BRICS AND DEVELOPMENT

BRICS NATIONS TO HAVE DEVELOPMENT BANK

UPI, March 27, 2013

DURBAN, South Africa, March 27 (UPI) -- The BRICS nations of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa agreed to set up a bank for infrastructure development, China's finance minister said.

Speaking in Durban, South Africa, site of the fifth summit of the BRICS nations, Chinese Finance Minister Lou Jiwei confirmed the agreement on the bank during a meeting of fellow financial ministers of the five countries.

He said the ministers "have agreed that the set-up of the development bank is feasible and reasonable," the official Chinese Xinhua News Agency reported.

Lou said it was agreed a bank to fund infrastructure projects in the member nations is needed, but that the meeting did not discuss details like initial investment of each country to the bank.

"What we have now is just a general picture," Lou said, adding details may be worked out by next year.

The Chinese minister, apparently allaying any concern a BRICS bank might challenge institutions such as the U.S.-led World Bank or the Asian Development Bank, said the bank would complement such existing institutions.

(...) [article here]

CHINA IN CENTRAL ASIA

CHINA, RUSSIA MULL INTERESTS IN CENTRAL ASIA

Raw materials and energy reserves in Central Asia make the region of particular interest to both China and Russia. The two countries share interests in region but are also each others biggest competitors.

Deutsche Welle, March 23, 2013

The relationship between Russia and China is complicated by both cooperation and competition. That could make the first official visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping in Moscow a tense one. Bilateral political and economic issues are set to dominate the agenda when Xi meets Russian Putin Vladimir Putin for two days of talks, which started Friday.

The countries enjoy what experts have often called a strategic partnership, but that does not mean relations are without problems. The energy sector often crops up as a bone of contention between the nations as both look to increase their power and influence in Central Asia.

Competition for raw materials and trade lanes

Russia and China have never been able to find common ground when it comes to Central Asia - and are unlikely to do so in the future, according to Günter Knabe, a German expert on the issue.

"They have a number of common interests that are temporary and limited," he said. "But there are many more issues on which they are competitors - if not even enemies."

China is currently driven by one main interest: expanding its own economy. That's one of the goals the leaders of China's Communist Party set themselves.

"China needs raw materials and energy and it is trying to get them wherever it can using whatever means it can," Knabe said, adding that Central Asia looks like a treasure chest of raw materials and energy reserves to leaders in Beijing.

(...) [article here]

INDIA AND THE BRICS

SHOULD INDIA STOP PAYING ATTENTION TO THE BRICS GROUP, A SINKING SHIP?

The Economic Times, April 22, 2012

India has just a 50% chance of becoming a breakout nation (exceeding expectations of 7% GDP growth) in coming years. So says Morgan Stanley honcho Ruchir Sharma in a fascinating new book, Breakout Nations.

There is no better book for country-by-country accounts of emerging markets (and riskier ones called frontier markets). Its strong point is the author's reliance on grassroots experience in each country, avoiding statistical charts.

His surprise prediction: the top breakout prospects include two Muslim democracies, Turkey and Indonesia. Tops in Europe are Poland and the Czech Republic. Asia's potential breakouts include Sri Lanka and the Philippines. Nigeria and East African nations may qualify too.

India's big advantage, says Sharma, is its low income base and big catch-up possibilities. He correctly sees huge potential in the sharply accelerating backward states of north and central India. These can grow fast for decades with little effort through catch-up with advanced states. They are being transformed by dynamic chief ministers, even as New Delhi dithers and wallows in corruption , premature welfarism and policy paralysis.

The book is a bit too pessimistic about India, which probably has more than a 50% chance of exceeding 7% growth. Sharma dismisses the demographic dividend, arising from a growing workforce, as a mere fad. But research shows that demographic dividends accelerated growth in every Asian tiger from Korea to China. India is no exception.

(...) [artículo aquí]

RUSSIAN GAS AND THE KOREAN PENINSULA

LEE SEES RUSSIA GAS PIPELINE VIA NORTH KOREA AS WIN-WIN FOR CHEAPER ENERGY

Brett Miller and Matthew Winkler

Bloomberg, September 23, 2011

South Korean President Lee Myung Bak said plans to build a natural-gas pipeline across the divided peninsula are realistic, less than a year after a deadly North Korean artillery attack on a disputed island.

“I do not consider this as a far-fetched dream,” Lee said in an interview in New York, speaking through an interpreter. He called the project “a win-win for everyone involved.”

OAO Gazprom, Russia’s gas-export monopoly, this month signed preliminary agreements with South Korea’s Korea Gas Corp. and the North Korean government to build a pipeline that would carry as much as 10 billion cubic meters of gas a year across its eastern border to the peninsula. Lee’s support for the project may signal an easing of tensions between the two nations, which haven’t signed a peace treaty following their 1950-1953 civil war.

“I’m aware that the Russians and the North Koreans have been discussing this issue and that some progress, good progress, is being made,” Lee said. “We can buy gas at reasonable prices; and for the North Koreans, they can also get some benefit by collecting the transaction fee.”

Lee rolled back his predecessor’s “Sunshine Policy” of engaging with North Korea when he came to office in 2008, arguing that the policy rewarded Kim Jong Il’s regime for provocative behavior -- a view echoed by the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama.

(...) [artículo aquí]