According to a World Bank press release, stronger growth in advanced economies, a moderate recovery in commodity prices, and a recovery in global trade growth, are the favourable external factors that will support the economies of developing East Asia and Pacific to expand by 6.4 per cent for 2017.

The October 2017 edition of the East Asia and Pacific Economic Update reports that the uptick in growth in 2017 relative to earlier expectations reflects stronger than expected growth in China, at 6.7 per cent, the same pace as in 2016. In the rest of the region, including the large Southeast Asian economies, growth in 2017 will be slightly faster at 5.1 per cent in 2017 and 5.2 per cent in 2018, up from 4.9 per cent in 2016.

The press release notes that several external and domestic risks could impact this positive outlook. Economic policies in some advanced economies remain uncertain, while geopolitical tensions centred on the region have increased. Monetary policies in the US and the Euro Area could be tightened more quickly than expected. Many countries in the region have high levels of private sector debt while fiscal deficits remain high or are on the rise.

“The recovery of the global economy and the expansion of global trade are good news for the East Asia and Pacific region and its continued success in improving living standards,” said Victoria Kwakwa, World Bank Vice President for the East Asia and Pacific Region.

“The challenge will be for countries to strike a balance between prioritising short-term growth and reducing medium-term vulnerabilities, so that the region has a stronger foundation for sustained and inclusive growth.”

The press release also includes comments from Sudhir Shetty, World Bank Chief Economist for the East Asia and Pacific region, who said, “The improved prospects for global growth offer a window of opportunity for countries to reduce vulnerabilities while pursuing reforms that can yield growth dividends over the longer term.

“Reducing risks to financial sector stability and strengthening competitiveness, including through deeper regional integration, remain priorities.”

To maintain resilience against risks, the report calls for a move away from measures aimed at short-term growth towards policies that address financial sector and fiscal vulnerabilities. These measures include: strengthening supervision and prudential regulation in countries experiencing rapid growth in private-sector credit and debt; reforming tax policies and administration to help boost revenue collection; and being ready to tighten monetary policy if warranted by the pace of interest rate increases in advanced economies.

The report also highlights the potential that tourism development and deeper regional integration offer to offset the risks of protectionism. Growth in tourism, if well managed, has the potential to yield substantial benefits to the region, including for the Pacific Island Countries. It notes that the Asean Economic Community offers one avenue for promoting further regional integration, including by further liberalising trade in services and reducing non-tariff barriers.

Despite success in reducing poverty, high and rising inequality is a growing concern, as are falling mobility and growing economic insecurity. For lasting inclusive growth, measures to reduce extreme poverty must be accompanied by policies that broaden access to quality services and more productive jobs, and stronger social protection systems that reduce the consequences of adverse shocks.

The East Asia and Pacific Update is the World Bank’s comprehensive review of the region’s economies. It is published twice yearly and is available free of charge at the World Bank’s website.

Smart Departure, which employs face recognition technology for identity verification, will be launched at Hong Kong International Airport on Oct 10

The department said in a press release that Smart Departure aims to provide greater travel convenience for visitors while enhancing the effectiveness of immigration control.

Smart Departure employs face recognition technology for identity verification, which facilitates self-service departure for visitors.

Photos of visitors will be taken at arrival clearance counters to assist in authentication of their identities. The whole process takes about 20 seconds.

Visitors aged 11 or above who hold valid electronic travel documents compliant with the International Civil Aviation Organization’s requirements and issued by designated countries or regions as announced by the department may perform self-service departure clearance through Smart Departure e-channels without prior enrolment.

According to the existing arrangement, all arriving visitors will be issued with landing slips. Upon completion of arrival clearance at immigration counters, the landing slips of eligible visitors will additionally bear the Smart Departure logo.

The Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) has witnessed a solid growth in the first half of 2017, setting the stage for receiving a record number of flyers this year.

According to TIA data, 1.87 million travellers passed through the airport’s facilities in the first six months of 2017, up 12.79 percent compared to the same period last year.

