An initial eruption on Tuesday prompted Singapore to update its travel advisory for the island, warning ash clouds could “severely disrupt air travel.”

China’s Consulate in Denpasar warned citizens on Sunday to “be prepared for the possibility of being stranded” in Bali. — Reuters

India acid attack victims defiant on the haute couture catwalk

NEW DELHI — Nine women disfigured by acid became defiant models Saturday at the first haute couture fashion show for the survivors of the growing scourge of acid attacks in India.

The women, nearly all victims of husbands or close family, paraded in gowns donated by top Indian designers including Rohit Bal, Ranna Gill and Archana Kochhar. None covered their face.

“I was very nervous,” said Meena Khatoon, mother of a young son after her venture down the catwalk. But the New Delhi woman, who was attacked by her ex-husband, insisted she had a point to prove.

“People often looked away when I went outside. They would walk in the opposite direction when they saw me. I would face a lot of problems,” Khatoon told AFP.

“But then one day I thought, if that’s the way you think, so be it. I have to build my life, I want my son to study and I have to support him.” Khatoon now runs her own small business fixing mobile phones.

She has been helped by Make Love Not Scars which organized the New Delhi show. The group helps survivors reconstruct their lives and in many cases their faces.

It also backed Reshma Bano Qureshi, 20, who appeared at the New York fashion week last year and who is now writing a book that will come out next year.

Qureshi, who was attacked three years ago by her brother-in-law, who had thought he was throwing acid at his wife, was also afraid to leave her home.

“I was scared it would happen again. I was bothered by how people reacted to me on the streets. People would look away.

“People would say what happened to you? They would say no one will marry you. They’d say with a deformed face you’re not beautiful. But I’m proud and confident of who I am. I want people to know the face is not what makes you beautiful, it is your heart.

Reshma Qureshi
Indian acid attack survivor and model Reshma Qureshi presents a creation by designer Archana Kocharat during a fashion show organized by the Make Love Not Scars NGO in New Delhi on Nov. 25. — AFP

“I am so happy because the other girls had the same opportunity to enjoy the experience that I had before.”

HIDDEN TRAGEDIES
Hundreds of attacks are reported each year, but Tania Singh, vice-president of Make Love Not Scars, believes the true figure is in the thousands.

She said local governments do not report all cases, some women die before a criminal case is launched and some choose to stay with abusive families.

“We had one case where a woman was attacked by her husband three times and she still continues to live with him.”

The Lalit hotel, where the fashion show was held, has provided a room for one woman who was attacked two weeks ago and is waiting for help.

The fashion show was an important way to boost survivors’ confidence, Singh said.

“A lot of them are just having a good time, they have never had such a good time.”

Many of the women at first refuse to take off their scarves when they go to Make Love Not Scars.

“They say ‘we can’t do it, we are pretty ugly’ and we tell them that’s not true you are not ugly, society is ugly.”

The fashion show is “a chance to realize that they deserve acceptance, love and belonging. Now they can go back out there and they can tell the world that they don’t have to hide their faces and scars. It is the world that needs to change its thinking.” — AFP

Renewable power firms owed P7.72 billion — TransCo

THE GOVERNMENT has paid P23.86 billion to renewable energy developers from the feed-in-tariff (FiT) allowance collected from all on-grid electricity users, but a balance of P7.72 billion remained unpaid as of September.

Based on figures from the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), the payment made by the National Transmission Corp. (TransCo) made up about 75.55% of the total payables.

The payments do not include interest payable amounting to P237.69 million as of the third quarter, the ERC data show.

TransCo is the designated administrator of the uniform charge billed to all on-grid power users. The collection, called the FiT-allowance (FiT-All) in consumers’ electricity bill, is used to pay renewable energy developers for their biomass, run-of-river hydro, solar and wind projects.

The tariff is meant to accelerate the exploration and development of clean energy sources and encourage the use of renewable energy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

TransCo has said that the unpaid FiT has accumulated in part after the Department of Energy (DoE) increased the installation target for solar power projects to 500 megawatts (MW) from 50 MW. This left more developers billing TransCo for their guaranteed FiT.

The backlog was also worsened by the delay in the approval of the rate of FiT-allowance collected from electricity users, which TransCo applies for yearly. The ERC has yet to approve TransCo’s application for a 22.91-centavo per kilowatt-hour (kWh) FiT-allowance for 2017.

