China warns against ‘new Cold War’

September 6, 2023 | 4:38 pm

JAKARTA — Chinese Premier Li Qiang said on Wednesday it is important to avoid a “new Cold War” when dealing with conflicts between countries as world leaders gathered in Indonesia amid sharpening geopolitical rivalries across the Indo-Pacific region.

Speaking at an annual summit involving members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China, Japan and South Korea, Mr. Li said countries needed to “appropriately handle differences and disputes.”

“At present, it is very important to oppose taking sides, bloc confrontation and a new Cold War,” Mr. Li told the meeting.

ASEAN, which has warned of the danger of getting dragged into major powers’ disputes, is also holding wider talks with Mr. Li, US Vice President Kamala Harris, and leaders of various partner countries including Japan, South Korea, Australia, and India.

Neither US President Joseph R. Biden nor his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, is attending the summit.

High on the agenda at the gatherings in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, is concern about China’s increasingly assertive activity in the South China Sea, an important trade corridor in which several ASEAN members have claims that conflict with China’s.

ASEAN this week discussed with China accelerating negotiations on a long-discussed code of conduct for the waterway, said Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi of the ASEAN chair, Indonesia.

The issue also came up during an ASEAN-Japan summit where leaders “expressed the importance of keeping situations in the region conducive, especially in the Korean Peninsula and also the South China Sea,” she said.

The United States and its allies have echoed ASEAN’s calls for freedom of navigation and overflight and to refrain from building a physical presence in disputed waters. China has built various facilities, including runways, on tiny outcrops in the sea.

“The vice president will underscore the United States’ and ASEAN’s shared interest in upholding the rules-based international order, including in the South China Sea, in the face of China’s unlawful maritime claims and provocative actions,” a White House official said on Tuesday.

Just before this week’s gatherings, China released a map with a “10-dash line” showing what appeared to be an expansion of the area it considers its territory in the South China Sea.

Several ASEAN members rejected the map.

‘GREAT DANGER’
Some members of the Southeast Asian grouping have developed close diplomatic, business and military ties with China while others are more wary. The United States has also courted ASEAN countries with varying degrees of success.

ASEAN, in a draft of a statement it will issue this week and seen by Reuters, said it needed to “strengthen stability in the maritime sphere in our region … and explore new initiatives towards these ends.”

Lina Alexandra, a political analyst at think tank CSIS, said the draft was “very weak on the issues of the South China Sea,” noting the Philippines was losing patience with ASEAN when it came to dealing with China’s presence in the area.

“If ASEAN is not useful that is a great danger, because the other option is they go up to the big powers and they bring these big powers to the region,” Ms. Alexandra said.

A source close to the matter verified the draft.

The summit also saw South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol pledge to work with Japan and China for the early resumption of a three-way talks between them in building better ties.

Mr. Yoon said any military cooperation with North Korea must immediately stop, referring to a report that its leader, Kim Jong Un, plans to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss supplying Russia with weapons for the war in Ukraine.

The 10 members of ASEAN held their summit earlier in the week with leaders seeking to assert the bloc’s relevance in the face of criticism it is failing to press Myanmar’s military leaders to cooperate on a plan for peace in their strife-torn country.

ASEAN member Myanmar has been gripped by violence since the generals overthrew an elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi in early 2021.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam. — Reuters

Japan to strengthen maritime, other ties with SE Asia — Kishida

September 6, 2023 | 4:34 pm

JAPAN’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida stands next to Japan’s national flag at a news conference in Tokyo, Japan, March 3, 2022. — REUTERS

JAPAN will strengthen its support and cooperation with Southeast (SE) Asian nations in six areas including transportation infrastructure and maritime patrols, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Wednesday.

He made the remarks in a speech to the ASEAN-Indo-Pacific Forum (AIPF) in Jakarta, which is hosting a summit of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) this week. The move comes as China asserts itself in the region’s disputed waters.

“We will develop a wide range of cooperation initiatives in the political, security, economic, cultural and social areas,” Mr. Kishida said.

