Xi made the remark in a meeting with visiting Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Beijing.

There is great potential for China and Bangladesh to enhance cooperation, Xi said, adding that the two countries should promote cooperation in digital economy and jointly build the Digital Silk Road.

Xi pointed out that since his state visit to Bangladesh in 2016, bilateral cooperation has entered a new stage of rapid development and has injected new impetus into the economic development of both sides and brought benefits to both peoples.

Noting that both nations are at critical periods of their development, he said that strengthening and developing the China-Bangladesh strategic partnership of cooperation will not only meet the interests of both countries, but also contribute to the prosperity and stability of Asia and the openness of the world.

During the meeting, Xi urged the two countries to develop their traditional friendship and strive for cooperation and common development.

Xi highlighted the importance of high-level communication in guiding the exchanges of all areas. The two countries should maintain exchanges in government departments, legislative authorities and political parties and reach more consensus on bilateral ties, he said.

China appreciates Bangladesh’s support in issues related to the country’s core interests, Xi said, adding that China will continue to support Bangladesh as always to safeguard national sovereignty, develop a path that fits the country’s situation and maintain political and social stability.

China would like to strengthen exchanges with Bangladesh in education, culture, youth and media areas, Xi said, adding that China would like to continue offering a hand to Ban¬gladesh in anti-terrorism and capacity building of law enforcement.

Hasina offered her congratulations on the 98th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China and the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. She also commended the great success made by China under Xi’s guidance.

Bangladesh cherishes the bilateral friendship made by previous leaders, she said, adding that Bangladesh firmly supports the one-China policy.

Hasina expressed gratitude for China’s support for the development of her country, saying that Bangladesh expects China to continue supporting the South Asian nation’s development.

The two countries should enhance cooperation in trade, investment, infrastructure, digital economy and anti-terrorism areas, she said.

Hasina said Bangladesh would like to learn from China’s experience of governance, proactively participate in jointly building the Belt and Road and promote the building of the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor.

On Thursday, China and Bangladesh signed a number of agreements focused mainly on power generation and economic cooperation, with Premier Li Keqiang and Hasina witnessing the signings.

The producers of “Law of the Jungle,” a jungle survival entertainment program on SBS, faces police investigation in Thailand. The show’s producers have since released a public apology over the issue.

According to news reports, Thai authorities are looking into possible violation of local environmental laws by the show’s cast in episodes filmed on Ko Mook Island in southern Thailand. The show consists of celebrities being sent to remote locations where they engage in survival activities including collecting and hunting food stuff.

A recently aired episode of the program showed actress Lee Yeol-eum collecting three specimens of a species of giant clam. The following episode, which has not been aired yet, is said to show the cast cooking and eating the clams.

However, Thai media reported that the clams are protected under Thai law, and collecting the species is punishable by less than 4 years in prison or a fine of about Bt40,000.

According to reports, Thailand’s Hat Chao Mai National Park authorities have requested a police investigation of the producers of the show.

Lam, with HKTDC executive director Margaret Fong and Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Edward Yau, met with members of the media on Friday to introduce measures to support local businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), to tackle challenges resulting from current economic uncertainties and the Sino-US trade conflict.

“There will be a long drawn-out trade technology rivalry and continued trade conflicts between the United States and China, creating a fundamental change in the global economic order in terms of production and trade patterns. Hong Kong businesses must be prepared to make changes,” Lam said. “The further opening up in the mainland, Asia and other emerging economies will provide fresh opportunities for Hong Kong companies.”

He added that the HKTDC has been supporting the development of local SMEs for more than 50 years. “We will utilise our international network of 50 offices to comprehensively assist Hong Kong businesses to diversify and find new opportunities amid the challenges.”

Lam said the HKTDC’s priority in the coming year is to help Hong Kong businesses explore new markets and seek out new manufacturing investment partnerships and different supply chain models that can enhance their capabilities and competitiveness.

The announcement follows a visit to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE) on Thursday by SC chairman Syed Zaid Albar.

During their discussions, SZSE chairman Wu Lijun emphasised the strong success of the exchange in financing innovative Chinese companies and small and medium-sized enterprises, including those in the technology and advanced manufacturing sectors, which are closely aligned to Malaysia’s economic priorities.

At the same time, there are already a number of SZSE-listed companies operating in Malaysia under the Belt and Road Initiative, creating natural synergies and opportunities for collaboration between both countries’ capital markets.

