October 19th, 2018
Via Future Directions International, commentary on the opportunities and challenges facing Jakarta which is predicted to become the world’s largest city in 2030: A recent report by Euromonitor International has predicted that Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital city on the island of Java, will become the world’s most populous city by 2030. That prediction includes the population in the […]
Read more »Power Play: Tiny East Timor Bets Big on Oil and Gas
October 13th, 2018
Via the Wall Street Journal, a look at East Timor’s petro-economy: Sixteen years after East Timor secured its independence, the government in this tiny nation is gambling on a huge new refinery complex to help secure its economic future. But there is a problem, according to critics of the plan: If the project falters, a […]
Read more »October 10th, 2018
Via The Wall Street Journal, an article on the United States’ plan to merge several existing development finance agencies: All of Washington these days is scrambling to counter a rising China, and the awakening is necessary. The problem is that it too often is leading to bad policy that imitates China’s behavior rather than playing […]
Read more »Copper, Gold Deals in Afghanistan
October 7th, 2018
Via The Wall Street Journal, a report on Afghanistan’s renewed efforts to start exploration in stalled mining projects: The Trump administration’s push to help extract Afghanistan’s vast mineral wealth has helped relaunch two stalled mining projects in the country involving a high-profile investment banker. Ian Hannam, a former JPMorgan Chase & Co. banker who served for decades in […]
Read more »October 4th, 2018
Via the Hoover Institute, commentary on China’s BRI impact on the Middle East: Cairenes are not modest about their beloved city. It is Umm al-Dunya, they say, the mother of the world. They also call it simply Masr, the Arabic term for Egypt, suggesting, of course, that there is really nothing worth noting in the vast country […]
Read more »South Korean Firms: Keen To Invest In North Korea
October 4th, 2018
Courtesy of The Economist, an interesting article on South Korea’s investment interest in North Korea: SHIN HAN-YONG likes to think of himself as a pioneer. “We had the spirit to see potential where others didn’t,” says the South Korean businessman. Shinhan, his fishing-gear company, was among the first to begin production in the Kaesong industrial […]
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