On a DAPG Forum in 2008 David Marsh raised a question that I kept in mind. We asked him to deal with a rather arbitrary mix of markets, namely Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan and Australia. Thinking of what these countries have in common, the Austronesian Expansion as a historic reference came into mind. David took the chance to reflect across fixed boundaries and affiliations and - refering to the then (and now) pressing inflation scenario in Vietnam against the wealth of deposites in Australia, his question was this: would there be once a stabilizing solidarity between countries in Asia Pacific and would Australia - as an example - be willing to give a helping hand even if - in my words - it is not about gas/oil and it is not Papua-Newguinea?
The Asian Development Bank more and more becomes a cathalyst as well as a channel for actions to compensate and adjust between markets in a long time perspective. It is Japan, that uses this mechanism as a donor since years more then every other country with a lot of special funding under way. Others will have to step in. A joint fund for financing of infrastructure projects in ASEAN countries was recently announced. The ASEAN Infrastructure Fund is managed by ADB and will be based in Malaysia that is the largest contributor.
The Asian bond market in the 2.Quarter 2011 attracted corporate investment that fairly compensates for a phasing out of government incentives that aimed at consolidating economies. All this looks rather well. And what about Europe?
If I am not wrong, many decision makers in ASEAN countries these days have puzzled eyes on what happens in that once admired European best practise of a circle of nations. No doubt: the differences are countless and that starts with the framework for currency. But the challenge to mediate levels of market power between more leading and more peripheric markets has to be solved not only in Europe. Lessons in an global "World 3.0" (Pankaj Ghemawat) are lessons for all, precisely because specifics may be different. and precisely because we want to have specifics further on.
This issue presents recent findings of a group of European scholars on Chinese companies acitivities in Europe. DAPG supports an ongoing field work of the group in Mainland China.
Monika Muylkens from iMOVE explains recent developments and programs in vocational education in India and wants to motivate providers of programs to join for export.
Horst Kircher is an expert in automotive production and had the chance to visit a Chinese supplier who is about to start internationalization. Kirchers lucid analysis puts things into perspective.
Martin Wolf takes Expo 2012 in Yeosu / South Korea as a motivation to deal with the growing importance of water dominated environments and presents three stories with the first one starting in Bangkok.
Dr. Guy-Jin Hwang is the secretary of the East Asian Social Policy Network (EASP) and we are happy to receive his report about the recent conference in Hongkong.
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