Indonesia once enjoyed a commodity boom in coal and crude palm oil (CPO), but missed a chance to create a downstream industry. Thus, the prolonged moderate prices of commodities have made Indonesian exports to China diminish.

“It was good during the good times, but now their demand is different and they already offer investments. Shifting from trading to investment is important,” said Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro during the Mandiri Investment Forum 2016 in Jakarta on Wednesday.

He pointed out that Malaysia and Vietnam created downstream industries and now change commodities into finished goods. Those kinds of goods were in line with China’s growing consumer demands.

The number of aircraft take-offs and landings grew by 1.4 per cent year-on-year to 346,330, Changi Airport Group said on Wednesday (Jan 27).

December was an especially busy month with 5.29 million passenger movements recorded, the highest ever for any single month since the airport opened in 1981.

Changi’s top 10 markets last year by passenger traffic were Jakarta, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Manila, Tokyo, Bali, Ho Chi Minh City, Taipei and Sydney.

Last year also saw seven new carriers begin operations at Changi Airport.

They include Batik Air, Thai Lion Air and Myanmar National Airlines.

Nine new points, including Lucknow, India and Luang Prabang in Laos, were added to Changi’s network.

The airport also celebrated its 500th best airport award in November.

Changi Airport Group chief executive Lee Seow Hiang, said: “2015 was a year of two halves for Changi Airport. Following 2014, which saw a number of airline incidents in the region and depressed yields for many regional carriers, we had a relatively weak first six months with flat growth for the period.

“Nevertheless, we pressed on to actively woo new airlines and seek growth opportunities with existing ones, and our efforts have yielded some positive outcomes.”

But challenges remain, he stressed.

“Economic uncertainty in many markets, made worse by lacklustre business and consumer confidence, may dampen travel demand in the near term,” he said. However, low fuel prices should boost airlines’ profitability.

The outlook for Changi is also bolstered by positive developments such as the addition of new city links and airlines in the coming months, he said.

These include Singapore Airlines’ new services to Dusseldorf in Germany as well as the arrival of Fiji Airways’ new direct service from Nadi in April.

Asia also continues to present exciting growth opportunities, with untapped tourism potential in many parts and growing affluence in the emerging economies driving air travel.

Lee said: “Changi Airport is well placed to capture future growth with our expanding network, including many secondary cities, to key markets like China, India and Indonesia. We will continue to work closely with our airline partners to establish new connections to develop the Singapore air hub and better serve our passengers.”

According to the draft, major support activities of the programmes include investment promotion activities at home and abroad for attracting investment for producing products, as well as to support industries and develop local and export markets for those products, reported chinhphu.vn website.

The programmes involve providing information and databases on the support industry, to transfer technology, manufacturing support for industry products, and to build production management systems to meet international standards for support industry enterprises. They will also combine support industry enterprises with multi-national groups, and train skilled managers and staff for support industries.

The ministry has proposed capital of 300 billion Vietnamese dong (US$305,746 million) for 2,000 support industry enterprises to provide support for those enterprises in developing international management standards and systems.

This information was released at a meeting with the Viet Nam Maritime Administration in Ha Noi recently.

Mizushima Port is a large port in Japan with the volume of containers reaching 160,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) per year – the 7th largest volume in Japan, chairman of Mizushima Seaport Association Hayato Murase said.

The maritime route between Da Nang city and Mizushima Port has become increasingly more important and the Mizushima port has put into place many plans to expand its container ports, he added.

Nomura Research said in a report that the relatively slow Internet speed in Malaysia could also be a factor that works in Astro’s favour, as the present quality of telco infrastructure in the country could hinder good video streaming experience, which would be necessary for Netflix to take off.

“We see several factors that should help to mitigate the impact of Netflix on Astro’s subscriber and revenue outlook over the near term.

“While Netflix probably has access to stronger international content than Astro, especially for TV shows, sports and local content will continue to be the key differentiating factors for Astro’s content,” Nomura said in its report yesterday.

Independent economist Lee Heng Guie said that while property prices would be easing further, a sharp fall in property prices would be unlikely.

“This is because Malaysia is not heading for an economic recession,” he said during a presentation at the 9th Malaysian Property Summit last week.

“The softening property market renders the buyers the opportunity to purchase property. For foreigners looking to invest in real estate in Malaysia, the weaker ringgit comes as a boon,” he said.

Lee said the local property market was still hampered by affordability issues, weak economic growth as well as cautious sentiment.

“The prospects of higher domestic interest rates in 2017 may be a dampening factor.

“Likewise, the banks are expected to maintain vigilance in the evaluation of property loans while ensuring the good credit-worthy borrowers will continue accessing to home financing.”

Lee said he hoped that the property cooling measures would stay for now.

“The right time to adjust some of the measures is when the market equilibrium is a lot more certain and sustainable. An over-adjustment of the property sector must be avoided for now.”

He added that the authorities should monitor closely the supply and demand conditions to avoid over-building in some segments, as well as prevent systemic risk to the banking sector, in an event of a severe correction in property prices and prolonged economic slowdown.

“While ensuring a sustainable property sector, Bank Negara should ensure the banking institutions continue to lend to those eligible borrowers.

“Fiscal incentives such as stamp duty relief and developers’ interest bearing schemes should consider for the first time home buyer and for the property priced below RM1mil,” Lee said.

Director of the provincial Industrial Zones Authority Tran Xuan Duong said the province prioritises advanced technology and environmentally-friendly projects with minimal energy consumption.

The province will bolster information and delegation exchanges regularly with representatives from investment promotion organisations such as the Foreign Investment Agency, the Investment Promotion Centre-North Vietnam, JETRO-Japan and KOTRA-the Republic of Korea, he added.

Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) head Franky Sibarani said investment in labour-intensive industries would probably increase, if the government could soon settle land issues and grant allowances on income tax.

“While a number of factors have attracted investment commitments in the labour-intensive sector … there are still some hurdles in actualising those commitments,” he said at a press conference.

He said his agency would focus on pushing the government to provide immediately a definitive regulatory framework on land booking and tax allowances for labour-intensive industries.