Aircraft movement also grew by 31.86 percent to 16,469 flights, a solid increase primarily due to Chinese airlines increased flight frequencies to Nepal. Currently 28 international airlines, including three Nepali carriers, serve Kathmandu.

Chinese carriers–Air China, China Eastern, China Southern and Sichuan Air–that saw their passenger carriage drop notably by 55.80 percent in the first six months last year recovered strongly this year. These carriers flew 152,829 travellers, up 169.18 percent.

Nepal expects to grab a larger share of the Chinese outbound travel market after China’s announcement of Nepal Tourism Promotion Year 2017 in a bid to encourage its citizens to visit the Himalayan republic.

Each year, 120 million Chinese vacationers head to foreign destinations, which make China the biggest tourism source market in the world.

“Despite congestion at the TIA, we are expecting a record number of tourists this year, which will increase travellers’ movements at the airport,” said Birendra Prasad Shrestha, spokesperson for the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (Caan).

The delay in the TIA improvement project has, however, been a big setback.

The completion date for the $92-million project has been pushed back to 2019 from the proposed date of March 2016. After the completion of the project, the TIA will be able to handle more than 5.85 million passengers annually as well as accommodate bigger aircraft.

“Obviously, we are facing traffic congestion at the airport and have restricted new international airlines from launching their Nepal connectivity. But things will improve soon,” he said.

According to Caan, construction of new terminal building is expected to be completed within one and a half years.

Likewise, Caan has planned to construct 16 new parking bays. Of the total parking bays under the plan, four are expected to be completed within a year, said Caan.

“The parking bays and expansion of the international terminal building will enhance the airport facility as well as the safety standard of the TIA,” said Shrestha.

A breakdown shows India’s Jet Airways topped the list of carriers with the highest number of passengers. Jet, which serves Delhi with three flights and Mumbai with two flights daily, flew 227,512 passengers in the first six months of this year, up 47.62 percent.

Nepal Airlines is the second with a passenger carriage growth of 17.52 percent. It flew 210,131 passengers during the review period.

Low-cost carriers like Fly Dubai stood third with a passenger carriage growth of 17

percent, as it flew a total of 168,677 passengers. Another low cost carrier, Air Arabia, however, saw its passenger carriage drop by 6.68 percent to 155,004. However, the carrier stood fourth in terms of passenger carriage.

Doha-based Qatar Airways slipped to fifth spot with a sharp 25.46 percent drop in passenger carriage to 155,004 in the first six months of 2017. Indian Airlines saw its passenger numbers increase 8 percent to 97,462.

The Malaysia-based low-cost airline Malindo Air saw the strongest passenger occupancy recording 132.56 percent growth. It flew 68,115 passengers in the review period. However, another low-cost carrier from Malaysia, Air Asia, saw its passenger number dropping by a whopping 50.69 percent to 43,375.

Meanwhile, Thai Airways saw its passenger numbers rise 4.78 percent to 84,373 in the review period. the Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways flew 65,796 travellers, down 18.28 percent.

Nepali carrier Himalaya Airlines that started its first scheduled flight operations in May last year, flying directly to Doha of Qatar, carried 56,213 passengers in the first six months of this year.

China Southern Airlines that had resumed flight from April 2016 also saw a very strong growth. The carrier flew 60,515 during the review period.

The Seoul Central District Court is set to decide Tuesday whether to extend the detention of former President Park Geun-hye, who is on trial for corruption charges.

On Thursday, the appeal trial will begin for Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, who was convicted in August of bribing Park to win political support for the conglomerate’s smooth leadership transition in favor of him.

Park, the first female president elected in South Korea, was expelled from power on March 10, arrested on March 31 and indicted on April 17 on a total of 18 charges. She has since been locked up in a solitary cell at a correction facility in a southern suburb of Seoul.

Her six-month detention ends next week.

State prosecutors last month requested the court to issue an additional warrant to extend Park’s detention by another six months, citing her ongoing trial. Park’s attorneys, however, objected, citing her poor health.

