The Asian Economic Integration Report 2018 (AEIR) says collective action to build regional public goods brings greater benefits than if countries work alone to address issues that also affect their neighbors. Regional public goods are goods, services, and systems of policies or rules that have shared benefits across countries, such as cross-border infrastructure, communicable disease control, and disaster risk management.“Enhanced regional cooperation and coordination can help countries manage regional issues, particularly if they complement national and global actions,” said ADB Chief Economist Mr. Yasuyuki Sawada. “Multilateral development banks can help increase regional public goods by reducing knowledge and financing gaps as well as promoting regular policy dialogue for long-term cooperation among countries.”Photo: ADBThe report points to several efforts in Asia to establish and strengthen regional public goods. For example, the 2014 pledge by 18 Asian … [Read more...] about Regional cooperation can help Asia tackle rising cross-border…
Cross borders
Vietnam university to hold forum on cross-border higher education
The Hanoitimes - Along with the forum, an education exhibition will be held at the university’s campus, with the participation of representatives from international higher education institutions. Hanoi-based Foreign Trade University on October 8 will host the annual forum on internationalization in higher education with the theme “Mutual Recognition in Cross-Border Higher Education", with the 2018 International Education Exhibition for students as one of the supporting activities. The headquarters of Foreign Trade University in Hanoi. Cross-border higher education is a development process of internationalization of higher education in the process of globalization, which is demonstrated throughout a wide range of cooperation activities. The open forum will provide an opportunity for representatives of Vietnamese and international universities to connect, discuss and share experience and solutions to develop a suitable policy system that support the sustainable … [Read more...] about Vietnam university to hold forum on cross-border higher education
Vietnam amends Competition Law to better manage cross border deals
Vietnam is upgrading its Competition Law to manage cross-border deals and control economic concentration in the market. Experts shared thoughts at the workshop to disseminate the Law on Competition 2018 in Ho Chi Minh City The amended Competition Law, which is slated to take effect on July 1, 2019, covers lots of progressive provisions attuned to international best practices. Compared to the Law on Competition 2004, the new law is based on a combination of economic and legal ideas to increase the effectiveness of enforcement. One of these is changing the approach to economic concentration. Accordingly, economic concentration is no longer considered an anti-competitive act per se. Controlling economic concentration will be based on assessing its impact on competition instead of notification requests and limiting the combined market shares of involved parties. According to Tran Phuong Lan, head of the Economic Concentration Control Department under the Vietnam Competition … [Read more...] about Vietnam amends Competition Law to better manage cross border deals
China’s cross-border e-commerce trade volume up 25pct YoY in H1
In terms of imports and exports structure, cross-border e-commerce transactions took up some 22.9 percent and 77.1 percent, respectively, in the country's total imports and exports during the first six months. The rapidly-expanding cross-border e-commerce could be attributed to policy support from the government. Specifically, executive meeting of the State Council held on Jun 13 vowed to further support e-commerce development and to release measures on boosting imports. Furthermore, the State Council set up another 22 cross-border e-commerce pilot areas on July 13 to facilitate stable trade and improve the country's competitiveness internationally. … [Read more...] about China’s cross-border e-commerce trade volume up 25pct YoY in H1
Cross-border M&A deals cause unsolved tax issues
Cross-border M&A deals cause unsolved tax issues, illustration photo Cross-border headaches In recent years, along with the general rise in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) deals in Vietnam, overseas companies have been conducting more high-profile deals among themselves for assets based in the country. And, most of the time, tax confusion and controversies follow these transactions. The latest example is ConocoPhillips and Perenco, which do not want to pay nearly $180 million in taxes levied on the sale of its assets in Vietnam to Perenco six years ago. ConocoPhillips argued it cannot be taxed because the transaction was conducted between two foreign entities “with no taxable presence in Vietnam”. This case harkens back to the controversial Uber and Grab merger in April this year. Singapore-based Grab, the buyer of Uber’s Southeast Asian business, said it would not be responsible for taxes owed by Uber to the Ho Chi Minh City government, which reached $2.3 … [Read more...] about Cross-border M&A deals cause unsolved tax issues