Japan will offer training for 5,000 people over the next three years in the six areas, which also include cooperation on cyberspace, Mr. Kishida said. Transportation infrastructure projects include building seaports, roads, railways and airports.

Japan will also help enhance maritime law enforcement capabilities by training personnel at coast guard agencies and maritime police, as well as providing patrol vessels, Mr. Kishida said.

Following the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Mr. Kishida also said Japan would strengthen supply chains with the region to secure a stable distribution of goods and food security.

Tokyo is due to host a summit meeting with ASEAN leaders in December to celebrate 50 years of ties. — Reuters

Venice to start charging visitors entry fee next year

September 6, 2023 | 4:34 pm

Italy-Venice-Rialto Bridge — VENICE’S waters turn green due to an unknown substance near the Rialto Bridge, in Venice, Italy in this handout image released May 28, 2023. — VIGILI DEL FUOCO/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS

VENICE, Italy — Venice plans to experiment with an admission fee of 5 euros($5.35) for day trippers next year to try to manage the flow of tourists drawn to its historic canals, the city council said on Tuesday.

The fee will be applied on a trial basis on 30 days next year, focusing mainly on spring bank holidays and summer weekends when tourism numbers are at their peak. All visitors over the age of 14 will have to pay it.

The aim was to find “a new balance between the rights of those who live, study or work in Venice and those who visit the city,” Venice tourism councilor Simone Venturini said.

It is not a money-making move, he added, saying the fee would only cover the cost of administering the scheme.

The exact dates of the plan and how it will be run will be agreed after final council approval, which is expected next week.

The plan, first mooted in 2019, was initially postponed because of COVID-19, which kept tourists away, and later for technical and procedural reasons.

Visitors have meanwhile poured back into Venice, with outsiders often vastly outnumbering the roughly 50,000 residents of the city centre, overwhelming its narrow alleys.

Overtourism has long been a problem for the fragile lagoon city.

In July, UNESCO experts recommended that Venice and its lagoon be added to its list of World Heritage in Danger, claiming that Italy was not doing enough to protect the city from the impact of climate change and mass tourism. — Reuters

World is losing the race to meet climate goals, COP28 summit president says

September 6, 2023 | 4:30 pm

NAIROBI — The world is losing the race to meet its climate change goals, the president of the upcoming COP28 summit said on Tuesday, as African leaders called for changes to what they say is an unfair international climate finance system.

The grim assessment by Sultan Al Jaber, who will preside over the summit in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in late November, came three days before the United Nations publishes its first “global stocktake,” an assessment of how nations are doing in their efforts to tackle climate change.

“We are not delivering the results that we need in the time that we need them,” Mr. Jaber, who also heads the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, told delegates at the inaugural Africa Climate Summit in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi.

The summit, which opened on Monday, is focused on mobilizing financing for Africa’s response to climate change.

While Africa is suffering from some of the most severe impacts of climate change, the continent only receives about 12% of the financing it needs to cope, according to researchers.

Hundreds of millions of dollars of investments in sustainable development projects were announced on Monday, and on Tuesday Mr. Jaber announced the UAE was pledging $4.5 billion dollars to develop 15 GW of clean power in Africa by 2030.

Africa currently has about 60 GW of installed renewables capacity.

Germany also announced 450 million euros ($482.31 million) in financing, including 60 million for a green hydrogen project in Kenya, and the United States committed $30 million to supporting climate resilience and food security efforts.

African officials say the investments are welcome but that meeting the continent’s financing needs will require a transformation of the global climate financing architecture, particularly given governments’ high debt loads.

Specifically, African states plan to push at the COP28 for the expansion of special drawing rights at the International Monetary Fund that could unlock $500 billion worth of climate finance, which could be leveraged up to five times.

Kenyan President William Ruto said that special drawing rights should be made available to the countries that need them most, which he said has not previously been the case.

CARBON TAX
Complaining that African countries pay five times as much in interest as other borrowers, he called on multilateral finance institutions to increase concessional lending and for a “conversation” about a carbon tax to finance development.

“Those who produce the garbage refuse to pay their bills,” Mr. Ruto said, striking a different tone from Monday when he said the summit was not to “catalogue grievances and list problems.”