In July, TransCo President and Chief Executive Officer Melvin A. Matibag said he had approached multilateral lending institutions Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and World Bank for a loan of between P15 billion and P20 billion to pay for the FiT-All.

Mr. Matibag said he had talks with China’s AIIB and the World Bank for the long-term loan. He said both financial institutions have “untouched” funds set aside for renewable energy projects. He added that TransCo’s loan repayment would come from its FiT-allowance collection in the coming years. — Victor V. Saulon

Advice to writers

“I’m not scared,” she said, her eyes flashing as she thumped her hand on the desk in her office. The people she investigates “are the ones who are intimidated — that’s why they are trying to scare me” (Agence France-Presse 08.31.2016). Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales recounted how she was obliged to put up a higher fence around her house after a grenade with her initials on it was discovered beside her property (Ibid.).

Four decades of serving in a “notoriously corrupt judiciary” (pejoratives are quoted from the Agence France Presse interview), and Manang Conchita (an Ilocana) has the reputation of being incorruptible — and brave.

Though born into a family of lawyers, (her father, Lucas D. Carpio was a judge), she had a slow and tricky rise through the ranks due to her incorruptibility, and was Associate Justice of the Supreme Court for the last nine years of her service in the judiciary. One month after her compulsory retirement at age 70, Justice Morales was appointed Ombudsman of the Philippines by President Benigno S. C. Aquino III in July, 2011. She is serving a fixed term of seven years, to end in 2018.

In 2016, Conchita Carpio-Morales was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay “Heroes of Asia Awards,” Asia’s equivalent of the Nobel Prize. She was cited for her “moral courage and commitment to justice.” The Ramon Magsaysay Awards Foundation Trustees pointed out that “she was able to draw back the people’s trust to the rule of law of the Philippines.”

Conchita Carpio-Morales was also conferred a Doctor of Law “Honoris Causa” degree by her alma mater, the University of the Philippines College of Law.

In her brutally honest speech as the Guest of Honor at the 2016 graduation rites, she challenged the graduating class to answer to the need of the country for honorable leaders.

“The country does not need the best leaders, for, more often than not, they become the best after engaging themselves in shady compromises and illicit activities. Leaders must remain good in the purest sense of the word… My supplication to you is to give hope when all hope is lost; not to turn law into an instrument of oppression; and to be true to your ideals,” she said.

Ombudsman Carpio-Morales also said that her biggest frustration came when the Supreme Court freed ex-president Gloria Arroyo and powerful former senator Juan Ponce Enrile despite what she insists was solid evidence of graft (AFP, op. cit.).

And at the 2016 alumni homecoming of the UP College of Law, Justice Carpio-Morales, keynote speaker, decried today’s generation, who seem to lack a sense of history.

“We have entered the so-called “post-truth” era where truth no longer matters. Now it is not only truth that has become elusive, even reason has escaped us,” she said.

And carrying on her lamentations about the state of the nation and our changing values, Justice Carpio-Morales, found the PEN (Poets, Essayists and Novelists) 60th Conference theme “‘Reaffirming the Writer’s Commitment to Truth and Freedom’ most apropos at this time and clime” (from transcript of speech as keynote speaker, PEN Rizal lectures).

“(Today) the Filipino people are falling in a quandary with the distortions of the truth as presented by bigoted viewpoints on the pressing issues in the nation’s life. Baffled by the alarming colors in the political spectrum and the brusque flexing of the political muscle, the Filipino people are left in a quagmire,” she said.

“Perpetrators of fake news (in social media and even in mainstream journalism and creative writing) are keeping up with the times and employing the most sophisticated means of, bluntly speaking, fooling the public. Consequently, it behooves the principled writer to arm themselves with upgraded weapons and superior counter-tactics to crush the enemy,” Carpio-Morales exhorted.

Speak your mind, and always tell the truth, she challenged all writers.

But take note that speaking up and doing what one would sincerely think is right and just can possibly bring trouble from those alluded to.

President Rodrigo Duterte said he would file the impeachment case against Carpio-Morales for practicing selective justice and for using falsified evidence, referring to the purported Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) documents in the antigraft agency’s possession. The President earlier accused Morales and Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno of being part of a plot to oust him, together with the alliance between the Left and the “yellows,” who want him removed from Malacañang” (Philippine Daily Inquirer 10.05.2017).

