Week 9 South Africa

                                          

South Africa located at the southern tip of Africa and has 2798 kilometres of coastline along with south Atlantic ocean and Indian ocean.  Their GDP of 2012 is 578,640 billion; it is the greatest economies in Africa and has great impact to other nations. Also in 2012, South Africa joined to the BRIC organization to increase international trade between Russia, Brazil, India and China.

Mining, Producing, Agricultural, and Serve industry are South Africa’s four economy pillars. Even thought South Africa has abundant resources, they have a high rate of poverty and unemployment with low GDP per capita.

According to the Council on Foreign Relation website, “South Africa’s foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows have dropped by 43.6% in the first half of 2012. The decline is the largest among all developing countries.” What factors cause this decline? Some analysts conclude the following several factors, the first factor is the South Africa’s under-performing education system that is an obstacle to improve their education performance, and investors will scruple the employees’ qualifications. Second factor is South Africa is already a well mature investment country compared with its neighboring countries; therefore it is hard to find a mispriced probability investment. The third factor is their major industries are facing saturation condition, for example, the mining industry, they have to rise the cost because of the increasing labor cost, but they just can get limit profit. 

Week 8 Future of Ports in RI

According to the ProvPort official website, “ the port of Providence is one of the busiest ports in America’s northeast, it also has the distinction of being one of only two deep-water ports in New England”. Also this port can bring around $16 million in revenue to the local and state government.

The Providence Harbor was founded in 1636 and it was developed as an active center for fishing and trading activities. As time went on, this port were getting more and more important and imported with raw materials and some manufactured goods. Moreover, during the 19^th century, ships sailed for ports around the world and some immigrants started get into the country through the port of Providence.

For today’s market the port of Providence uses the superiority of deep-water port to open more businesses. In 2010, according to the study conducted by Bryant University, the initial investment will generate more than $120 million in economic stimulus and created more than 550 jobs in Rhode Island. Also there will have more transportation funding come to the state and to improve the infrastructure of port. The port of Providence is like a model for all the efforts to spark the state’s economic growth. 

Week 7 Association of Southeast Asian Nations

                           Association of Southeast Asian Nations

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations is a geo-political and economic organization of ten countries located in Southeast Asia. This organization was established on 8 August 1967 in Bangkok, Thailand. It was originally formed by the following countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

As time went on, there are another five countries join in this organization. The following picture is their flag, according to the ASEAN official website, “the ASEAN flag is a symbol of Member States’ unity and support for the principles and endeavors of ASEAN and is a means to promote greater ASEAN awareness and solidarity.”

For the ASEAN community, it is comprised of three pillars: political-security community, economic community and socio-cultural community. Under the security community, members all agreed to resolve conflicts by use of peaceful diplomacy. For the economic community, the organization signed an ASEAN Free Trade Area agreement which is for eliminating all tariffs in those member states to increase competitiveness and efficiency. Also the socio-cultural community focuses on helping the disadvantaged groups like women, children and rural workers. For example, they have an ASEAN scholarship is to award some students in higher education institutes and aid the member countries to improve their education performance.

Week 6 International sugar agreement

                       Trade Policies for Developing Nations

                              International Sugar Agreement

Under the global economy environment, the developing countries still have to face the globalized competition from the developed countries. Therefore, there are some international agreements to assist those developing nations for better improvement. For example, The international sugar agreement, it was established in 1992 for conducting market analyses and exchanging information.

According to the international law website, they states, “the objectives of the International Sugar Agreement, 1992 (hereinafter referred to as this Agreement), in the light of the terms of resolution 93 (IV) adopted by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, are:

    (a)To ensure enhanced international cooperation in connection with world sugar matters and related issues;(b) To provide a forum for intergovernmental consultations on sugar and on ways to improve the world sugar economy;(c) To facilitate trade by collecting and providing information on the world sugar market and other sweeteners;(d) To encourage increased demand for sugar, particularly for non-traditional uses.”

This agreement can be a bridge to connect between the advanced nations and developing nations. Also it helps the developing nations to build stable export markets especially for the sugar industry and open more market of advanced nations to developing countries. 

 Reference: Public International Law. http://www.dipublico.com.ar/english/international-sugar-agreement/