Joseph Ng’ang’a, who was appointed by Ruto to lead the summit’s secretariat, said the proposal was a carbon tax that could be collected from fuel suppliers, relieving governments of the domestic political pressure against taxing fossil fuel consumption.

“If the carbon tax is at source… every barrel that comes out of the ground has a tax on it,” he said. “And because fossil fuels are sold on a global market, you can track it, then it is an even cost globally.”

The president of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina, called for the continent’s natural wealth, notably its forests which sequester carbon, to be accounted for when calculating its economic output. He said this would make it easier for African countries to access debt financing.

A loss and damage fund was agreed at last year’s COP27 to help poor countries battered by climate disasters, but Majid Al Suwaidi, COP28’s director general, said negotiations over how to implement it were not going fast enough.

“We have been calling on countries to make early commitments because it is not enough to operationalize the fund, it needs to be capitalized,” he told Reuters. — Reuters

Philippine school opening gives top mall operator sales lift

September 6, 2023 | 1:47 pm

Top Philippine mall operator SM Prime Holdings Inc.’s revenue from its malls in the country may exceed P16.1 billion ($283 million) in the third quarter as school openings boost consumer spending in restaurants and shops, according to Steven Tan, president of the company’s unit SM Supermalls.

The third-quarter is so far “turning out better than the first quarter and there’s a good chance it will even be better than our second quarter,” Mr. Tan said. SM Prime booked P13 billion and P16.1 billion in rental revenue from its malls in the country in the first quarter and second quarter, respectively.

“A lot of sales are driven by what students need,” Mr. Tan said in an interview on the sidelines of an event on Monday. “The third quarter so far is our biggest surprise because normally it’s a lean season,” he added. Schools resumed classes for the year in the Southeast Asian nation last month.

A positive revenue outlook at SM Prime’s SM Supermalls unit could help perk up sentiment toward the Philippine consumer sector after online broker COL Financial said companies mostly performed below expectations in the second quarter due to “normalizing” demand and higher operating costs.

Shares of SM Prime rose as much as 2% in Manila, heading for the third gain in four days. The stock is down about 15% this year, compared with a drop of some 5% in the Philippine Stock Exchange Index.

SM Prime reported a 49% increase in second-quarter net income with mall revenue driven by sustained tenant sales and foot traffic. Despite elevated inflation, Mr. Tan said restaurants are still “‘doing well,” while there is “some” pullback on high fashion and high-end products as many consumers are watchful of non-discretionary spending. — Bloomberg

Singapore to expand ocean CO2 removal project as scientists call for more research

September 6, 2023 | 1:00 pm

ocean-1867285_1280 — STOCK PHOTO | Image by Pexels from Pixabay

SINGAPORE – Singapore is planning to expand a pilot project that boosts the ocean‘s capacity to absorb carbon dioxide emissions, using one of several emerging technologies that supporters hope can play a decisive role in the global battle against climate change.

As scientists call for more research into ocean carbon dioxide removal (OCDR), PUB, Singapore‘s national water agency, has built a plant that uses electricity to extract CO2 from seawater, allowing it to absorb more greenhouse gas from the atmosphere when it is pumped back out into the ocean.

The project, built at a desalination facility on Singapore‘s western coast, extracts 100 kilograms of CO2 a day using technology designed by US firm Equatic, founded by scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

At the plant, seawater is run through an electrolyzer, which converts dissolved CO2 into calcium carbonate and produces hydrogen.

PUB is aiming to secure funds by the end of the year to build a demonstration plant with a daily capacity of 10 tons, and will look at expanding further, said Gurdev Singh, a PUB general manager who leads the project.

“We have shown that the technology works, but the key now is to optimize the technology at scale,” he said.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has said the removal of CO2 in the atmosphere will be as important as cutting emissions when it comes to curbing temperature rises.

But while OCDR has been described by one environmental group as an “unsung hero” in the fight against global warming, it remains unclear whether the new technologies are feasible when deployed at scale.

Equatic founder Gaurav Sant stressed the commercial potential.

