A big new State Department assessment has identified a major threat to global security. It’s not ISIS or Vladimir Putin. It’s not a rickety global economy or climate change or the threat of global pandemics. Instead, the report argues, these individual problems are symptoms of a much bigger issue — namely, a slow breakdown in global […]
China says that 30 countries have been approved as prospective founding members of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). Read Here – Xinhua
Businessweek takes a look at what to expect next year
What do the 2,400 people who work for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) actually do? Read Here – Brookings
Will BRICS create a framework that is as democratic in sharing governance space with other investors and stakeholders? This will be something to watch for as the systems and structures evolve. The notion that the NDB has been “Shanghai-ed” is perhaps a shallow understanding of this exciting new initiative. Read Here – The Hindu
Leaders of the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — all emerging market nations — launch a $100 billion development bank and a currency reserve pool in their first concrete step toward reshaping the Western-dominated international financial system. The bank, aimed at funding infrastructure projects in developing nations will be based in Shanghai and […]
The huge coming out party in Myanmar since 2012 has officially veered into hangover territory. That’s the gist of this Asia Sentinel feature that cites recent World Bank and U.S. State Department warnings about everything from the difficulty of doing business to unproductive investments to infrastructure-related bottlenecks, writes William Pesak Read Here – Bloomberg
At the turn of the century Afghanistan was economically comatose. The arrival of international forces in 2001 also marked the start of unprecedented international support. After 12 years of conflict, Afghanistan remains a burden for the international community. Read Here – The Diplomat
Britain is a rich country accruing many of the stereotypical bad habits of a developing country. Read Here – The Guardian
The World Bank’s survey of Women, Business and the Law reports that almost 90 percent of the world’s countries still have at least one legal difference restricting women’s opportunities in 2014. Read Here – Businessweek
looking beyond borders 