Globalization, outsourcing, G20, UN

G20 agrees on new approach to fight global poverty


It will be billed as the Seoul Consensus.

The signature pledge of this G20 summit will launch a new approach to helping the world’s poorest nations. The focus of the rich world’s efforts will shift to creating private-sector jobs and away from traditional foreign aid.

The declaration is the pride of the G20’s South Korean hosts, who view themselves as a model for poor countries to follow. Devastated by war and poverty half a century ago, a government focus on education, technology and manufacturing turned South Korea from an aid recipient to a donor.

The Globe and Mail has learned that South Korea has secured G20 support for a standalone communiqué dedicated to this business-focused approach to development. (While G20 officials have worked on the aid plan as a standalone package, it is not yet certain that it will remain a separate statement, or be wrapped in to the final communiqué.)

“An enduring and meaningful reduction in poverty cannot be achieved without inclusion, sustainability and resilient growth,” states a draft communiqué, dated Nov. 3 and obtained by The Globe. “We recognize the unique role of the private sector to create jobs and growth.”

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/g20-agrees-on-new-approach-to-fight-global-poverty/article1795472/

Incheon being readied for 2014 Asian Games

While all eyes will be on China’s southern city of Guangzhou for the 2010 Asian Games scheduled for Nov. 12-27, South Korea’s Incheon is also preparing for the 2014 Games.

Last week, the Incheon Asian Games Organizing Committee unveiled its official mascot and emblem. The mascot that reflects harbor seals which inhabit Incheon’s Baegnyeong-do, and the emblem which projects the image of people holding hands, will be on display during the Guangzhou Asian Games, promoting the Incheon Asian Games, according to the organizer

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To ensure a successful event, Guangzhou, the hub of China’s export-oriented power, has poured 6.3 billion yuan ($943 million) into the construction and maintenance of stadiums, and allocated 7.3 billion yuan as operating funds for the games. “The Incheon Asian Games will be a smaller event with less sport,” said Park.

In order to meet the requirement of the Olympic Council of Asia, the number of events will be down to 35 for the Incheon Asian Games, according to the committee.

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A total of 40 venues, 56 training sites and two athletes and media villages will be used for Incheon Asian Games. Among the 40 venues, 20 sites already in place and rest of them, including the main stadium with a capacity of 70,000 seats, will be completed by June 2014, according to the committee.

The IAGOC claims that the main stadium, which will be built in the heart of the Incheon Free Economic Zone, a $40 billion development project about 65 kilometers west of Seoul, will create a new green network in Incheon. It will be designed to use alternative and renewable energy, the committee said.

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The IAGOC claims that the Incheon Games will be a new milestone in the advancement of both the city and the nation. “Incheon Asian Games Organizing Committee, Incheon City, and Incheon citizens will work together to help develop Incheon into one of world’s top cities,” Lee said.

“Also, we will make sure this event an opportunity to open the doors to the ‘Asia era’ and strengthen the friendship and cooperation of the Asian community.”
http://www.koreaherald.com/business/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20101110000930

Pretty sure the G20 fight against global poverty has something to do with the 2014 asian games.

Market-linked financing for G20 infra plans likely



The G-20 nations are expected to create a market-linked mechanism to finance infrastructure projects in developing countries as a means to push global growth and find a way to provide stable capital flows across the globe. The outcome will help India and other emerging economies with large current account deficits to cushion such deficits.

Indian official sources said the details would have to be hammered out, but the final communiqué would mean the developing world would be weaned away from aid into a market-linked capital transfer mechanism. They said this could also include private equity — means which were mostly out of bounds in development plans.

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Just a mile away, the B-20 — the business summit of global CEOs running concurrent to the G-20 — will also heave a sigh of relief. Attendees include Kris Gopalakrishnan, CEO, Infosys and Vikram Pandit of Citibank, both of which have presence across countries. For them, the prospect of unfolding restrictions on capital flows to correct “global imbalances” is plainly uncomfortable

Angel Gurria, secretary-general of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, told reporters that G-20 will endorse what he called “Seoul Development Consensus for Shared Growth,” which is built on an emphasis on infrastructure investment to achieve sustainable growth in developing countries. “This is really going to change the way in which we address development,” he added.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Market-linked-financing-for-G20-infra-plans-likely/710006

Nothing new, now just admitting it...using the market to pay for infrastructure...

some of those leaders are hugging a bit to much

We will screw the peasants one more time, and they won't even know it !!