Albar said that the SC, along with Bursa Malaysia, have had numerous engagements with the SZSE in recent months to discuss initiatives for greater cross-border connectivity, exchange of technical expertise and human capital development. “We look forward to deepening the ties between Malaysia and China through this collaboration,” he said.

The SZSE was established on December 1, 1990 as a self-regulated legal entity under the supervision of the China Securities Regulatory Commission. It is one of two main stock exchanges in China, with a market capitalisation of US$3 trillion as of May 2019.

State Agriculture, Agro-Based, Entrepreneur Development and Cooperative Committee chairman Norhizam Hassan Baktee said it was untrue for anyone to claim that Melaka was under siege by “Godzilla”.

“I received a call at 2am (July 5) claiming that giant monitor lizards were entering homes here.

“I checked with the state National Park and Wildlife Department and other relevant agencies, but no reports have been received,” he said on Friday (July 3).

Norhizam said Melaka River was home to a high population of monitor lizards, but people would have alerted the Civil Defense Force or State Fire and Rescue Department if the reptiles entered their homes.

“The viral pictures of the monitor lizard climbing the fence of a house that was sent to me was probably from another state,” he said.

Norhizam added that he didn’t mind receiving calls in the wee hours of the morning, but hoped that the callers would first verify the messages received through social media before jumping to conclusions.

Jakarta recently chose to abstain from the Osaka Declaration on the Digital Economy, launched during the G20 Summit last week, despite its spirit of pushing forward with the development of the internet-based economy.

The Foreign Ministry’s development, economy and environment director Agustaviano Sofjan explained that the position was taken to secure Indonesia’s national interests amidst possible digital data exploitation.

“Indonesia supports any efforts to encourage the digital economy. However, in any negotiation about the digital economy, it is important to safeguard data privacy so that Indonesians’ personal data will not be exploited by countries mastering digital technology,” he told The Jakarta Post recently.

He then explained that the Osaka Declaration on the Digital Economy, also known as the Osaka Track, was a reiteration of a joint statement issued in the World Economic Forum in January in Davos this year.

In the document, 76 countries stated that they had agreed to start negotiations on e-commerce regulations at the World Trade Organization (WTO).

However, Indonesia also abstained from the Davos outcome because, Agus argued, the statement did not particularly express a commitment to securing data privacy, although Jakarta had no problem with e-commerce being ruled on under the WTO.

The country is currently deliberating a data privacy bill and expects the draft law to be passed this year.

The deliberation is a response to the rise of the digital economy in Indonesia, which has seen recently re-elected President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo make the digital economy one of his economic focuses.

The country currently boasts three start-up unicorns – companies valued at more than US$ 1billion (Bt30.5 billion), namely e-commerce firms Tokopedia and Bukalapak, as well as airline ticketing and hotel booking service Traveloka. Meanwhile, ride-hailing firm Gojek has been classified as a decacorn with a value of more than S$10 billion.

“[Regulation on e-commerce] is still developing not only in Indonesia but also in other countries. But, with the many unicorns grown in this country, it shows that we have been making progress on it,” Agus said in response to the critics.

He added that during the G20 Summit Indonesia joined the leaders’ declaration, which stated a commitment to data privacy through a Data Free Flow with Trust initiative spearheaded by Japan. The initiative was introduced by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the Davos event this year.

In the latest G20 Joint Leaders’ Statement, the leaders agreed to create regulations that allow cross-border free data movement to be conducted “with trust”, which could be built through the protection of personal information and intellectual property, as well as reinforced cybersecurity.

Separately, Indonesia’s deputy chief for international economic cooperation at the Office of the Coordinating Economic Minister, Rizal Affandi Lukman, said that Indonesia decided not to make any commitment yet by abstaining in the Osaka Track and Davos’ Joint Leaders’ Statement because it was still examining e-commerce requirements in international trade. This included cross-border transactions and their taxation.

“[Abstaining] does not mean Indonesia has been absent from international policy discussions [on e-commerce and the digital economy]. We will keep joining discussions but cannot take part in any commitment right now,” he said.

He further said that despite the abstention, Indonesia was committed to developing its digital economy and, because of that, Jokowi proposed the Inclusive Digital Economy Accelerator (IDEA) Hub initiative in the summit.

