| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
ECONOMYNEXT – Economic ministers from ten Association of South East Asian Nations and five other partners inked a Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement in Vietnam, touted as the world largest trade deal.
The partners include China, the world most populous nation, Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand and covers 47.5 percent of the world population (3.6 billion people) and 28 percent of global trade and a combined gross domestic product of 32 trillion US dollars.
Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand making up the ASEAN already has low tariffs and visa free travel.
Viet Nam said the deal, signed in semi-virtual 37th ASEAN meeting, would allow the countries to bounce back faster from a Coronavirus pandemic.
“In the light of Covid-19, RCEP could enable ASEAN to bounce back more quickly as such a deal allows firms to diversify their supply chains and increase resiliency of the regional economies,” Vietnam’s government said.
“The agreement aims to reduce tariffs and improve supply chains between Asian nations.”
The agreement comes after eight years of negotiations, and after the US pulled out of a Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), after Donald Trump, a nationalist with Mercantilist beliefs on trade deficits, was elected to office.
He lauded efforts made by relevant sides to address issues in the negotiations, saying he is delighted as after eight years of working hard, the sides have completely concluded the negotiations, enabling the signing of the agreement within the framework of the 37th ASEAN Summits and Related Summits.
“The global and regional economies are facing huge obstacles and challenges caused by not only COVID-19 but also the decreased global trade,” Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said.
“Therefore, the conclusion of the negotiations of the RCEP, the largest free trade agreement in the world, will send a strong message of ASEAN’s leading role in supporting the multilateral trade system, helping to create a new trading structure in the region, facilitating trade sustainably, developing the disrupted supply chains and supporting post-pandemic recovery.”
Vietnam’s continued reliance on free trade comes as Sri Lanka which is burdened by Mercantilism and monetary instability, tightened import controls and industries have to get permission to import raw material with blocked supply chains.
The supply chain to the cooking pot is also been hit by a ban on turmeric, which is encouraging smuggling and raising the risks of Coronavirus entering through fishermen, critics say.
“RCEP is primarily beneficial for goods trade because it will progressively reduce tariffs on many products,” Vietnam’s government said.
“In addition, the deal will allow businesses to sell the same goods within the bloc but do away with the need to fill out separate paperwork for each export destination and help Asian producers to sell more of their products to the rest of the region.
“Even for companies that export goods outside the bloc, there’ll be incentives to build their supply chains across RCEP member countries.”
CSE plans single window to facilitate new listings.
The Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) plans to introduce a “single window” customer relationship unit that will be set up within the CSE to identify potential listing candidate companies, work with such companies, and assist them through the listing process.
The CSE expects this to make it easier for companies and their advisors to understand and address any problems faced in the process through a single point of contact.
This single window is part of a larger CSE action plan that has been launched to address key areas relating to the process of listing a company on the CSE with the objective of enhancing its efficiency, thereby better serving the funding requirements of companies belonging to both state and private sectors. The CSE said it expects the action plan to further simplify the process, eliminate any redundant approval steps, reduce documentation, and improve the time to market for companies’ new and follow-on offerings of equity and debt.
Measures have already been taken to change listing criteria by offering a wider choice of listing options for companies and further amend the listing rules to enable a simplified process in addition to carrying out changes to internal infrastructure of the CSE to ensure a smoother process workflow.
Commenting on the new plan, CSE Chairman Dumith Fernando said: “Increasing the number of companies listed on the exchange is one of the CSE’s key strategic objectives. We have to make exponential progress on this front. As businesses approach the post-Covid period, it is likely that funding will be a top priority, and we have versatile options available to address the different funding requirements of corporates.
“We have put in place systems and processes to cater to an ever-evolving business landscape in Sri Lanka and we stand ready to meet the requirements of our corporate stakeholders. We strongly believe that the steps we are taking to simplify the listing process would attract more companies to raise capital through the CSE, helping them unlock value and create wealth for their shareholder.”
The CSE has already commenced stakeholder engagement to obtain feedback to carry out further improvements to the CSE’s overall listing process.