“They did it first,” he said. “I did not start this ruckus. I was quiet,” President Duterte said (Ibid.)

Naku, Manang Conchita! Kayo pa pala ang maingay? (So, you are the “noisy” one, after all). That’s what you get for speaking up.

 

Amelia H. C. Ylagan is a Doctor of Business Administration from the University of the Philippines.

ahcylagan@yahoo.com

A good problem for NLEX

Two of NLEX’s promising guards were loaned to play for Gilas Pilipinas national team — young point guard Kevin Alas and rookie quarterback Kiefer Ravena.

Their inclusion to the national team’s program is validation enough that these two guards are the future of the Road Warriors backcourt tandem.

Both guards are interchangeable which could allow them to either co-exist or relieve one another.

The inclusion of Ravena, who was picked second overall in this year’s PBA Rookie Draft, would add him to already loaded backcourt rotation of the Road Warriors. They also have versatile player Alex Mallari and two other point guards — Juami Tiongson and Emman Monfort.

Head coach Yeng Guiao sees it as a good problem though.

It is the same situation the multi-titled mentor faced when he coached the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, a team stacked with a heavy guard rotation, but he managed to lead the team to two championships in his five-year tenure as bench tactician of the squad.

As general manager and coach of the Road Warriors, Guiao was given a free hand to choose the players he wanted for the team.

Alas and Ravena will be the future of his squad.

Both second generation players are expected to come out better once they return to the Road Warriors camp following their stint with Gilas Pilipinas. It is the same situation that happened to Beau Belga, who was once loaned to the national team program as part of the training team.

Long considered as a league enforcer, Belga returned as a wiser, better player and became an integral part of the Elasto Painters’ championship team.

Alas and Ravena were both included in the Gilas program, but this is the first time they’re playing in the elite level such as the home and away World Cup qualifier.

Last season, Alas had emerged as one of the league’s top guards and was in fact included as among the candidates for the Most Improved Player award.

Ravena, on the other hand, patiently waited for the right time to go to the pros.

He was considered as pro-ready as early as two years ago, but continued to work on the different facets of his game by training in the United States and even worked on a team in the NBA D-League. He continuously served the national team in any level.

If the third conference of last season will be a gauge, the Road Warriors are ready to ride on the momentum of that good campaign and they will be needing the right men at the wheel in Alas and Ravena, who will try to drive NLEX’s way as among the top competitors in the PBA.

 

Rey Joble has been covering the PBA games for more than a decade. He is a member of the PBA Press Corps and Philippine Sportswriters Association.

reyjoble09@gmail.com

DENR cannot link low fisheries yields to mining on Manicani island

THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said it cannot establish a link between mining activities and low fisheries yields in Manicani island in Guiuan, Eastern Samar, the site of a suspended mine operated by Nickel Asia Corp.

Mario F. Chan, head executive assistant to DENR Secretary Roy A. Cimatu, told reporters on the sidelines of the 64th Annual Mining Safety and Environment that the DENR is still studying the issue of allowing mining to resume on Manicani island.

Mr. Chan said that a delegation from the DENR, along with Mr. Cimatu, visited the island last Nov. 22 to inspect the area.

“The place was very clean… the secretary looked around. We went around the island and we went to the beach where they planted mangroves courtesy of the DENR,” he added.

Mr. Chan said that the issue of declining fisheries yields was brought up by anti-mining activists, which led to the suspension of Nickel Asia subsidiary Hinatuan Mining Corp.’s (HMC) operations in the island.

Mining on Manicani is covered by HMC’s Mineral Production Sharing Agreement, in force since the 1990s.

The island was heavily affected by typhoon Yolanda in 2013. At the time, the DENR had halted HMC’s operations for two years, citing environmental concerns.

“We went there to assess the area. There are no fruit-bearing trees because of Yolanda and there are boats but they don’t get enough fish. But mining is not the reason there are no fish,” he added.

Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) Acting director Wilfredo G. Moncano told reporters last week that the renewal of HMC’s permit is unlikely.

MGB also said that it will be conducting its own study on the island’s conditions. — Anna Gabriela A. Mogato

Stocks to move sideways amid lack of catalysts

THE Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) is seen to move sideways given a lack of catalysts and with consolidation.

The benchmark index closed at 8,365.11 on Friday, up 21.88 points or 0.26%.

