Innovative businesses show greater productivity, study shows

BUSINESSES chasing innovation were more than twice as likely to improve productivity as those that didn't, new government data shows.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics business characteristics figures show productivity improved for a third of businesses that "innovated" in 2011-12.

Innovation was defined as new or improved good or services, operations, marketing or management changes.

But only 14% of businesses that did not actively pursue innovation in 2011-12 had any improvement in their productivity.

ABS Andrew Puljic said those businesses actively pursuing new products or ways of doing business were also more likely to report a rise in the number of new jobs and profits.

The data also showed 18% of all Australian businesses sought debt or equity finance in 2011-12, with the vast majority (88%), getting the finance.

China ready to build on Philippine shoal, says Philippine defence secretary

Philippine Defence Secretary Voltaire Gazmin has accused China of preparing to build a structure on an uninhabited group of reefs within its territory.

The Philippine armed forces took aerial photographs of three Chinese coastguard ships and about 30 concrete blocks on the Scarborough Shoal, which China calls Huangyan Island, on August 31, Defence department spokesman Peter Galvez said.

The accusation adds to tensions days after President Benigno Aquino rejected conditions China set for him to attend a trade fair. The Philippines, a US treaty ally, lacks the military force to deter China from controlling disputed waters that may contain oil and gas reserves.

The Philippines asked the UN in January to rule on its maritime disputes with China, a move that leaders in Beijing oppose.

Asked about Gazmin's remarks, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said yesterday that he had no information about the matter.

China to Launch Shanghai Free Trade Zone on September 29th

The Shanghai Free Trade Zone will be officially launched on September 29th, according to Wang Xinkui, Director of the Counselor’s Office of the Shanghai Government.

Wang said the free trade zone will further improve the level of opening-up to promote domestic reforms. Moreover, with the view to improve and optimize the business environment, the zone will test the reform of the investment administrative system in accordance with international standards.

Wang also said that the free trade zone will ease some restrictions for foreign banks in terms of capitals, business scope and establishment of branches.

HSBC, Standard Chartered and the Bank of East Asia will be the first three foreign banks permitted to establish branches in the zone.

However, Wang said the reform will be rolled out in a prudent way, and details of the reform will not be the same as most people expected. The free trade zone will pilot with certain products first, which involves the opening-up of capital accounts and lifting restrictions on interest rates and foreign exchange quotas.

SCO summit promotes regional stability, cooperation

Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) leaders conducted in-depth exchanges of views and reached broad consensus on issues such as good-neighborly relations and key global and regional affairs during the bloc's 13th summit that closed Friday.

The meeting of the SCO Heads of State Council was held at a time when international and regional situation was getting increasingly complicated and the SCO was faced with fresh opportunities and challenges.

Analysts said that the summit will provide added impetus to safeguard regional security, deepen economic cooperation and improve people's livelihood and advance the sound steady development of the regional bloc.

In the past decade, the SCO has made remarkable achievements in regional economic cooperation. With trade scale grown and cooperation mechanism established, members states also witnessed creation of the Entrepreneurs Committee and the Inter-bank Association as well as a batch of infrastructure projects in energy, traffic and telecom fields.

SCO glimpses a new Eurasia in Bishkek

The groundwork for a new Eurasian order was laid in remote Kyrgyzstan, even as the world's attention remains focused on diplomatic maneuvers over Syria. The annual Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) last week brought together an assembly of heads of state opposed to American unilateral dominance, from Russia's President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping to Iran's newly elected President Hassan Rouhani. 

In the wake of the negotiated settlement over Syria's chemical weapons, and with the continuing waning of America's relative power, the SCO will be an increasingly relevant regional and global institution. Furthermore, this emerging alliance is poised to expand.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization was founded in 2001 by China, Russia, and the former Soviet states of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan.

Shanghai Cooperation Organization backs Russia on Syria

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which includes China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, has backed Russia's determination to seek a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Syria.

The entire world would benefit from peace in Syria, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said. 

The Kyrgyz president, Almazbek Atambayev, whose country hosts the ongoing SCO summit, gave his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin a warm welcome, which included a hug in addition to the traditional handshake.

Addressing other SCO leaders at the summit, President Atambayev expressed his deep concern at the situation in Syria. "We are deeply worried, and we believe that the conflict should be resolved solely through peaceful means, with the UN acting as a mediator," the Kyrgyz president said.