KFC Savors Potential in Africa
Yum Brands Unit Plans to Double Number of Outlets on Continent, Where Middle Class Is Growing

After spending two decades introducing fried chicken and pizza to Chinese consumers, Yum Brands Inc. now sees Africa as its next international jewel.

By 2014, the Louisville, Ky., restaurant-holding company expects to double its number of KFC outlets in Africa to 1,200. In the next four years, it aims to more than double its revenue on the continent to $2 billion.

"Africa wasn't even on our radar screen 10 years ago, but now we see it exploding with opportunity," says David Novak, Yum's chairman and chief executive officer.

The improved political stability of various African governments, the region's vast population and a growing middle class in Africa—where chicken is a dietary staple—led Yum to set its sights on the continent.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704250704576005571247805178.html

First the fried chicken, then the medical facilities to treat heart disease and hypertension...

First the fried chicken, then the medical facilities to treat heart disease and hypertension...

werd..

Glitch-prone NAB shifts IT jobs to IBM

National Australia Bank will outsource 425 information technology jobs to IBM this weekend, less than a month after a processing error at the bank plunged customer accounts into chaos.

The bank and union confirmed that the bank's technology outsourcing will commerce on Sunday, December 19, with 425 full-time employees shifting from NAB to IBM.

“Keeping the bank safe as well as simplifying and improving our technology is a key strategic priority,” said NAB Group Business Services head Gavin Slater. “Partnering with leading service providers is one way NAB is helping to achieve this."

Under the agreement IBM will oversee NAB's infrastructure, which includes its mainframe computer, storage and hosting services. IBM will also maintain the bank's desktop fleet, printing, technology service desks and operating systems.
http://www.smh.com.au/business/glitchprone-nab-shifts-it-jobs-to-ibm-20101216-18ypq.html

HP Inks $1.4 Billion Outsourcing Deal With German Utility E.ON


Talk about an early holiday present: HP (NYSE:HPQ) on Wednesday inked a five-year, $1.4 billion infrastructure outsourcing services contract with German utilities giant E.ON, under which HP will oversee data center and workplace services for about 80,000 employees.

HP will also take on the role of integrator, working with E.ON's existing technology partners to ensure that deployments run smoothly, and more than 1,100 of E.ON's 88,000 employees will move over to HP next April to assist in this effort. E.ON already purchases technology equipment, support services and managed print services from HP

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HP's data center services, part of its Infrastructure Technology Outsourcing portfolio, include archiving and compliance, application hosting, managed mainframe, server and storage management and Web hosting. HP's workplace services include asset management, client virtualization, managed print, service desk, site support, mobile workplace, server and software management
http://www.crn.com/news/data-center/228800670/hp-inks-1-4-billion-outsourcing-deal-with-german-utility-e-on.htm;jsessionid=cNGLfzBivSXKDVDkdls5aQ**.ecappj02

Songdo to host three foreign universities

Korea will host three new international university campuses in Songdo, Incheon, in a significant move to attract top foreign educational institutions.

The Ministry of Knowledge Economy said that the State University of New York at Stony Brook will open a campus in 2011 that will offer graduate-level courses in computer science, information system engineering and technology management.

In the following year, Virginia-based George Mason University will conduct undergraduate classes in business management and economics. In 2013, Belgium’s Ghent University will offer undergraduate courses in biotechnology, environmental technology and food technology. Local graduates from all three universities will be awarded diplomas that will have the same status as those offered by the universities in their home countries.

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They will be located in the Songdo Global University Campus area, the first phase of which is scheduled to be completed in 2012. The government hopes to house as many as 10,000 students in the area.

Earlier agreements have already been signed with several U.S. universities, including North Carolina State University, Delaware State University and the University of Southern California, to start operations at Songdo in the next few years.

The ministry said it plans to attract more universities, including the University of Utah and the and the University of Illinois, to Korea’s free economic zones.The only foreign-affiliated higher education institution now operating in Korea is the local branch of the Netherlands Shipping and Transport College, which is located at the World Marine Center in Gwangyang, South Jeolla. Germany’s Friedrich-Alexander University plans to offer courses in Busan from next March.

http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2929804

Israeli companies outsourcing to Palestinians


Within the pastel walls of a modest suburban office, Israeli high-tech workers have accomplished a feat that still eludes their political leaders: They have created a partnership with the Palestinians.