This is higher than the PSEi’s 8,311.08 close last Nov. 17

“Looking into the indicators, we can see hints of continued decline although as of now the 50-day moving average is respected,” Luis A. Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital Development Corp., said in a text message.

“If it breaks, we get to see another strong support level at 8,100. We also have to note that ATR (average true range) is still recording high volatility levels so caution is advised.”

The market ended the week positively but had declines mid-week mostly on profit taking.

“While we have seen how some investors seized on intraday strength to cash in from the local bourse’s ascent, this phenomenon is typical to a market poised in firming-up a new solid base,” 2TradeAsia.com said in an e-mail.

Immediate support is seen at 8,250, said 2TradeAsia.com

“The essential key to support 2018’s sturdier growth outlook entails patience, but the reward can be great for those who choose to wait. Hunt for stocks with good earnings growth and guidance and an ability to sustain their respective dividend yield. Immediate support is 8,250, resistance 8,450-8,500,” the online brokerage said.

The market will be awaiting catalysts this week for further movements, analysts said.

Technology stocks led the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to record closing highs on Friday, with the S&P ending above 2,600 points for the first time, while Amazon and retail stocks got a boost from signs of a strong start to the holiday shopping season.

The S&P 500 and the blue-chip Dow Jones industrials posted weekly gains for the first time in three weeks while the Nasdaq Composite posted its best weekly performance since the week to Sept. 1.

The stock market had a half session on what is known as Black Friday, the day after the Thanksgiving holiday and the unofficial start of the US holiday shopping season.

US stores offered deep discounts, entertainment and gifts to draw bargain hunters, but some shoppers said they were just eyeing goods, reserving their cash for online purchases.

On Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, US shoppers spent more than $2.87 billion online, according to Adobe Analytics.

The S&P retail index .SPXRT rose 0.75% and hit a record intraday high, led by Amazon’s 2.6% gain.

Brick-and-mortar stores, which have been boosting their online presence, also fared well.

The Dow rose 31.81 points or 0.14% to 23,557.99, while the S&P gained 5.34 points or 0.21% to 2,602.42. The Nasdaq added 21.80 points or 0.32% to 6,889.16.

About 2.78 billion shares changed hands in US exchanges in the shortened session. The daily average over the last 20 full sessions is 6.48 billion shares. — with Reuters

Pakistan capital tense as military silent on gov’t calls to control deadly clashes

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s capital was tense Sunday after attempts to disperse anti-blasphemy protests by Islamists ended in deadly violence, as the military appeared hesitant to respond to a government call for help.

Hundreds, possibly thousands, of demonstrators were still occupying roads and intersections connecting Islamabad with neighboring Rawalpindi, with protesters posting videos late Saturday night of funeral prayers being recited at a sit-in.

Demonstrators have blocked a major highway, paralyzing Islamabad for weeks. Security forces had moved to clear it Saturday but were met with stubborn resistance by protesters who torched vehicles and threw stones.

At least six people were killed and around 230 injured before security forces retreated on Saturday. Hospitals said most of the wounded had been released Sunday, with only around 20 still needing treatment.

An interior ministry order said the federal government had authorized the deployment of “sufficient troops” to “control law and order” in the capital until further notice.

But early Sunday there was no official military response and no sign of armored vehicles or soldiers on the streets. A military spokesman declined repeated requests for comment.

Civil-military relations have long been fraught in Pakistan, with the military ruling the country for nearly half of its 70-year history.

Private television broadcasts remained blocked and social media sites were restricted, sparking confusion about the state of protests and how authorities planned to respond to the spiraling situation.

“I don’t have any clue what is happening,” Naeem, a worried resident told AFP in an Islamabad market.

“Only Allah is running this country,” he added, complaining that the only channel working was Pakistan state TV — and it was airing a children’s program.

“Police, admin. should be more bold on decision making next time. This Incompetent govt. has made blunder on everything,” wrote Shadman Sharar Shohan on Facebook.

The little known Islamist group at the center of the protests are demanding the resignation of Pakistan’s law minister Zahid Hamid over a hastily-abandoned amendment to the oath that election candidates must swear.

Demonstrators have linked it to blasphemy — a highly contentious issue in Muslim Pakistan — and claim the oath was softened to enable the participation of Ahmadis, a long-persecuted Islamic minority sect.