“What makes this a resilient commercial opportunity is that you can essentially have the same equipment to give you two products: carbon credits and hydrogen,” he said.

It could also profit by selling calcium carbonate to the local building industry, he added.

The project is one of several pilot OCDR ventures around the world. Some rely on bringing nutrient-rich deep-sea water to the surface to stimulate seaweed growth, while others aim to reduce ocean acidification levels and thereby boost CO2 uptake.

Some experts warn that the potential ecological impact of these technologies is still unknown. On Tuesday, more than 200 scientists said in an open letter that OCDR research should be prioritized not only to maximize its potential, but also head off potential risks.

Sir David King, head of the Climate Crisis Advisory Group and one of the letter’s signatories, said he favored nature-based approaches, and was skeptical about the efficacy of energy-intensive OCDR technologies like the Equatic venture, which will cost a lot to pump water in and out of the plant.

But billions of tons of CO2 need to be removed from the atmosphere, and more investment in OCDR research was needed urgently, he said.

“What is needed today is to shorten the experimental timeline, and that really demands much more funding,” he said.

“If somebody came up with a few billion dollars, I believe we would accelerate these programs to the level that is really needed.” – Reuters

Georgia can resume ban on hormone treatment for transgender youth, judge says

September 6, 2023 | 12:57 pm

A US judge on Tuesday allowed the state of Georgia to resume enforcing a new Republican-backed ban on hormone replacement therapy for transgender people under age 18, after a federal appeals court allowed a similar law in Alabama to go back into effect.

US District Judge Sarah Geraghty in Atlanta two weeks ago blocked enforcement of the Georgia law after concluding that a group of parents and transgender minors would likely succeed in establishing it violated the US Constitution‘s guarantees of equal protection under the law.

But a day after MS. Geraghty ruled, a three-judge panel of the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals on Aug. 21 reversed a lower-court ruling that had blocked enforcement of a similar Alabama law banning the use of puberty-blocking drugs and hormones to treat gender dysphoria in transgender minors.

The appeals court panel was entirely comprised of judges appointed by Republican presidents. The 11th Circuit hears appeals from Georgia as well, and after it ruled, the state’s Republican attorney general, Chris Carr, urged Geraghty to vacate her injunction.

Ms. Geraghty, an appointee of Democratic President Joe Biden, on Tuesday instead put it on hold, saying it “rests on legal grounds that have been squarely rejected by the panel” in the Alabama case, but that further appeals in that matter were underway.

“We are pleased with the court’s decision and will continue fighting to protect the health and well-being of Georgia‘s children,” Kara Richardson, Carr’s spokesperson, said in a statement.

The plaintiffs’ lawyers did not respond to requests for comment.

Republican lawmakers in several states have passed laws restricting medical treatments for transgender minors. Many have been blocked in court challenges, with judges finding they discriminate by sex and interfere with parents’ right to direct their children’s treatment.

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, a Republican, in March signed the state’s law that bans certain medical procedures and therapies for minors who experience gender dysphoria, the term for psychological distress that some individuals experience because of a mismatch between their biological sex and gender identity.

The law also prevents minors from receiving gender-affirming surgeries, though that provision was not at issue in the case before Ms. Geraghty. – Reuters

Panama Canal water levels at historic lows, restrictions to remain

September 6, 2023 | 12:53 pm

panama-1017680_1280 — STOCK PHOTO | Image by D. Koch from Pixabay

PANAMA CITY – The Panama Canal‘s water levels have not recovered enough as the end of the rainy season approaches and limits on daily transit and vessel draft will stay in place for the rest of the year and throughout 2024, the waterway’s authority said on Tuesday.

The restrictions, implemented earlier this year to conserve water amid prolonged drought, triggered a backlog of ships waiting to pass the key global waterway, which handles an estimated 5% of world trade, contributing to more expensive freight costs ahead of the approaching Christmas season.

The bottleneck at the canal connecting the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans has eased about 20% since last week, but waiting times to transit the waterway doubled last month from July in some vessel categories, while many ship owners have opted for alternate routes to avoid costly delivery delays.