Israeli-Palestinian peace talks may be stalled, but that hasn't stopped a small but steady trickle of Israeli technology companies from seeking to work with people on the other side of the decades-old conflict.

Israeli CEOs say it's their way of bringing a little bit of peace to their troubled corner of the world. But the real reason they're hiring Palestinians, they acknowledge, is because it simply makes good business sense.

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In the past three years, however, some have turned to Palestinian engineers and programmers. They are cheaper, ambitious, work in the same time zone, and — surprisingly to many Israelis — are remarkably similar to them.

"The cultural gap is much smaller than we would think," said Gai Anbar, chief executive of Comply, an Israeli start-up in this central Israeli town that develops software for global pharmaceutical companies like Merck and Teva.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h0BU1Ptc72G7obC8xK_NdxiRNbRg?docId=fa57999eccb34d29a5c19b65f5ddf80a

it's all peaceful when it comes to cheap labor

"favorite enemies"

Songdo global campus project stalls

The Songdo Global Campus project in the Incheon Free Economic Zone (IFEZ) is up in the air as many planned overseas campuses have indefinitely delayed or canceled the opening of their schools. The campus zone was supposed to begin operations from last September but was postponed to next year.

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He blamed the global finance crisis in 2008 for the cancellations and postponements.

The IFEZ authorities are currently looking for other universities to replace the schools that have backed out. One of them is Ghent University in Belgium.

The first step in the construction of the Songdo Global Campus will be completed by 2012. After that, the city government plans to proceed with the second phase of the project.

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2010/12/113_78400.html


hmmm maybe a little N Korea vs S Korea conflict in the future?..that would delay things a bit

the xmas tree nearly brought war!

China Squeezes Foreigners for Share of Global Riches

Foreign companies have been teaming up with Chinese ones for years to gain access to the giant Chinese market. Now some of the world's biggest companies are taking a risky but potentially rewarding second step—folding pieces of their world-wide operations into partnerships with Chinese companies to do business around the globe.

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General Electric Co. is finalizing plans for a 50-50 joint venture with a Chinese military-jet maker to produce avionics, the electronic brains of aircraft.

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General Motors Co. established a joint venture this year with SAIC Motor Corp., its longtime partner in China, to produce and sell their no-frills Wuling-brand microvans in India, and eventually in Southeast Asia and other emerging markets as well.

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But such deals also carry risk. Several earlier joint ventures inside China have soured over concerns that Chinese partners, after gaining access to Western technology and know-how, have gone on to become potent new rivals to their partners.

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Foreign companies supply technology and experience, and their Chinese partners provide geopolitical clout, low-cost labor, and easy access to credit that China's government-backed companies enjoy.

State-owned China National Petroleum Corp. was one of the first foreign oil companies to sign a major contract in Iraq. BP PLC teamed up with it last year for a $15 billion investment to increase output at the giant Rumaila field. Over the summer, Royal Dutch Shell PLC joined with PetroChina Co., a publicly traded subsidiary of China National Petroleum, on a $3.15 billion acquisition of assets from Australian energy company Arrow Energy Ltd.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203731004576045684068308042.html?mod=rss_whats_news_us_business

A couple more references to transfer of technology.

Honda Eyes China's Electric Car Market
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Non-Chinese auto makers have expressed concerns that the government may force those that want to make electric vehicles in the country share critical technologies with local makers.

The Chinese government is weighing a 10-year plan for technology transfer to China by foreign auto makers if they opt to build and market electric cars and hybrids in the country
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703886904576031004285293680.html

Technology Transfer Deal Likely in Cancun, but Nitty Gritty Missing
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Still up in the air are critical elements like how technology financing will flow, who will govern the scheme and the extent of global intellectual property rights (IPR).
Despite the holes, "tech transfer" is seen as one of the furthest along and least controversial aspects of a potential Cancun package at the Nov. 29 to Dec. 10 talks.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUS74323412520101209


partner with China, transfer tecnology...its all part of the global plan