The New Trade Future In Asia Pacific – Analysis
Right after the Asian-Pacific nations embraced the dream of free trade in the regional Peru Summit, President-elect Trump buried it. Last weekend, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit made...
View ArticleUN Calls For More Sustainable Financing To End Gender Violence In Asia-Pacific
Investments in gender equality, and specifically those addressing violence against women, remain vastly insufficient in the region, highlighted United Nations representatives at the Asia-Pacific...
View ArticleSeizing Opportunity In A Post-TPP World – Analysis
Trump dismisses TPP, but could pursue another big opportunity – the US-China Bilateral Investment Treaty. By Stephen S. Roach* The demise of the Trans-Pacific Partnership is the final nail in the...
View ArticleUN Says Stable Economic Conditions Provide Opportunity
Stable economic conditions in the second half of 2016 provide an opportunity to internalize the economic, social, environmental and governance dimensions of sustainable development in a comprehensive...
View ArticleUS Signs South Pacific Tuna Treaty Amendments
The United States and 16 Pacific Island governments initialed amendments to the Multilateral Treaty on Fisheries at a ceremony in Nadi, Fiji on December 3, 2016. According to the US State Department,...
View ArticleTransport A Pivotal Sector In Asia And Pacific’s Journey To Sustainability –...
Transport is a key contributor to economic growth, prosperity and tosocietal well-being. Physical links across Asia and the Pacific have increasingly improved throughyears of steady investments in the...
View ArticleSouth Pacific: ‘Sea-Level Rise’ Migrants Posing A Problem – Analysis
By Henry Oritimae and Sonal Shivangani With sea levels rising rapidly across the South Pacific and the resulting movement of people within and across countries, the region is facing a new problem of a...
View ArticleThe Terrex Vehicles Issue: China Seizes Asia-Pacific Initiative – Analysis
The seizure of nine Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Terrex Vehicles on 23 November 2016 is a grim reminder of the reality of international politics: power matters. China’s recent behaviour towards...
View ArticleRegional Solutions Key For Asia-Pacific’s Transition To Sustainable Energy –...
The Asia-Pacific region is at a turning point in its energy trajectory. The energy solutions that have fuelled growth in the region over the past few decades are no longer compatible with the...
View ArticleStrengthening Regional Cooperation To Mitigate Weather Extremes – OpEd
This month’s floods in Thailand are a worrisome reminder of the increasing uncertainty of extreme weather events. Thailand’s flood season usually ends in November, but this year, influenced by a low...
View ArticleExpanding Zeus’s Shield: New Approach For Theater Ballistic Missile Defense...
By Kevin Ayers* On September 17, 2009, President Barack Obama approved the creation of a “phased adaptive approach” to European missile defense, at the recommendation of Secretary of Defense Robert...
View ArticleWorking Together For The Region: ESCAP And ASEAN – OpEd
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has shown to be an exemplary role model for regional cooperation guiding the 10-country bloc on the path toward shared prosperity and sustainable...
View ArticlePositive Signs As Asia-Pacific Moves Towards Global Development Goals – OpEd
With just over a year since the adoption of a historic blueprint to end poverty and protect the planet, positive signs have already started to emerge among countries in the Asia-Pacific region as they...
View ArticleAsia-Pacific: Is Middle Power Multilateralism Possible? – OpEd
By Chandrali Sarkar* In light of President Trump’s abandonment of the original ‘Pivot to Asia’ policy, a recent article in The Indian Express, titled ‘Delhi, Tokyo Canberra’, by C Raja Mohan and Rory...
View ArticleEnhancing Regional Economic Cooperation Important To Advance 2030 Agenda In...
A United Nations meeting in Bangkok on Friday concluded that fostering regional economic cooperation and integration (RECI) in Asia-Pacific holds great potential to further reduce poverty, and advance...
View ArticleFinancing For An Inclusive And Sustainable Future – OpEd
Two years after the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by world leaders in New York, the ongoing practical question is how to finance the needs of such an ambitious and universal...
View ArticleTax Policy And Public Expenditure Management Key To Financing Sustainable...
Asia-Pacific policymakers at a high-level United Nations dialogue in Bangkok today concluded that tax policy and public expenditure management will play a central role in effectively pursuing the 2030...
View ArticleEffective Governance Key To Improving Quality Of Asia-Pacific Economic Growth...
The Asia-Pacific region’s high and steady economic growth has been an anchor of stability for the struggling world economy in recent years. Developing economies of the region now account for almost a...
View ArticleReducing Infrastructure Gaps Can Boost Sustainable Development In Countries...
Geographically disadvantaged nations and least developed countries (LDCs) in the Asia-Pacific region can boost national incomes, educational attainment and life expectancy by reducing their sizeable...
View ArticleAsia-Pacific Must Boost Development Reform Efforts To Achieve 2030 Agenda
Asia and the Pacific, a region with an impressive development track record, will need to step up its overall development reform effort to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030,...
View ArticleClimate Change Threatens Agriculture In Pacific Rim Economies – Analysis
By J Nastranis Global warming is expected to have a significant impact on future yields of everything from rice to fish, particularly in countries situated closer to the equator, the Food and...
View ArticleBangladesh, Cambodia And China Sign Treaty To Strengthen Digital Trade
Bangladesh, Cambodia and China today signed the Framework Agreement on Facilitation of Cross-border Paperless Trade in Asia and the Pacific, a new United Nations treaty aimed at strengthening digital...
View ArticleTowards A Resource Efficient And Pollution Free Asia-Pacific – OpEd
Senior government officials from across Asia and the Pacific will meet in Bangkok this week for the first-ever Asia-Pacific Ministerial Summit on the Environment. The high-level meeting is co-convened...
View ArticleUN Environment Summit Opens With Focus On Sustainable Use Of Natural...
The first Asia-Pacific Ministerial Summit on the Environment opened in Bangkok this week with a call for governments in the region to forge a transformative alliance that will drive forward an...
View ArticleGovernments Commit To Promote More Resource Efficient And Pollution Free...
Environment ministers and high-level officials from over 30 countries in Asia-Pacific have committed to move towards a clean and green Asia-Pacific, one that is more resource efficient and pollution...
View ArticleOlder Persons Key Players In Global Development Agenda – OpEd
As the proportion of the older persons across the Asia-Pacific region increases exponentially, we must seek out new and innovative approaches to turn this demographic trend into an opportunity to be...
View ArticleNo Trace Of Early Contact Between Rapanui And South Americans In Ancient DNA
Rapa Nui (Easter Island, Chile) has long been a source of intrigue and mystery. How did such a small community of people build so many impressively large statues? And what happened to cause that...
View ArticleAsia-Pacific Trade Growing, But Uncertainties Expected For 2018
The trade outlook for the Asia-Pacific region is positive for this year but some uncertainties are forecast for 2018, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)...
View ArticleESCAP-China Partnership To Strengthen Public Private Partnerships In...
China and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) have signed a new agreement to strengthen Public Private Partnership (PPP) in the region, with a key focus...
View ArticleDigitization: Why Developing Nations Must Invest Now – Analysis
One of the biggest stories of the year that has barely registered on the blips of policymakers and the wider public is the phenomenal growth of the Internet of Things (IoT). Its market size is expected...
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