The world’s second-largest economy, China, has filed an application to enter the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which currently includes 11 nations.
According to the Chinese Commerce Ministry, it has submitted an application to join the free-trade agreement in a letter to New Zealand’s trade minister, Damien O’Connor.
The CPTPP was inked in 2018 by 11 countries including Australia, Canada, Chile, Japan and New Zealand. The economies included in the accord represent nearly half a billion consumers and account for 13.3% of global GDP.
The trade agreement is essentially an updated version of the ill-fated Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which was seen as an important economic counterweight to China’s regional influence. That deal was negotiated by the Obama administration, but was not ratified by the US. When Donald Trump took office he pulled the US out of the trade pact.
Japan, which is the CPTPP’s chair this year, said it will consult with member countries to respond to China’s request.
“Japan believes that it’s necessary to determine whether China, which submitted a request to join the TPP-11, is ready to meet its extremely high standards,” Japanese Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said on Friday.
The CPTPP could be another massive trade agreement for China and other regional economies that created the world’s biggest free trade zone last year with the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
New Delhi has signed preliminary agreements with US tech giants to share farm statistics as part of an ambitious government-led productivity drive aimed at transforming the nation’s outdated agricultural industry.
According to a Bloomberg report, starting from April, Amazon, Microsoft and Cisco Systems will be able to harness farm data that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration has been gathering since coming to power in 2014.
The government wants to ensure food security in the world’s second-most populous nation and is betting that the private sector could help farmers boost yields with apps and tools. This week the government said that Jio Platforms and tobacco giant ITC are among local powerhouses that have signed up for the program.
India’s $488 billion farm sector employs almost half of the nation’s 1.3 billion people and accounts for about 18% of the economy. With the new project the government aims to boost rural incomes, cut imports, and reduce food waste with better infrastructure. If that works out, India could also compete with exporters such as Brazil, the US and the European Union.
Ernst & Young estimates that India’s agri-tech industry has the potential to reach some $24 billion in revenue by 2025, with the current penetration being only 1%. It has also a chance to deploy networks, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning.
“This is a high impact industry and private players are sensing the opportunity and want to be a large part of it,” Ankur Pahwa, a partner at consultancy EY India, told Bloomberg. “India has a very high amount of food wastage because of lack of technology and infrastructure. So, there’s a huge upside to the program.”
Under the agreement, the big tech companies can help the Indian government to offer tech solutions for farm-to-fork services, which farmers will be able to access at their doorstep. As part of a pilot program, Microsoft has selected 100 villages to deploy AI and machine learning and build a platform. Amazon, which has already started offering real-time advice and information to farmers through a mobile app, is offering cloud services to solution providers.
Besides the tech giants, many smaller companies and startups are likely to join the program. Some critics, however, say the government is giving the private sector a greater sway, which could hurt small and vulnerable farmers.
Russia’s state-run energy giant Gazprom estimates the country’s reserves of natural gas will last 100 years with some deposits capable of delivering the fuel until 2132.
“Russia’s gas reserves, Gazprom’s gas reserves, are the largest in the world, and we won’t face supply problems during the next 100 years,” Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller said during the International Business Congress (IBC).
Miller said that Gazprom is the world’s most environmentally friendly energy corporation, adding that it is planning to retain this title.
According to Miller, Gazprom’s surplus output capacities capable of meeting peak demand amount to 150 billion cubic meters of natural gas. An ability to dramatically increase production levels in response to surging demand is Gazprom’s competitive advantage, he added.
Miller also said that China’s gas consumption is currently the fastest growing in the Asia-Pacific region. He pointed out that, in the first half of the current year, the volume of natural gas consumption in China surged 15.5%, while the volume of imports saw an increase of 23.8%.
China’s second-largest real estate developer by sales, Evergrande, admitted this week it is under “tremendous pressure” and may not be able to meet its crippling debt obligations.
The company’s share price has plunged nearly 80% so far this year, with trading of its bonds repeatedly halted by Chinese stock exchanges in recent weeks
The firm has been downgraded by rating agencies Fitch and Moody’s.“We view a default of some kind as probable,” said Fitch.
Meanwhile, some 1.5 million people have put deposits on new homes that have yet to be built.
On Tuesday, Evergrande said in a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that it had hired financial advisers to explore “all feasible solutions” to ease its cash crunch. The statement warned that there was no guarantee the company would meet its financial obligations. On Monday, the Shanghai Stock Exchange paused trading in Evergrande’s May 2023 bond after it dropped more than 30%.
The property firm, which was started in 1997 and reportedly employs 200,000 people, has grown vastly due to a real estate boom in China. Evergrande sells apartments to upper- and middle-income property buyers, and has a presence in more than 280 cities, completing nearly 1,300 commercial, residential, and infrastructure projects. The company has expanded into other areas of the economy, including the food and beverage business, life insurance, TV, and leisure. It also bought the Guangzhou FC football club, formerly Guangzhou Evergrande.
However, after years of borrowing to fund rapid growth and various pursuits in recent years, Evergrande’s debts have ballooned to more than $300 billion.
Analysts warn that the conglomerate’s potential bankruptcy could not only hurt China’s financial system – real estate is responsible for 29% of the country’s economic output – but even spread to markets outside of China. Some experts say that Beijing is likely to step in.
“Evergrande is such an important real estate developer, and it would be a strong signal if anything happened to it,” Dan Wang, an economist at Hang Seng Bank, told CNBC. “I believe there will be some supporting measures from the central government, or even the central bank, trying to bail out Evergrande.”
Others point out that restructuring could be more likely, and that the government will prioritize homebuyers and banks over other parties.
“The most likely endgame is now a managed restructuring in which other developers take over Evergrande’s uncompleted projects in exchange for a share of its land bank,” said Mark Williams, chief Asia economist at Capital Economics.
Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing its sources, that regulators had enlisted international law firm King & Wood Mallesons, among other advisers, to examine Evergrande’s finances.
Construction of Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline was completed a week ago. However, the US continues to pressure its European allies to delay the project’s certification.
RT DE talked to Folker Hellmeyer, chief analyst at Solvecon Invest GmbH, to discuss the importance of the pipeline supplying Germany with Russian natural gas, and explore why the energy project became political.
“The US turned economic policy into a political issue, although this economic project has nothing to do with politics. For me, as a German citizen, it is irritating that US law is apparently applied extra-territorially,” the economist said.
Hellmeyer says he was glad that construction works were completed with Berlin being able to resist the pressure and ignore unacceptable demands from Washington.
“Confusing is the fact that some European nations, which we are tied with the EU and the Eurozone, have taken the US stance concerning the issue,” he said, stressing that this narrative raises many questions.
The analyst added that the major goal of the project is provide diversification of gas supplies, as the reserves of the UK, Norway, and the Netherlands are dwindling.
“This is not about Germany’s egocentrism; the responsible approach of Germany and Europe as a whole is towards the future of bilateral relations with Russia, which are of great importance,” Hellmeyer said.
According to the expert, Washington just cannot accept the idea of a multipolar world, with Russia with its resources and China with its Belt and Road initiative turning into strong rivals.
“Imagine that Europe is developing together with Russia and the Euro-Asian space. It would be a success story that would ultimately lead to power sharing in the view of the US,” he said.
“That is crucial for the US in this proxy war, including the fight against the North Stream 2 project,” Hellmeyer concluded.