The violent clashes spurred similar protests in major cities and towns nationwide. — AFP

With expectations low, retailers see victory on Black Friday

BRICK-AND-MORTAR retailers did enough things right on Black Friday to consider the event a success, even if the crowds of past years haven’t returned.

Chains simplified promotions this year and took a keener eye to managing their inventory. At Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., color-coded maps helped shoppers navigate the aisles. Retailers also made headway with their e-commerce sites, aiming to chip away at Amazon.com, Inc.’s dominance online.

Taken together, the changes may help bolster sales and profit margins — despite a decline in customer traffic at many locations.

“People think retail is a nightmare, but it’s not,” said Tracy Ferschweiler, a Wal-Mart market manager who oversees seven stores around New York and New Jersey.

The weather also provided an assist, with cooler temperatures in much of the country putting shoppers in the mood for coats and sweaters. But the day wasn’t without its glitches. Macy’s, Inc., the largest US department-store chain, struggled to process credit-card transactions. That led to long lines and frustrated customers.

Many retailers are counting on the holidays to help fuel their turnaround plans, and Black Friday is the season’s traditional starting point. Still, the event has lost significance over the years — especially as chains spread out their promotions to attract shoppers earlier in November.

In the past, Black Friday was famous for crowds bursting through doors and fighting over $99 DVD players. There’s less urgency among shoppers now, but retailers have many advantages this year, including strong consumer confidence and low unemployment.

The day has become more about the experience of shopping, rather than the actual discounts, said David Bassuk, co-head of retail consulting at AlixPartners LLP.

“People want to start getting into the holiday spirit and enjoy the concept of shopping and the holidays,” he said.

At a Target Corp. store in Kingston, New York, 55-year-old Donna McCluskey said she got up early to shop Black Friday deals as part of a family tradition.

“We do this every year — we came here for fun,” said McCluskey, who arrived at Target with her two adult sons. “We do a lot of shopping online, but it’s a different experience shopping in stores. You can feel and touch and look at the products.”

E-commerce continues to outpace brick-and-mortar retail in sales growth, making it crucial for traditional stores to have enticing Web sites and apps.

Black Friday online spending was a record $5.03 billion, up 16.9% over last year, according to Adobe Systems Inc. Much of that shopping is now occurring on phones, with mobile devices accounting for 54% of visits. Adobe said it expects Cyber Monday to be the biggest online shopping day in history, with $6.6 billion in predicted sales, a 16.5% increase over 2016.

Such optimism helped push the fortune of Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com, to $100.3 billion as the online retailer’s shares jumped more than 2% Friday.

Physical-store traffic, meanwhile, was down 4% to 6%, Cowen & Co. analyst Oliver Chen estimates.

Retailers have tried to avoid becoming showrooms for Amazon, meaning customers look at products in their stores and then buy it from the e-commerce giant. To keep shoppers from straying, Wal-Mart and others have pumped billions into their Web operations. 

Macy’s overhauled its rewards program, aiming to keep consumers loyal regardless of whether they’re online or off. A customer who shells out at least $500 a year gets free shipping and 25% off a day of shopping.

But the 159-year-old chain also is touting its traditional retail experience as a way to hook shoppers.

“Customers today want to go to a store — the sights, the smells, the sounds,” Chief Executive Officer Jeff Gennette said in an interview Friday.

Some retailers have more of an uphill battle. Sears Holdings Corp. saw same-store sales fall 17% at its flagship chain last quarter and 13% at its Kmart brand.

At a Sears in upstate New York, a quiet store greeted 47-year-old Nadine Charles on Friday. She’s been a regular Sears customer for years, but feels like the selection has gone downhill.

“I don’t find anything good anymore at Sears,” said Charles, a nurse with four children. “They don’t have good brands. Now I can buy things in Wal-Mart — they are cheaper and last longer.” — Bloomberg

Regional cooperation, integration to reduce poverty

By Shamshad Akhtar

OVER the past three decades, regional cooperation and integration (RECI) has benefited Asia and the Pacific, powering trade, economic growth, and stability. It has attracted investment as markets were liberalized, competitiveness improved, and policy makers undertook structural reforms to overcome domestic challenges.

Our region’s experience demonstrates RECI has the potential to reduce poverty. Undertaken with the 2030 Agenda, RECI could make a major contribution to delivering inclusive and sustainable development in our region.