India’s membership in Shanghai Cooperation Organisation club

 Foreign minister Salman Khurshid is again expected to make a strong pitch for India's full membership of central Asia security grouping, Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) — led by Russia and China — during the summit meet, beginning in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on Friday. The government believes that with the international troops' drawdown in Afghanistan next year, SCO will play an increasingly significant role in ensuring security in the region.

India is currently an observer in the group. SCO has, however, not been able to evolve a consensus over the method for its further expansion. While China has conveyed to India that it supports New Delhi's initiative for a bigger role in the region, it is silent over the specific issue of India's full membership.

Pakistan, an observer like India, is also vying for full membership.

Hard Start for Mali's New Leader

World leaders and others who have pledged to help Mali recover from nearly two years of conflict will gather in the Mali capital, Bamako, today for the official inauguration of the newly elected president, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.

This came days after protesters jeered and threw stones at government officials visiting the northeastern city of Kidal - a Tuareg-rebel stronghold and the base of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), which seized the north of the country with the help of various Islamic factions last year. The delegation from the newly formed Department of National Reconciliation and Northern Development came to meet with the local leadership ahead of negotiations to restore national unity.

Thanks in part to his reputation as a strongman, IBK, as the president is known, was elected with over 70 percent of the vote over his second-round opponent, Soumaïla Cissé. He was touted as the candidate who could bring order back to Mali and enjoyed widespread support at home and abroad - including thinly-veiled favoritism from France, which remains a presence in Mali after leading the push to liberate the north nine months ago. But analysts say the current situation requires more than strength.

After Mali, Niger battles to secure its borders

The takeover of northern Mali by Islamist rebels after a 2012 coup, and the subsequent French-led intervention, have widened fears of a spill-over of insurgency in the region. Niger, which has socio-political problems comparable to those of Mali, is battling to secure its territory from militants still operating in Sahel’s remote wilderness. 

Niger, an impoverished Sahel nation prone to droughts and food scarcity, also faces additional threats from Boko Haram insurgents in Nigeria to the south and from militias in the north suspected to be operating in southern Libya, analysts say. 

Politically, Niger has worked to improve the inclusion of its Tuareg population to end the cycles of insurgency. 

Insecurity is an ever-present threat. The country suffered twin attacks on 23 May, when assailants struck a military base and a French-run uranium mine in the north, killing dozens. 

Niger: Another Weak Link in the Sahel?

The 23 May 2013 twin suicide attacks targeting the Agadez army barracks and an Areva mining site in Arlit, and the 1 June violent prison break in Niamey, cast a shadow over Niger’s stability. In a deteriorating regional environment, President Mahamadou Issoufou and his Western allies have favoured a security strategy that has significant limitations, as elsewhere in the Sahel. 

Niger, a focus of outside interest mainly for its uranium and newfound oil reserves, has recently received renewed attention. For several years, Western countries have viewed the Sahel-Sahara region as a particularly dangerous zone, characterised by the rise of insecurity, political crises and poorly controlled flows of people, arms and other licit and illicit goods. 

The 2011 Libyan civil war, the 2012 Mali crisis and the recent intensification of military confrontations between government forces and Boko Haram in northern Nigeria all affect Niger. Ideas, weapons and combatants circulate across borders. However, surrounded by crisis-ridden neighbours, 

Since 2011, Nigerien security forces have been on alert with the support of Western militaries that have been present in the country ever since. They also contribute to the UN Stabilisation Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), with a battalion deployed in the Gao region, close to Niger.

Ethiopia Urges Sudan and Egypt to Implement Panel's Report On Nile Dam

Ethiopian government on Tuesday urged Sudan and Egypt to implement the final study report presented by the international panel of experts that was established to assess the impact of Ethiopia's giant Nile dam project on downstream countries.

Ethiopia cited the findings of the report issued last June as showing that the $4.7 billion Grand Renaissance dam will not have any significant effect on lower riparian countries of Egypt and Sudan.

Cairo says the construction of the massive hydro-electric dam project will diminish its water share, becoming its prime water security concern.

Addis Ababa however argues the dam project will regulate the flow of water avoiding flooding, reduce siltation and will allow provision of clean and cheap energy to Sudan and Egypt.

Although Ethiopia is a source to 85% of the Nile's water resources, a colonial era treaty, however, has allowed Egypt to utilize the lion's share of the water resources. The treaty effectively granted the North African nation a veto power against any dam project along the Nile River in upper riparian countries. Sudan however, has expressed support to Ethiopia's dam project putting it at odds with Cairo.