The ex-leader is accused of colluding with her longtime confidante Choi Soon-sil to take and solicit some 59.2 billion won ($52 million) in bribes from large business groups, including Samsung. Other charges include abuse of power, coercion and leaking government secrets.

A court verdict on Park is expected around mid-November.

Samsung’s heir apparent Lee was given a five-year jail sentence on Aug. 25, as the court found him guilty of bribery, embezzlement and perjury.

Lee was accused of bribing Park and Choi to receive help for a controversial 2015 merger between the group’s two affiliates, which critics said was designed to strengthen Lee’s grip over the conglomerate.

Lee denied any wrongdoing, saying the deal was to increase business competitiveness and that he had felt pressured by the then-president to make “donations” to certain entities, which were not meant to be bribes.

The export of wood and timber products is forecast to bring in US$8 billion in 2017, posting a 17 per cent year-on-year increase and surpassing the target of $7-7.5 billion set earlier this year.

Nguyen Ton Quyen, vice chairman and General Secretary of Vietnam Timber and Forest Product Association (VIFORES), said the impressive growth rate in the first nine months boosts prospects of the wood sector achieving its target.

The sector earned $5.9 billion in export revenue from January to September, increasing 11 per cent from the same period last year. The wood export turnover reached some $700 million a month.

Vietnam’s wood products achieved the highest export growth from particle boards, artificial wood boards, melamine-faced chipboards (MDF) and wood pellets.

The last three months of the year are generally the peak season for wood and wood product exports, so the industry’s target of $8 billion is deemed attainable.

Wood exports grew in most traditional and key markets, such as the US, Japan, the EU, China and South Korea. The value of exports to the five markets makes up nearly 90 per cent of the total, said Quyen.

In May 2017, after a six-year negotiation process, Vietnam initiated the Viet Nam-EU Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) on the EU Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT).

Fundamental changes

Quyen said implementation of this agreement in Vietnam will ensure all wood products on the agreed list are legal. The document could create fundamental changes for Vietnam’s wood processing sector, as well as domestic and export markets, including nations supplying wood material to Vietnam and those buying wood and timber products from Vietnam, he added.

However, the country is facing several challenges, including the short supply of raw wood. Apart from domestic wood, Vietnam imports a large amount of wood material worth $1.7-1.8 billion annually, equivalent to about 20-30 per cent of the export turnover.

To Xuan Phuoc, an expert from Forest Trends, said Vietnam’s export turnover of wooden products has been stable since 2015. However, Phuoc said, the biggest challenge for the expansion of the wood sector was competition in raw wood purchase. China’s ban on natural forest logging, and restrictions imposed by Vietnam and other countries on the trade, exploitation and export of raw wood have limited supply globally.

He added that some of Vietnam’s major wood and wood product importers such as the US, Australia and the EU demand to know the legal origin of wood. This means wood must come from forests grown under sustainable forest management standards of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and must be imported from non-risk sources.

South Korea and Japan are also planning to tighten the management of imported wood products, he said, adding that this would directly impact Vietnam’s exports to those markets.

The South Korean government will require importers to declare the legality and origin of wood and wood products imported into the country starting in late 2017. Japan will do the same in March 2018.

Vietnamese wood processors and exporters must therefore devise solutions and long-term strategies to reduce risks and boost export growth. Local processors should choose clean raw wood to meet importers’ requirements, he said.

Yangon has six container ports – AWPT, HPT, MIP, MITT, BSW and AIPT – with berths for 69 vessels. A total of 51 vessels are currently operating.

“Eighteen container shipping lines are currently allowed and there are 51 vessels running, but 19 have stopped,” said an official of Myanmar Port Authority.

A port EDI (electronic data interchange) system will be introduced at Myanmar’s ports this month, allowing the tracking of arrivals and departures and exchange of other information, according to the Directorate of Water Transport.