Jokowi, during a session at the last week’s event, explained that the IDEA Hub was an experience-sharing forum of digital business models of G20 unicorns with governments and private entities.

International economy expert from the University of Indonesia, Asra Virgianita said that Indonesia’s abstention was rational amidst the potential digital threat at the international level and the country’s weak digital data protection law.

“The fear of data exploitation by countries with more advanced digital technologies is certainly reasonable given the condition of the digital divide between developed and developing countries,” she said.

“On the other hand, I see that Indonesia itself has yet to draft qualified domestic regulation to anticipate the implications of the digital economy. Our domestic rules are still very weak. We are still working on this digital economy business,” she continued.

The LegCo closure will put on hold deliberations on 40 items awaiting funding, most of which affect people’s lives, according to legislator and Finance Committee Chairman Chan Kin-por IItems to be discussed by LegCo’s Finance Committee involve over HK$70 billion (Bt275.65 billion) in appropriations, including issues of public health and public housing, he said.

Andrew Leung Kwan-yuen, president of the Legislative Council, announced the legislature’s temporary closure on Thursday, attributing it to extensive damage to fire safety, security and communication systems inside the council building. The chambers are to remain closed until October, when a new legislative year starts.

While the effect would be to move up the legislature’s summer recess by two weeks, Chan has said he believes that 20 to 30 of those 40 items previously could have been moved out of committee and approved by the legislature before the recess.

Leung visited the complex with members from the LegCo Commission – which oversees the secretarial affairs of the council – before making the announcement. The LegCo building went through a violent break-in on Monday night, with hundreds of masked protesters occupying and vandalizing it for about three hours.

Leung said it is difficult to find a suitable alternative meeting venue, as a fully functioning council needs to accommodate more than 1,000 staff members.

By Thursday evening, Hong Kong police had arrested 12 people accused of involvement in storming the LegCo chambers on Monday. Police said that arrests corresponded with such offences as assaulting a police officer, unlawful assembly and possession of offensive weapons.

Among the 40 items to be scrutinized by the Finance Committee, about 20 deal with city infrastructure of different types, while others concern personnel appointments and government salary adjustments, according to a committee agenda list.

Chan said the matters he considers to be of great urgency and linked to people’s lives include appropriation extensions for several public hospitals and infrastructure projects for public housing. He said he will soon write to LegCo members to see if they would agree to scrutinise urgent livelihood issues through circulation of papers, replacing face-to-face meetings.

That type of special arrangement was once used to allocate funds for the catastrophic Wenchuan Earthquake in 2008, according to Leung.

However, Chan said that if any member on the committee disagrees with such a special arrangement, it can’t be used, according to procedural rules of the committee. In such a scenario, projects for public housing, for instance, would have to be delayed by about four months, until late October.

Just as the 4G Government will partner Singaporeans to improve policies and programmes, the labour movement will also engage workers to identify and crowdsource the best solutions amid the rapid changes in society and the world, Ng said.

“This will steer us forward for the next 50 years and beyond.”

He was speaking at the opening of the ReUnion exhibition at the National Museum of Singapore, which commemorates the 50th anniversary of NTUC’s Modernisation Seminar that set the stage for tripartite efforts between the unions, employers and the Government.

When unions took that approach, the situation was dire and it was “modernise or die”, said Ng, who is secretary-general of the National Trades Union Congress.

Now new challenges loom, brought on by technological disruption, he said. Some workers would be displaced, but many would benefit – if they can adapt. The labour movement is setting up company training committees to help reskill at least 330,000 workers to seize the new opportunities, he added,

Striking a similar note, President Halimah Yacob, who opened the exhibition, said the seminar 50 years ago was momentous for unionists.

Unions had to find ways to help achieve Singapore’s survival

“It required them to rethink their role, redefine what workers’ protection means in a more holistic manner beyond just collective bargaining and to take a stake in the future of Singapore,” she said.

While the context today is different, the challenges are equally daunting, she noted. The tripartite partners need to work even more closely together now, as global uncertainties weigh on Singapore’s economic performance, and rapid technological advancements and the ageing population reshape jobs.

Initiatives like the industry transformation maps and Adapt and Grow programmes, which help Singaporeans affected by restructuring, helping to prepare for those challenges, she noted.

Halimah, who spent 33 years in NTUC, said the way the labour movement operates in Singapore is “unique and special”. Pushing for productivity improvements, for example, is not always well received among unions in other countries due to fears of job losses.