Egypt's relations with Africa remain cool despite a diplomatic campaign by Cairo to reboot ties

Egyptian-African relations had witnessed some tensions resulting from the overthrow of President Mohammed Morsi, with the African Union suspending Egypt’s membership pending the restoration of constitutional rule and democracy to the country. Furthermore, tripartite negotiations with Sudan and Ethiopia pertaining to the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam were put on hold, as were discussions relating to the problem caused by the Entebbe Agreement.

Despite Egypt’s efforts to bolster its relations with other African countries, the issue of water allocations remained at a standstill during discussions pertaining to the Nile basin dossier, which continued to cause tensions between downstream states Egypt and Sudan and their counterpart upstream countries. These tensions increased as Ethiopia began building its Renaissance Dam over the Blue Nile, which constitutes a direct threat to Egypt’s water interests in the river Nile.

Soy rules in Latin America as China, Europe beckon

Prices have quadrupled over the past dozen years or so, making the Brazil-Argentina-Paraguay region the world's soy powerhouse. Their harvest in 2013 was at an all time high.

Brazil alone produced 81 million tons this year, matching that of the soybean pioneer, the United States, according to figures from the US Department of Agriculture. The last US soybean harvest was hit by drought.

At the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, thanks to burgeoning demand soy prices have shot from $100 a ton in early 2000 to more than $500 now, said Argentine economist Luciano Cohan.

China imported 60 million tons of soybean sprouts in the 2012/2013 season and plans to take another 70 million in 2013/2014.

Gustavo Grobocopatel, an Argentine nicknamed the "king of soy,", says growth will continue another 10 or 15 years before stabilizing.

Mazoyer reckons production will double in the next 50 years.

The world is developing fast, with people in emerging nations now in a position to afford meat. So demand for it and, thus, soy to feed the cows, will rise.

British consultancy Consensus Forecast, Paraguay increase in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2014 will be 4.2%. 

The data indicate that Peru will lead growth in the region with an expansion of 6.2%, followed by Bolivia with 4.8%, Colombia with 4.5% and Chile with 4.4%.

Meanwhile Paraguay clinches fifth with the summary record. Uruguay will have a similar expansion with 4.1%, while Ecuador will reach 4%, like Mexico.

Brazil will have a GDP growth rate of 2.7%.The same organization had indicated that the increase in GDP of Paraguay will be 11.1% this year, with this, the local economy will that further expansion will be taking into account, the countries of South America, Bolivia will be followed with 5.1%.

Several organizations have provided data on growth that will take the country within this year, all have revealed that the increase in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is 2 digits, ie more than 10%

Some of the issues that have driven the country's economy are increasing exports, especially soybeans and beef, and increased activity in construction.

Paraguay extends Zero Deforestation Law to 2018

The Paraguayan government has extended the “Zero Deforestation Law” for a further five years, resulting in an important conservation win for this highly threatened eco-region. 

The Land Conversion Moratorium for the Atlantic Forest of Paraguay, also known as the “Zero Deforestation Law” was enacted in 2004 and dramatically slowed the country’s deforestation rate by prohibiting the transformation and conversion of forested areas in Paraguay's eastern region.

The Atlantic Forest, located in Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina, is one of the world's most endangered tropical rainforests, with just 7 percent of its original surface coverage remaining. Despite the massive deforestation, fragmentation, habitat destruction and degradation of rivers, it contains nearly 7 percent of the world’s plant and animal species, many of which are endemic and threatened with extinction. 

After Paraguay approved the Zero Deforestation Law for the eastern part of the country in 2004, there was a decrease of deforestation by about 90 percent. 

Mongolia to Take Areva Uranium Stake to Help Revive Investment

Areva has explored for uranium in Mongolia since 1997 and has 144 staff in the country, according to its website. MonAtom’s stake would be in Areva Mongol’s unit, Areva Mines LLC, the company that will produce the uranium.

Areva Mongol owns 27 uranium exploration permits in the country and is seeking to upgrade them to allow mining. It is negotiating an equity interest with state-owned MonAtom LLC, according to the Paris-based company’s website. Japan’s largest trader, Mitsubishi Corp. (8058), is also a potential investor, it said.

Mitsubishi is waiting for Mongolian government approval to exercise its option on Areva Mongol shares, Japan’s biggest trading company said in an e-mailed response to questions. The approval is expected in the near future, Mitsubishi said.