International students graduating in Japan could find it easier to launch their careers here if they fit into one of the categories spelled out in upcoming guidelines, which include jobs with a focus on international expansion in dining and apparel. The greater clarity on what types of workers would qualify for residency is meant to help domestic businesses hire more foreign-born talent straight out of Japanese schools. These individuals could also help promote tourism in Japan and support the Cool Japan soft-power initiative.

“Economic development does work, but it does not work overnight,” Andrew Natsios, former Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (AID), told The Cipher Brief. The problem with common criticisms of aid programs – that they are wasteful and do not produce real results – is that results are often measured only in the short term. As a result, intra-governmental audits and external studies may miss the true dividends of economic development programs, which could come to fruition decades down the line.

Both diplomacy and international relations are European constructs, products of the specific contingencies of European history. They dominate global governance not because they are universal concepts, but because of the domination firstly of European powers and then the U.S. As U.S. hegemony declines and a more genuinely multipolar world system emerges, will alternative approaches to diplomacy and global governance also emerge?

World Bank Group is considering lending Sri Lanka $100 million to expand higher education including increasing enrollment in priority areas for economic development like science, engineering and mathematics, and promoting innovation. [...] A Finance Ministry statement said the proposed programme aims to increase enrollment in higher education programmes that are important for an aspiring upper middle income country.

Representatives of Zambia’s Public-Private Partnership Unit (PPP) returned at the weekend from a visit to the United Kingdom where they presented project opportunities valued at more than USD 22 billion to prospective investors. [...] “Our motives are clear. More and better roads, railways, energy, water, sanitation and housing will improve productivity in our economy, create jobs and lift Zambians out of poverty.’’

BEIRUT: Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Sunday called for job creation across the Middle East to boost regional stability and counter extremist ideology. “This goal can only be achieved through the stimulation of economic growth and full partnership between the public and private sectors,” Hariri said, speaking at the 17th Doha Forum in Qatar.“In the age of globalization, extremism has become globalized, and so have terrorism and dangers,” he continued. “There is no way to confront them except by a globalized response.”

International politics surrounding Taiwan is quietly changing thanks to a rejuvenation in Japan–Taiwanese relations. But revitalised bilateral ties are likely to spell trouble for already rocky Sino–Japan relations. [...] The Tsai Ing-wen administration has been especially eager to expand such ties with Japan because of its anxiety over Taiwan’s economic dependence on mainland China.