development
The pace of Burma’s political, economic, and social reforms is being matched by a boom in investment and construction... Burma’s geostrategic location between India and China and extensive natural resource wealth make it a natural crossroads for Asian trade and a focal point for broader regional integration.
Ethiopia, however, is not the sole recipient of aid, loans or developmental assistance from China. The country is fourth on a long list - behind Ghana, Nigeria and Sudan - among the top African beneficiaries of Chinese largesse. Since 2002, China has invested an estimated $75bn on the continent, hot on the heels of the United States, which invested $90bn during the same period. The US might still hold the edge over China on investment, but the Chinese replaced the US as Africa's biggest trade partner in 2009.
"Moscow is open for business," declares Andrei Sharonov, Moscow’s deputy mayor for economic policy, "but we still have challenges to overcome in increasing the city’s attraction to both domestic and international investors." This realistic assessment of Moscow’s current position is typical of the man who was appointed by the city’s mayor, Sergey Sobyanin, in late 2010 to make Moscow a global business–friendly center capable of attracting investment.
"In a world where more have access to mobile phones than toilets, people expect to participate in shaping public policies.”
The United Nations launched a new public diplomacy initiative that aims to change how decisions are made about world affairs.
To realize Smart Rwanda Days, government, in partnership with the World Bank, yesterday hosted an event to help stakeholders develop a shared vision for the initiative. The two-day forum brought together global experts in ICT and economy from Africa and beyond, as well as Rwandan ICT enthusiasts to identify possible "Smart" solutions to deliver Smart Rwanda.
Commission development aid should be used primarily for maintaining progress towards the MDGs, not for strategic or foreign policy reasons. The European External Action Service must be involved in development aid decisions, since aid is a powerful means of extending the EU’s ‘soft power’. But the decisions should continue to be taken by the Commission itself.
Pope Benedict XVI's sudden abdication of the papacy has far-reaching consequences for world affairs. They extend beyond theological divisions in the Church and thorny liturgical and eschatological issues to a potentially sharpened confessional rivalry between Islamic extremism and Christianity.