Improvements expected from this new CSE plan include the reduction of documentation that has to be submitted with the listing application and the removal of certain disclosures in the prospectus/introductory document. In this connection, the CSE said it would commence discussions with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka (SEC) to streamline the current dual-approval process.
With the objective of further enhancing the transparency of the listing process, an online tracking tool for all listing applications that have been submitted to the CSE will also be introduced, which would provide issuers with more transparency in tracking the status of their applications and understanding which parties hold primary responsibility at each step of the process.
The CSE now offers equity or debt-based fundraising options for companies of all sizes, from large conglomerates to SMEs (small and medium enterprises), through versatile listing platforms such as the Main, Diri Savi, and Empower Boards.
MyHealth Sri Lanka Mobile App Launched by the Ministry of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine together with the Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) of Sri Lanka
[Colombo, Sri Lanka] – Ministry of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine together with the Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) of Sri Lanka, the apex ICT institution in the country has developed an application to inform, engage and react to the deadly spread of the New Coronavirus also known as Covid-19 under the instructions of his excellency the President Gotabhaya Rajapakse. This is in the wake of a global pandemic reaching the shores of Sri Lanka and with the steadily rising number of infected citizens, the need for a robust mobile application was felt.
Representatives from both organizations including volunteers from the private sector worked tirelessly to ensure that through this app citizens will have access to a news feed that shares verified information on the current MyHealth Sri Lanka mobile app populated by data shared by medical authorities. Once downloaded through either the Google PlayStore, Huawei Appstore store and Apple app store, citizens will be prompted to record their location at the time of using the application. The application locally maps the trail of the mobile app user's locations traveled so that in an unfortunate event of the app user being infected with the virus, they can disclose the stored location history information with the authorities to protect their family and friends who they have associated with, in the last 14-days. All recorded location data are kept securely within the mobile, and will not be transmitted to any external systems without the consent of the mobile app user. If you have crossed paths with an infected individual, you have the option to self-register with the national disease surveillance system.
Adani Group is the front-runner to develop Sri Lanka’s stalled East Container Terminal in Colombo port, people with knowledge of the matter said, helping billionaire Gautam Adani expand his port business overseas.
Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd and a local partner received an in-principle approval to sign a deal with Sri Lanka Ports Authority, which will hold majority stake in the project, the people said, asking not to be identified citing rules for speaking with the media.
Details of the stake holding are still being worked out after a review of the project following labor protests that had stalled the deal before parliamentary elections in August, they said. India’s foreign ministry and the Adani Group didn’t immediately respond to requests seeking comments.
Adani, India’s biggest ports and logistics company, had signed a preliminary agreement for the project last year.
Work on reviving the project, being jointly developed by Sri Lanka, India and Japan, comes at a time of rising regional tensions with China. Both India and Japan are members of the informal Quad grouping that along with US and Australia is seen as a counter to Beijing’s influence in the Indo-Pacific region.
While the deal was agreed upon last year, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had announced a review after protests by labor unions who feared foreign control over the strategic project, according to reports. The island nation had earlier depended heavily on China for its infrastructure development in the first half of this decade, creating tensions with New Delhi.
The neighbors began rebuilding trade and investment ties before the coronavirus pandemic struck. In July, India extended a $400 million currency swap facility to Colombo to assist with post-pandemic economic recovery. The two countries also discussed deferring of debt repayment during Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa’s first high-level virtual meeting since his re-election with Narendra Modi in September.
Sri Lanka — which emerged from a three-decade civil war in 2009 — was known for taking Chinese loans to fund vast infrastructure projects, including ports and highways, that eventually became part of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative. Its appetite for Chinese cash waned after rising debt forced it to sell the Hambantota port back to China Merchants Port Holdings.
Meanwhile, the country’s port authority last week started operations at parts of the East Container Terminal that it has already built, said Chairman Daya Ratnayake.
The agreement signed between Sri Lanka’s former government with India and Japan “is still on,” he said. The Sri Lankan government “is in discussions on how to operationalize it.” (timesofindia)
Money worries may age your heart as much as serious disease.... We often talk about heart health in terms of diet, exercise, and genetics....