She said that in Singapore, the tripartite relationship helped, for instance, in the 2008 financial crisis, when thousands of workers faced retrenchment. The Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience was quickly introduced, and employers worked with unions to send their excess manpower for training subsidised by the Government, instead of retrenching them.

“Many have tried to copy our model, but they have not been successful. While they can duplicate our systems and processes… it is the intangibles that are important – trust and confidence, and the commitment to treat each other with respect and to ensure that the benefits of industrial peace are shared,” she said.

Ng also said workers’ lives have improved over the past 50 years.

But the labour movement must continue to stay relevant and representative, he said.

“If you see the things that are happening around us, in our neighbourhood, in Hong Kong and in Europe today, you will see what can happen if we do not continue on a collaborative approach in labour management relations,” he said.

Halimah added: “There is a real need for our younger generation especially to understand where we started, how we started, why we took those steps, why it was important to us then, and why it continues to be equally important today.”

Chandra Mohan Patowary, Assam’s minister of commerce and industry and head of the mission, said the visit aims to brief decision-makers in Myanmar on the growth potential of Assam and the larger northeastern region of India as well as their proximity to Myanmar.

“Connectivity is our main target. Once connectivity is strengthened, business will automatically take off,” he said.

“In this regard, we are looking at improving air travel connectivity as well as transportation and roads to connect the [India’s] Northeast with Myanmar, as we see good opportunities for both sides.”

Patowary said the Assam government would facilitate cooperation between Indian and Myanmar businesses.

“Many big names are here and there are many more to follow,” he said, referring to two Indian companies — Oil and Gas Corporation Ltd and Indian Oil Corporation Ltd — that are already engaged in oil and gas exploration and production in Myanmar.

The India-Myanmar Chamber of Commerce is also organising a business mission to India next month, including top officials from Indian and Myanmar corporations . It will also meet with the governments of Rakhine and Mandalay states to explore further opportunities for cooperation in Northeast India.

Patowary said oil and gas, health, education, tourism and manufacturing are among the most promising sectors for bilateral ventures.

“By aggressively addressing challenges in these sectors, Myanmar’s economy will grow fast. We must work together to make it happen,” he said.

“We are exploring opportunities in many Southeast Asian countries, and Myanmar is really important to us. We also want Myanmar businesses to explore opportunities in the Indian market, particularly in the Northeast. Under our Act East Policy, we have opened our trade routes so we can connect through railways, waterways and airways.”

India plans to build cross-border infrastructure to enable stronger international economic ties eastwards. It will include construction of roads and international highways as well as providing seaport and rail links to boost logistics for traders across India, Bangladesh, China, and Asean, he said.

Recently, Assam-based Numaligarh Refinery Ltd exported wax to Myanmar, which Patowary has hailed as a development that underlines India’s increasing engagement with its eastern neighbour.

“Myanmar can export minerals and forest products thanks to advantages in transport cost to Northeast India. Additionally, Myanmar’s coastal areas have huge deposits of natural gas,” he said.

Patowary said India’s demand for energy is expected to rise rapidly and the growing economy and gas supply from Myanmar are of great advantage to the nation.

“Services like healthcare, hospitality and tourism can improve trade between Myanmar and Northeast India,” he said.

He foresees bilateral cooperation in the tourism sector, citing high potential for destination weddings and movie-making as well as visits to the border areas where various ethnic groups reside.

“Many ethnic groups are living along the Indo-Myanmar border from Arunachal Pradesh through Nagaland and Manipur to Mizoram. The political boundary keeps them separate,” he said.

“Softening of the border is bound to increase contacts between people sharing the same ethnicity across the boundary.”

At the event, India’s Ambassador to Myanmar Saurabh Kumar stressed the importance of connectivity in all dimensions: physical, transport and air with Southeast Asia and South Asia.

“We need more people-to-people and cultural contacts, so we build relationship between Southeast Asian countries and India. This trip reflects the initiatives that we are taking to implement the Act East policy,” he said.

India is currently the 11th largest investor in Myanmar and the country’s fifth largest trading partner. Kumar foresees a surge in the inflow of Indian investments from both public and private sectors.

“We look forward to more delegations from India visiting this country, and we also welcome delegations from Myanmar visiting India. This has already started picking up and we look forward to moving ahead,” he said.