The authority that manages the canal added in a statement that this week’s ship traffic represents a “normal” level for this season.

It noted that a month before the end of its 2023 fiscal year, the canal‘s total vessel crossings already total nearly 800 more that what the canal authority’s budget had forecast.

The additional vessel crossings, which contribute to a total of more than 13,000 transits so far during the fiscal year, show strong demand by vessel owners.

But insufficient rainfall continues to negatively impact the Gatun Lake, which feeds the canal, lowering its water level to 24.2 meters (79.7 feet), versus 26.6 meters (87.41 feet) for the month of September in recent years.

Each vessel passing through the 50-mile (80-km) trans-oceanic waterway uses some 51 million gallons (193 million litres) of water from the lake.

At the end of the rainy season in November, the lake’s water level typically reaches some 27 meters (89 feet) and then drops to slightly below 26 meters (85 feet) after the dry season ends in April, according to the canal authority.

Experts have warned about maritime trade disruptions ahead of what is shaping up to be an even drier period next year. They argue that a potential early start to Panama‘s dry season and hotter-than-average temperatures could increase evaporation and result in near-record low water levels by April. – Reuters

US commerce secretary doesn’t expect changes to Trump China tariffs until review complete

September 6, 2023 | 12:46 pm

WASHINGTON – US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on Tuesday she does not expect any revisions to US tariffs on China imposed during President Donald Trump‘s administration until an ongoing review is completed by the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office.

“I don’t think the (Biden) administration will make any changes until that review is completed,” Ms. Raimondo told CNBC. It is not clear when USTR will conclude the review.

Mr. Trump, a Republican, imposed tariffs in 2018 and 2019 on thousands of imports from China valued at some $370 billion at the time, after a “Section 301” investigation found that China was misappropriating US intellectual property and coercing US companies to transfer sensitive technology to do business.

“We didn’t put those tariffs in place. We don’t think they make a whole of sense in many cases,” Ms. Raimondo, part of the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden, said on Tuesday. “I think the Trump tariffs could have been much more strategic and that’s why we are doing this four-year review.”

The review by USTR is “to see if (the tariffs) are effective,” she said.

But Ms. Raimondo added, “China‘s practices of subsidizing their businesses have hurt US workers so we need a level playing field.” Last week, she criticized various new Chinese restrictions on US businesses operating in China.

China‘s commerce minister last week urged Chinese companies investing in the US to be given “equal treatment” and called US 301 tariffs on Chinese imports “discriminatory,” when he met with Ms. Raimondo in Beijing.

The Trump administration used Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, a statute aimed at combating trade partners’ unfair practices, to launch the tariffs in 2018 and 2019. – Reuters

SoftBank’s Arm launches IPO courting T Rowe in $52 bln valuation ask

September 6, 2023 | 12:43 pm

SoftBank Group’s Arm Holdings Ltd. launched the roadshow for its blockbuster initial public offering (IPO) on Tuesday as the chip designer tries to convince investors it is worth as much as $52 billion in this year’s biggest share sale.

Arm kicked off its roadshow in Baltimore, where influential asset manager T Rowe Price is headquartered, underscoring the fund manager’s significance in big IPOs.

T Rowe Price has been an anchor investor in some of the biggest stock market debuts, including that of electric car maker Rivian Automotive Inc., which was valued at $66.5 billion in its IPO in 2021. Arm‘s IPO is the largest since then.

Arm met also with other potential investors on Tuesday, including Arlington, Virginia-based Sands Capital, according to sources who requested anonymity discussing private meetings.

SoftBank is offering 95.5 million American depository shares of Cambridge, England-based Arm for $47 to $51 apiece and is looking to raise up to $4.87 billion at the top of the range.

Arm disclosed the proposed range would value it at between $48 billion and $52 billion. It also revealed that it could issue some shares as compensation for its employees, taking its valuation, on a fully diluted basis, at up to $54.5 billion.

The valuation that Arm is chasing represents a climb-down from the $64 billion valuation at which SoftBank last month acquired the 25% stake it did not already own in the company from its $100 billion Vision Fund.