The Myanmar Port Authority has also issued a new order this month regarding the fees importers are required to pay shipping line representatives to carry out port clearance

The order stated that the consignee can submit a bill of lading (receipt for the cargo), and that box operators must not collect detention charges above the actual rate.

China’s bike-sharing craze is causing parking chaos, traffic congestion and is a safety hazard.

Bans on expanding cycle fleets in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Wuhan and Guangzhou, as well as eight other cities, have been wheeled out by local authorities.

In the capital alone, there are 2.35 million shared bikes run by 15 companies with stacked parking on pavements and at road crossings causing havoc for pedestrians.

“It is necessary that the authorities put the brakes on shared bikes,” said Li Hao, an analyst at iResearch Consulting Group in Beijing.

Earlier last month, the capital’s transportation management authority prohibited an increase of shared bikes on its roads.

Another 12 cities followed suit, forcing the main players to consider expanding to untapped markets across the country, as well as abroad.

Still, many small bike-sharing companies will go to the wall, squeezed out by the big boys such as Mobike Technology Co, Bluegogo and Ofo Inc.

Mobike plans to improve its services and management structure in major cities.

“As competition in the bike-sharing market in first-tier cities becomes fierce, sophisticated, intelligent management and operations will be our focus,” said Li Yuxian, vice-president of Mobike.

“We are aiming to improve users’ experience and ease the urban traffic pressure,” Li added.

Mobike has rolled out a highly-efficient and professional operational team in Beijing.

They dispatch bikes and handle parking black spots by using cloud computing and artificial intelligence, or AI, technology.

The company has spent more than 3 billion yuan ($458 million) on big data, internet of things and AI. It is also gearing up to increase its global expansion plans.

“Establishing more cooperative relationships with municipal governments all over the world will be our next move,” Li said. “We aim to operate in 200 cities by the end of the year.”

Mobike’s wheel tracks can be found in 170 world cities, with the company owning seven million bikes, as well as having over 100 million customers.

Apart from China, the firm’s cycles can be found in London, Manchester, Florence, Milan, Singapore and Bangkok.

For now, even profit has been put on hold as the company continues its global push.

“If we want to make money, we can, but making money is not our first goal,” Hu Weiwei, co-founder and president of Mobike, told the media.

“Profit is not the most important goal for us at the moment,” Hu added. “We are focused on market expansion.”

By July, major Chinese cities had reached saturation point. There were up to 70 bike-sharing brands with 16 million cycles on the streets for a customer base of about 130 million, figures from the Ministry of Transport revealed in the summer.

Data such as this prompted Mobike’s rival Ofo to focus on operating its existing fleet of canary yellow cycles after announcing a designated maintenance officer for each operating area.

Big data analytics technology was used to enhance efficiency. Founded in 2014, the Beijing-based company is valued at more than $2 billion after raising $700 million in its latest round of financing in July.

It has more than 10 million bikes in 13 countries globally and in September officially launched in the Czech Republic, Italy, Russia and the Netherlands.

The company aims to roll out 20 million bikes in 200 cities across the world by the end of the year after moving into markets in the United States, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Kazakhstan, Thailand, Malaysia, Japan and Austria.

“Our platform was created with the ambition of improving the environment globally by introducing low-carbon transportation to urban dwellers,” Dai Wei, founder and CEO of Ofo told China Daily.

“Ofo is committed to bringing our green service to every city in need of convenient short-distance travel solutions,” Dai added.

Back in China, Ofo and the rest of the bike-sharing companies need to streamline and improve their business models.

Many are unlikely to survive in a cutthroat industry. Some will be taken over or merged, while others will simply disappear from the streets.

“Bike-sharing companies should standardize the management of bikes and upgrade their operational capacities,” Li at iResearch said. “Refined management will be the future direction.

“But we don’t rule out the possibility that small bike-sharing companies will be shut down or acquired by other companies,” Li added. “There will be a reshuffle in the market.”

During the summer, Wukong Bicycle, a startup based in Chongqing, became the first bike-sharing company to go bankrupt.

