Monday, January 20 2020 | ASIA TODAY INTERNATIONAL - Reporting the Business that Matters in Asia
THE combined forces of the emergence of the Asian middle class and ageing have converged to give some companies a huge lift in export sales, primarily to China, says Peter Osborne, Managing Director, Asia, of the Australian nutraceuticals company Blackmores. The challenge is to diversify into other markets to provide sustainable future growth . . .
Tourists, students and entrepreneurs are believed responsible for up to six times Blackmores' direct cross-border sales into China.
INVESTMENT of up to US$1 trillion may be needed to allow India to meet growing energy needs over the next 15 years, says Piyush Goyal, the man charged with implementing India’s One Nation, One Grid
policy, which aims to ensure that power can be made available at any point in time at one price across the country . . .
MELBOURNE — Cyber security will be a key area of mainstream risk for corporate Australia and government in 2016, according to Perspectives On Cyber Risk, a report released by lawyers MinterEllison.
Partner Paul Kallenbach, a specialist in cyber security and data protection, signals that the increasing focus on cyber security, including the expected introduction of mandatory data breach legislation in Australia in 2016, will
increase the potential for Board members to incur personal liability as a result of a data breach.
THE risks of cross-border business remain, with red tape continuing to be a very real frustration, Indian service companies are finding approvals processes too slow in Australia . . .
IF life-span increases by three years, pension-related costs could increase by 50 per cent in both advanced and emerging econmies, according to the Managing Director of the IMF, Christine Lagarde . . .
HAVING steamlined its listing rules, the Singapore Stock Exchange is starting to spread the message that it is open for business to companies seeking a dual or secondary listing . . .
THE Chinese Government has capped spending by Chinese tourists on the national credit card UnionPay, with some returning travellers reportedly being checked over by Customs in Shanghai. But the growing Chinese
middle class is unlikely to stop holidaying overseas . . .
FIFTY years on, the Royal Princes of Johor have raised the spectre of recession – as the resource-rich States of Sarawak and Sabah increase pressure for devolution of Federal
powers, and demand a greater share of royalties . . .
STORYTELLER Simon Winchester remembers when 750 million people in the Pacific were governed by ‘outsiders and aliens’ . . .
HONG KONG — The world has been preoccupied with the slowdown in China, but the bigger issue is the global economy, says Jim Walker, founder of the independent
economic research house, Asianomics.
The Belt and Road Initiative aims to connect Asia, Europe and Africa along five routes. It will take advantage of international transport routes as well as core cities and key ports to strengthen collaboration and build six international economic co-operation corridors.
On Christmas Day in 2015, 17 nations signed an agreement to establish the Beijing-sponsored Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). Within a week, the world’s latest multilateral bank was open for business. It now has 57 members.
WHICH way will the military move? There are low-risk and high-risk options facing Burma’s Suu Kyi . . .
IN LOOKING backwards, Aust-ralia’s First Ambassador to China, Stephen FItzGerald, appears to sacrifice balance to partisan proselytizing . . .
IT is important to reflect on how far China has travelled, where it currently stands and where it plans to go next, says Stuart Gulliver, Group Chief Executive of HSBC, in an address to a China Conference in Sydney. Excerpts: