Via Asia Times, a look at Russia’s efforts to develop its Far East region: Russia’s government is offering tax breaks, special economic zones and other incentives to investors in the Far East areas of the country, including the Free Port of Vladivostok, to broaden the economy from natural resource extraction to processing industries and services. […]
Read more »Via Asia Times, a look at whether Myanmar – long viewed as Southeast Asia’s ‘connectivity’ laggard – is poised to allow more foreign-built ports, roads and rails: Despite its 2,000 kilometer-long coastline, reaching from Bangladesh to the west and Thailand to the east, Myanmar is home to only nine functioning ports, with the one in […]
Read more »Courtesy of the New York Times, an article on the Trump administration’s interest in Afghan minerals: President Trump, searching for a reason to keep the United States in Afghanistan after 16 years of war, has latched on to a prospect that tantalized previous administrations: Afghanistan’s vast mineral wealth, which his advisers and Afghan officials have […]
Read more »Courtesy of Russia Briefing, a report on a number of agreements signed by Russia and China related to OBOR activities: As predicted, a significant array of economic cooperation agreements were signed between Russia and China during President Xi Jinping’s recent visit to Moscow. The deals include the creation of the new US$10 billion China-Russia RMB Investment Cooperation Fund, which provides access […]
Read more »Via Forbes, an article on Kazakhstan’s focus on China’s OBOR initiative: The jury is still out about China’s One Belt One Road development project. But Kazakhstan isn’t too worried. If there is one country in Eurasia, if not the world, that is more gung-ho about the new Silk Road to Europe, it’s these guys. Should the government play […]
Read more »Via Bloomberg, a report on North Korea’s economic growth: North Korea’s economy grew in 2016 at the fastest pace since 1999, helped by a recovery from a drought in 2015. Military spending, including on testing nuclear weapons and missiles, also boosted growth, and raised tensions in the region. Gross domestic product expanded 3.9 percent from […]
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