It was quickly followed by 3Vbike, which was forced to shut down because of rising costs.

Now, many small brands plan to shift to third- and fourth-tier cities.

Chen Yuying, CEO of Guangzhou-based MingBikes, aims to curtail operations in Shanghai, Hangzhou, Guangzhou and Shenzhen by the end of this year and move into 50 third- and fourth-tier cities.

“It is difficult for new bike-sharing brands to enter first-tier cities where the authorities have banned any more shared bikes from being stationed,” said Wang Chenxi, an analyst at internet consultancy Analysys in Beijing.

“The influence on major players Mobike or Ofo is limited, but it’s a matter of life and death for small bike-sharing companies as it is evitable that some of them will be knocked out,” she added.

A major initiative to ensure that Singaporeans keep pace with the digital economy, at work and in everyday life, has been launched.

Over the next three years, the SkillsFuture for Digital Workplace – the largest national training programme in a decade – aims to get 100,000 people equipped with basic digital skills that suit them, from the use of e-payments and e-commerce platforms, to data analytics and automation.

This will be done through two-day customised courses, developed with tech giants IBM, Lazada, Microsoft and Samsung. Courses cost S$50 each, which can be paid using the S$500 SkillsFuture credits given to all Singaporeans aged 25 and above.

SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) said the aim is to instil digital confidence and a positive attitude towards digital disruptions – a point which Minister for Education (Higher Education and Skills) Ong Ye Kung stressed when launching the initiative, recently. “Every workplace that we go to – regardless of industry – we have to know IT, we have to know robotics, digital technology. We don’t have to be experts, we don’t all have to be coders but we must know that these are our friends,” he said.

He recalled the sense of unease among certain segments of the population when Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, at this year’s National Day Rally, highlighted the need to adopt cashless payments as key to Singapore’s vision of becoming a Smart Nation. “The recent feedback we got when e-payment came onstream was a sign of this (fear),” said Ong. “There are people who are not familiar with technology and they are afraid, concerned.”

He described the digital workplace initiative as a “friendly way” to overcome this. He hopes that “more and more workers can be familiarised with digital technologies and that will help Singapore in our economic restructuring”.

The courses, which SSG chief executive Ng Cher Pong said have already drawn strong interest from the public and small and medium-sized enterprises, will introduce participants to how technology can uplift jobs and personal lives.

Recognising that a one-size-fits-all approach will not work, SSG has appointed seven training partners, including Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP), NTUC LearningHub and Singapore Management University, to deliver customised courses.

For example, though they will share a common syllabus, one course explores the use of 3D-printing, while another shows how digital ordering and kitchen automation can improve productivity in the food and beverage industry.

Participants can also learn how to search for information online and harness digital data, use e-commerce platforms to start an online business, or even how to shop online and compare prices.

Megan Ong, director of NYP’s Singapore Institute of Retail Studies, one of the training providers, said some people, “especially from the bricks-and-mortar generation”, see the adoption of tech as a hurdle .

“But we want to let the public know that tech can actually help them in their day-to-day living.”

He was 87. Born in 1930, Phuong joined the Communist Party when he was 17 and served in many positions from the central agencies to the local governments, a first-hand witness to the tumultuous history of Viet Nam in the 20th century.

In 1966, at the age 36, he was entrusted with the position of deputy editor-in-chief at the Vietnam News Agency.

During his six years (1990-1996) there, Phuong together with the board of directors implemented renovation efforts to help the national news agency keep up with new demands for journalism in the time of international integration.

In the introduction to his book “Journalism – Unforgettable Memories” (published in 1998), Phuong wrote, “No matter what era, a journalist must be dedicated, righteous, and brave.” His life and works have stayed true to these words.

The wake and the funeral will be held on October 12 from 7:30 to 9:30am at the National Funeral Home at No 5, Tran Thanh Tong Street, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi.

The burial ceremony will be held in his hometown, Vinh Bao District, of the northern port city of Hai Phong.