RECI has recently been given renewed significance because of a resurgent economic nationalism that is questioning the value of free market, free trade and development agendas. To help arrest this growing discontent with globalization, to dispel unfounded criticisms of free trade, global value chains and labor migration, RECI must be inclusive. It must contribute to reducing rising inequalities by offering opportunities for marginalized countries and people. Cooperative development solutions should contribute to defusing political tensions and support conflict prevention.

There are promising signs the region’s integration will gain momentum from the new opportunities offered by the all-encompassing 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as well as the global push for lower greenhouse gas emissions and environmentally sustainable growth.

Our region has led the way in its efforts to structure cross continental projects backed by new, well-resourced regional financing vehicles. It is playing its part in a technological revolution, enhancing productivity, and new inclusive financial services to those unreachable thus far.

Asia and the Pacific, with a combined GDP of $27 trillion, could account for almost half of the global GDP by 2050. The role of regional cooperation and integration – particularly to strengthen infrastructure linkages – will be key to achieve this positive scenario. It will help rescue our region from poverty, improve access to services, offer new job opportunities to a growing work force and meet the demand of a rising middle-income class which is expected to reach 3.5 billion by 2030.

With these positive demographic, income, and economic trends comes a growing responsibility for our region, a responsibility to lead in shaping global governance and to support international cooperation and multilateralism.

Unsurprisingly for a region of such wide diversity, the level of RECI varies across Asia and the Pacific. East Asia enjoys the highest level of overall integration.

Indeed, the experiences of East and South-East Asia show what regional cooperation could deliver if trade and investment were further liberalized and competition, innovation and human capital strengthened. Nurturing the right political dynamics across sub-regions will go a long way to support deeper integration.

Market integration is essential for goods, services, capital and labor to move freely. Today, trading costs are a major barrier to intra-regional commercial exchanges. They are compounded by a multitude of inconsistent legal and regulatory frameworks which weigh on trading activity and deter foreign direct investment.

The costs of trading between countries in the Asia-Pacific region range from 51 per cent to a prohibitively high 368 per cent of the value of exports. Sub-regional differences are significant. The lowest trade costs are in East and North East Asian economies and the highest in the Pacific island economies.

High trade costs are partly due to transportation and border-crossing costs. Lowering these requires seamless regional connectivity, for which transport, energy and information and communication technology linkages need to be completed. Yet most cross-border projects in the region have been negotiated bilaterally and networks are fragmented. This cannot continue.

For improved infrastructure, the region needs coherent, harmonized intergovernmental agreements. A coordinated approach to developing national and cross border linkages across sub-regional blocs is needed to support peace and stability and build transport, energy, and ICT networks.

Crisis prevention demands the continued strengthening of regional financial cooperation. Macro prudential and financial surveillance mechanisms are needed to guard against imbalances. Emergency lending mechanisms are important to contain unforeseen economic shocks and financial market volatility. Deepening financial markets would be beneficial to provide funding for sustainable investment including for infrastructure.

Indeed, deeper capital markets could foster the development of institutional investors with longer time horizons and the ability to finance infrastructure projects.

There is also more scope for infrastructure projects to be supported by public private partnerships, and multilateral development banks like the ADB have an obvious role in helping to mobilize funding. In addition, domestic resource mobilization remains fundamental to a successful implementation of the 2030 Agenda. This requires us to redouble our efforts to reform tax and public expenditure policies by rationalizing taxation structures, making legislation simpler and more transparent, and improving the capacities of tax administrations.

RECI’s potential to support sustainable growth and development in the Asia-Pacific has been recognized by several regional initiatives championed by the region’s member States. The most extensive is emerging to be the Belt and Road Initiative. It supports better regional connectivity through its cross continental linkages.

With a total Chinese commitment of $124 billion from the Silk Road Fund, it will not only finance infrastructure but foster trade and financial integration through enhanced cross border flows of FDI and bank lending. China’s development banks have already committed $200 billion. Yet some $4 trillion of infrastructure investments will be needed to link China to Europe and the countries in between by land and sea. An ESCAP study finds China’s Belt and Road Initiative alone could help raise economic output levels by an average of 6 per cent in participating countries.

Through its Act East Policy, India has focused on strengthening economic and cultural cooperation towards east and south-east Asia and the Pacific. The ASEAN-India Free Trade Area has enabled trade between the two blocks to reach $70 billion dollars in 2016-17. But other initiatives also hold promise. I am thinking of the Bay of Bengal Initiative to Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC); the Economic Cooperation Organization focused on development, trade and investment; the Mekong Ganga Cooperation initiative which has just agreed a master plan focusing on connectivity and economic corridors across member countries; and the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) which provides a forum for coastal states of the Indian Ocean.