Yet even with this more modest valuation ask, SoftBank would fare better than its $40 billion deal to sell Arm to Nvidia Corp., which it abandoned last year amid opposition from antitrust regulators.

Jamie Mills O’Brien, portfolio manager at British fund manager Abrdn, said he found SoftBank’s valuation ask in the IPO “more palatable than initially discussed.”

“We are watching closely how the company handles the relationship with its China business – alongside any further impacts from the technology ‘war’ between China and the United States,” he said.

The Japanese conglomerate will own 90.6% of Arm‘s ordinary shares after the offering closes, the company said, adding that it will not receive any proceeds from the IPO.

Arm has signed up many of its major clients as cornerstone investors in its IPO, including Apple, Nvidia, Alphabet, Advanced Micro Devices, Intel and Samsung Electronics.

Arm said the investors have indicated an interest in buying a total of $735 million of the stock being sold in the offering.

RETURN TO THE PUBLIC MARKETS

Arm was founded in 1990, as a joint venture between Acorn Computers, Apple Computer, and VLSI Technology.

Its shares traded on the London Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq from 1998 until 2016, when it was taken private by SoftBank in a deal that valued it at $32 billion.

Arm‘s listing is expected to buoy the IPO market globally and fuel other startups toward going public as its success would signal the return of investor appetite for technology companies.

Several other big names including grocery delivery service Instacart Inc, marketing automation platform Klaviyo and footwear brand Birkenstock are expected to list their shares on US exchanges in the coming weeks.

It will also be a milestone for SoftBank, as it taps several marquee technology names as investors to drum up support for the company whose designs power more than 99% of the world’s smartphones.

Reuters first reported on SoftBank’s proposed price range for the IPO on Saturday. Sources also said it could possibly raise this range before the IPO prices, should investor demand prove strong.

Arm generates a big share of its revenue through royalty fees based on either the average selling price of the customer’s Arm-based chip or a fixed fee per chip.

For the year ended March 31, Arm‘s sales fell to $2.68 billion, hurt mainly by a slump in global smartphone shipments.

Unlike most loss-making but high-growth tech companies that debut with lofty valuations but later plummet below list price, Arm is profitable. This is expected to significantly reduce investor anxieties, analysts have said.

Sara Russo, senior analyst at Bernstein, said it is early days for Arm to benefit from the boom in artificial intelligence but the space represents an area of potential growth for Arm.

Analysts have said Arm can potentially ride on Nvidia’s coattails, which has been the biggest beneficiary of the AI boom with the stock surging more than 230% year-to-date, as its chips must be coupled with energy-efficient central processing units (CPUs) – Arm‘s specialty.

Barclays, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and Mizuho Financial Group are the lead underwriters for the offering.

If the underwriters exercise their right to buy shares in Arm in full as part of ‘greenshoe option’, it would take the IPO amount to be raised to $5.2 billion.

Arm, which has tapped a total of 28 banks for the IPO, has not picked a traditional “lead left” bank and will split underwriter fees evenly among the top four banks.

Arm expects to trade on the Nasdaq under the symbol “ARM“. – Reuters

Malaysia seeks return of ex-Goldman banker convicted in 1MDB case

September 6, 2023 | 12:20 pm

NEW YORK – Malaysia wants a former Goldman Sachs banker convicted last year in New York of helping loot billions of dollars from its 1MDB sovereign wealth fund to return to the country before starting his 10-year US prison sentence.

US District Judge Margo Brodie in Brooklyn on Tuesday delayed Roger Ng’s scheduled Sept. 6 surrender date by one month to Oct. 6, after federal prosecutors said they needed more time to talk with Kuala Lumpur about first letting him stand trial on charges there.

“The United States is also working to ensure that the procedures governing the defendant’s return to Malaysia will not unduly delay the service of his US sentence,” prosecutors said.

Mr. Ng’s lawyers agreed to the one-month delay, prosecutors said. Marc Agnifilo, one of the lawyers, declined to comment.

The case stemmed from about $6.5 billion in bonds that Goldman helped 1MDB sell in 2012 and 2013.

