Nearly half WTO members agree to talks on new e-commerce rulesThe Saigon Times Daily An Afghan shopkeeper works on his laptop at his online shop in Kabul, Afghanistan June 4, 2018 – PHOTO: REUTERS DAVOS (REUTERS) - Impatient with a lack of World Trade Organization rules to cover the explosive growth of e-commerce, 76 countries and regions including the United States, the EU and Japan agreed on Friday to start negotiating a set of open and predictable regulations. China, which is locked in a trade war with the United States, signaled conditional support for the initiative but said it should also take into account the needs of developing countries, in comments likely to rile Washington. E-commerce, or online trade in goods and services, has become a huge component of the global economy. A WTO report put the total value of e-commerce in 2016 at US$27.7 trillion, of which nearly US$24 trillion was business-to-business transactions. On the sidelines of the World Economic … [Read more...] about Nearly half WTO members agree to talks on new e-commerce rules
U s ambassador to india
India unlikely to impact balance of power in Asia: Hanoi conference
"The rise of India's economic and military power opens the possibility that the country could fill the void left by the U.S.,” Dr Sinderpal Singh of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore told a conference in Hanoi last week. But he expressed doubts about India's ability to meet the expectations of other countries that have the same objectives as he analyzed the strategic differences between India and the U.S. at the “India’s rise and its impact on regional security architecture” conference. First of all, while the U.S. looks at East Asia and the Indian and Pacific Oceans as major pillars in its strategy, India has a bigger view, asserting that those pillars must include the Indian Ocean and Africa. This has led to differences between the two, Singh said. For instance, India believes that Iran plays a key role in ensuring security in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, but the U.S. does not agree with that. … [Read more...] about India unlikely to impact balance of power in Asia: Hanoi conference
Top Trump aides rush to disavow NYTimes ‘resistance’ article
Top Trump aides rush to disavow NYTimes 'resistance' articleThe Saigon Times Daily WASHINGTON (REUTERS) - Top aides to Donald Trump scrambled on Thursday to deny authorship of an anonymous New York Times opinion column that slammed the U.S. president’s leadership style and described “a quiet resistance” to him within his own administration. By early afternoon, eight senior officials had disavowed the piece, including Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary James Mattis, while hammering the author for writing it and the Times for publishing it. Trump seethed about the piece and presented it as one more jab from the ranks of disgruntled critics in denial about his presidential successes, even as Washington was consumed with speculation about who wrote it. First Lady Melania Trump said in a statement on Twitter, “To the writer of the oped - you are not protecting this country, you are sabotaging it with your cowardly … [Read more...] about Top Trump aides rush to disavow NYTimes ‘resistance’ article
BUSINESS NEWS IN BRIEF 3/8
JLL reports on real estate M&A in first half Vietnam’s real estate market continued to exhibit irresistible appeal among foreign investors in the first half of 2018 and continued to witness high-value merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions in a variety of sectors such as residential, commercial, and industrial, according to Ms. Khanh Nguyen, Associate Director, Capital Markets, Vietnam, at JLL. Joint ventures have become popular among foreign developers who have strong financial capacity and track record, with them joining forces with local developers who own land and have strong connections with the local community. Foreign investors are from many different countries, such as Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, and with an increasing number of groups from Mainland China. JLL observes that there is an increasing number of local investors who are actively seeking real estate deals alongside foreign investors. 2018 started off with the acquisition of Sun Wah office tower … [Read more...] about BUSINESS NEWS IN BRIEF 3/8
Europeans work to save Iran deal, and business, after Trump pulls out
Dismayed European allies sought on Wednesday to salvage the Iran nuclear deal and preserve their Iranian trade after President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the landmark accord and ordered sanctions reimposed on Tehran. “The deal is not dead. There’s an American withdrawal from the deal but the deal is still there,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said. But Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, a pragmatist who helped engineer the 2015 deal to ease Iran’s economically crippling isolation, told French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in a phone call that Europe had only a “limited opportunity” to preserve the pact, the Iranian Students’ News Agency reported. “(Europe)... must, as quickly as possible, clarify its position and specify and announce its intentions with regard to its obligations,” ISNA quoted Rouhani as telling Macron. Macron, who like other European leaders had lobbied Trump to keep the agreement that … [Read more...] about Europeans work to save Iran deal, and business, after Trump pulls out