To support economic cooperation and integration in North and Central Asia, ESCAP works on connectivity agreements with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, SCO, as well as the Eurasian Economic Commission. The SCO has enshrined the importance of gradually moving towards the free movement of commodities, capital, services and technology. The Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union aims to create conditions for sustainable development. Its ambition is to create a common market; and to ensure the modernisation and competitiveness of national economies within the global economy.

The Republic of Korea and Russia are cooperating on “nine bridges” for simultaneous and multilateral cooperation. These include cooperation in the fields of gas, railways, shipbuilding, agriculture and the development of a Northern Sea Route.

To link the Pacific and Eurasia, the Japanese Government launched the Partnership for Quality Infrastructure in 2015. In collaboration with the Asian Development Bank, Japan has committed to providing approximately $110 billion for “quality infrastructure development” in Asia over five years. Mongolia’s Steppe Road Initiative is a key infrastructure construction program to boost the Mongolian economy through trans-border transportation.

New initiatives for grid interconnections are also being taken forward.

Mongolia is committed to creating an “Asia Super Grid”, to exploit the potential of renewable energy. China has proposed a global energy interconnection based on renewables, starting with grid interconnections in North-East Asia, and established the Global Energy Interconnection Development and Cooperation Organization. The President of Russian Federation has called for an “East Asia Super Energy Ring” connecting all North-East Asian countries. And the President of the Republic of Korea has supported the idea of building a Northeast Asian super grid to enhance regionwide energy cooperation.

In the Pacific, the Pacific Islands Forum is the key political and regional cooperation and integration platform.

ESCAP has been assisting the development and implementation of its latest strategic initiative, the Pacific Regional Roadmap for Sustainable Development.

By prioritizing the means of implementation and adopting a comprehensive SDG indicator framework particularly relevant to the Pacific and to small islands developing States, the Pacific roadmap is an excellent example of how to pursue regional economic cooperation and integration in a manner consistent with the 2030 Agenda.

The benefits all these initiatives bring are significant. As your secretariat, we stand ready to promote all of these initiatives in Asia and the Pacific, if, as proponents of these initiatives, you request us to do so.

Our four key recommendations to deepen RECI in our region remain largely unchanged. Now is the time for implementation.

First, to achieve greater market integration; we need to reduce non-tariff barriers and reach multilateral agreements to streamline regulatory frameworks and agree on common standards. The implementation of Framework Agreement on Facilitation of Cross-Broder Paperless Trade in Asia and the Pacific will make a positive contribution to this agenda.

Second, seamless connectivity in the areas of transport, energy and ICT needs to happen. We want to build on existing bilateral intergovernmental agreements and projects by developing multilateral agreements and make them coherent across the region as a whole. Our teams are working to promote sustainable transport networks, sustainable energy through renewable energy and power grid enhancement, and the Asia-Pacific Superhighway.

Third, we need to deepen regional financial cooperation — particularly to improve regional surveillance and crisis management capacity; deepen financial markets; and deliver innovative financing solutions to support SDGs.

Fourth, we must address shared vulnerabilities and risks, ranging from challenges created by natural disasters, to food security, to climate change.

ESCAP has long standing mandate to promote RECI in Asia and the Pacific. We are committed to working with all our member States and partner organizations — such as the Asian Development Bank – to take these recommendations forward, to build a more integrated and connected Asia-Pacific which leaves no one behind.

 

Shamshad Akhtar is Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of The Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. This was a statement released during the Ministerial Segment of the Second Ministerial Conference on Regional Economic Cooperation and Integration on November 23, 2017 in Bangkok.

1st Bangsamoro Assembly set today

BTC logo

PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte is expected to attend the 1st Bangsamoro Assembly set today, Nov. 27, at the old provincial capitol in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao. The Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC), tasked to draft the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) and undertake coordination activities for its passage in Congress, will read a combined manifesto by various stakeholders. The BTC is aiming to gather a million people at the event to signify support to the BBL, which will create a new Bangsamoro territory and entity that will replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. The convening of the assembly is provided under Mr. Duterte’s Executive Order No. 8, which expanded the composition of the BTC. — Mindanao Bureau

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