US prosecutors said $4.5 billion of that sum was embezzled by officials, bankers and their associates.

Mr. Ng, 51, was convicted in March 2022 on bribery and money laundering conspiracy charges. Brodie called his embezzlement “a crime of pure greed” when sentencing Ng a year later.

At a court hearing last month, US prosecutor Drew Rolle said Ng could be returned to Malaysia to stand trial there once he is in US custody.

Mr. Agnifilo said at the hearing that Malaysia wanted Mr. Ng’s cooperation with an ongoing 1MDB probe.

Mr. Ng was arrested in Malaysia in November 2018 and agreed to be extradited to the United States three months later.

In a separate letter to Brodie on Tuesday, lawyers hired this month by Malaysia‘s government said the United States had “backtracked” on its commitments regarding Ng’s surrender. The lawyers called the matter a “very serious issue.”

Another onetime Goldman banker, Mr, Ng’s former boss Tim Leissner, pleaded guilty and testified against Ng at trial. He has not yet been sentenced.

Jho Low, the alleged mastermind of the 1MDB scheme, was also criminally charged but is at large. – Reuters

The 12^th Arangkada Philippines Forum: Towards Sustainable Transformations

September 6, 2023 | 12:00 pm

The seven members of the Joint Foreign Chambers (JFC) of the Philippines will host the annual Arangkada Philippines Forum on Oct. 25, 2023 at the Marriott Grand Ballroom in Pasay City.

Now in its 12th year, the Arangkada Forum will explore perspectives on further integrating sustainability objectives in accelerating inclusive economic growth. Representatives from the public and private sectors will explore opportunities to collaborate in boosting green investments, encouraging sustainable production and consumption practices, and advocating for responsible management and utilization of natural resources amid the long-term social, economic, and environmental impacts of climate change in the Philippines.

The first panel, Trade, Investment, and Sustainable Growth, will assess the intersection between trade, investment, and sustainable development by looking into mainstreaming sustainable finance, identifying green investment opportunities, and integrating sustainability provisions and capacity-building of micro, small, and medium enterprises in the implementation of trade agreements.

There will also be a special session on evaluating the progress of the Philippines in achieving its commitments to the UN Sustainable Development Goals halfway through the 2030 deadline.

Recognizing the role that the Philippine business community plays in raising awareness, the special panel on Driving Change, Building Momentum: Conversations on Sustainability in Doing Business will feature insights from industry representatives on embracing innovative business solutions and in advocating for responsible production and consumption practices.

Advancing the Nexus in Water, Energy, and Food Security in Policy Development will discuss the prospects of adopting a nexus approach in developing policies and strategies towards making the Philippines more water-, energy-, and food-secure.

The JFC will also hold its annual Arangkada Lifetime Achievement Award ceremony, which recognizes an individual of any nationality residing in the Philippines who has contributed significantly to improving the country’s business environment.

The 2023 Arangkada Forum is supported by Capital One, First Philippine Holdings, Eastern Communications, Marubeni, Royal Cargo, AIG Philippines, Amazon Web Services, BDO Unibank, Cargill, Converge, EON Group, Asia Society Philippines, British Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (FINEX), IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP), Philippine Exporters Confederation (PHILEXPORT), Business Mirror, BusinessWorld, CNN Philippines, and Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Since 2012, the Arangkada Forum is the annual flagship event of the JFC that provides a platform for collaborative engagement among business leaders, industry experts, representatives from the public sector, the diplomatic community, and the media.

The JFC is a coalition of the American, Australian-New Zealand, Canadian, European, Japanese, and Korean chambers as well as the Philippine Association of Multinational Companies Regional Headquarters, Inc. It supports and promotes open international trade, increased foreign investment, and improved conditions for business to benefit both the Philippines and the countries the JFC members represent.

To register for the 2023 Arangkada Philippines Forum, visit www.arangkadaphilippines.com/forum2023 or contact Alyx Flojo at alyx.flojo@tcb-ph.com or to forum@arangkadaphilippines.com For more information on the Arangkada Philippines Project, visit http://www.arangkadaphilippines.com.

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