International Day of Family Remittances:
International Day of Family Remittances: Working to build prosperity at home
Rome, 14 June 2018 – Ahead of the International Day of Family Remittances to be observed on 16 June, Gilbert F. Houngbo, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) called for continued efforts to help remittance-receiving families build a sustainable future for themselves and their communities.
Houngbo’s message comes as the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on Tuesday which endorses the International Day originally created by IFAD’s Governing Council. The resolution highlights that remittances play a key role in sustainable development.
In 2017, 200 million migrants sent USD481 billion to remittances-reliant countries of which $466 billion went to developing countries, helping sustain about 800 million people across the world. This amounts to more than three times the annual official development assistance that countries give in aid.
According to IFAD estimates, $6.5 trillion in remittances will be sent to developing countries between 2015 and 2030, involving over 1 billion senders and receivers. Close to half of remittances will go to rural areas where poverty and hunger are the highest.
“Remittances are vital for millions of families, helping them to address their own development goals, but we can help them do more and build their longer-term future,” Houngbo said.
According to IFAD analysis, families spend about 75 per cent of their remittances on basic needs such as food, housing, education and health. Remittances help reduce hunger and malnutrition, improve education and health levels, and lift people out of poverty. By doing so, remittances contribute directly to the Sustainable Development Goals set by the international community three years ago.
According to IFAD, the remaining 25 per cent, over $100 billion, can be invested in financial and tangible assets such as savings or small business development that help families build their future. These productive activities can also create jobs and transform economies, in particular in rural areas.
“Given appropriate investment options, customized to their circumstances and goals, remittance families will invest more and become agents of change in their communities,” Houngbo said.
To this end, more than 400 decision-makers, representing the public and private sectors, civil society and IFAD, attending the Global Forum on Remittances, Investments and Development in Kuala Lumpur in May endorsed a set of recommendations to make remittances a full engine for development.
In particular, the recommendations propose ways to develop access to basic financial services, such as saving and credit, which are fundamental for families to make productive use of their money. Today, most remittances are still received in cash and consumed immediately.
Recommendations were also made to develop investment mechanisms and opportunities tailored to the needs of diasporas keen to invest back home.
In recognition of the high cost of sending remittances, on the international day IFAD is calling for a further reduction in transfer fees. While the cost of sending money has been reduced by half over the last five years, it still represents, on average, 7.13 per cent of the amount sent. In many places, costs are much higher, for example in Sub-Saharan Africa senders can spend as much as 9.3 per cent.
It is estimated an additional $20 billion would be available to families in developing countries if the 3 per cent fee target set by the international community in Sustainable Development Goal 10, reducing inequalities, was reached.
According to Pedro De Vasconcelos, senior remittance expert at IFAD, mobile technologies and digital money could potentially transform markets radically, reduce costs and time for sending remittances, in particular to rural areas but their development is still hampered by a lack of harmonization of regulations between countries.
“The promise of digital technologies still has to be delivered, it is imperative that regulatory environments enable the implementation of safe, cheap and rapid transfer solutions for the benefits of families,” De Vasconcelos said.
For more than a decade IFAD has worked to increase the development impact of remittances. Its dedicated programme has a portfolio of over 60 innovative projects in more than 45 countries. Completed projects resulted in increased competition, reducing transaction costs through mobile technology, and promoted financial inclusion and literacy.
Contact:
Caroline Chaumont
International Fund for Agricultural Development
Communication Division
Thematic Workshops Parallel to AIIB’s Third AGM in Mumbai
Around 90 CSOs and Social Movements to Organize Thematic Workshops Parallel to AIIB’s Third AGM in Mumbai
Raising the serious issues of social and environmental costs in infrastructure projects, its economic burden on public and financial non-viability, Civil Society Organisations and social movements are set to organize a three day convention on Infrastructure Financing from June 21 – 23rd in Mumbai parallel to the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank’s third Annual Governors Meeting slated for June 25-26 in the same city.
During the Convention, almost 90 regional, national, and international grassroots and research organisations have come together to organise 20 workshops related to Infrastructure Financing; Development Financial Institutions; Policies and Safeguards; Urban Development; Transport; Port and Coastal Infrastructure; Energy and Energy Finance; Trade and International Financing; Water and Water Sector Reforms; Privatisation and PPPs, Gender; Social Marginalisation among other areas.
“The participants of these workshops would include activists, researchers, projected affected people among others. So far, over 200 people from across the country have registered for these workshops. The Convention will be attended by Prof. Arun Kumar, Medha Patkar, Prof. Anil Sadgopal, Ulka Mahajan among others. The registrations for the workshops are still open for the individuals and media,” said Himshi Singh, one of the coordinators of the Convention.
Speaking about the Peoples Convention on Infrastructure Financing, Maju Varghese, another coordinator of the Convention, said, “the Convention is a resistance to International Finance Institutions, which are pushing massive infrastructures like industrial corridors, smart cities, sagarmala, bullet trains over peoples land and livelihood. The massive physical infrastructure will not improve peoples lives, livelihood, and social infrastructure like schools, hospitals will be left behind.”
Deliberating on this, Ulka Mahajan of Sarvahara Jan Andolan says, “The infrastructure that is being developed is not what people demand, but it is what global capital demands. The international financial institutions are promoting corporate interests over that of people and also pushing the states to the financial debt. On the one hand, the Maharashtra government does not have money to allocate 26,000 crores for the social sector, on the other hand, it has 42,000 crores for the Mumbai-Nagpur expressway, which will reduce the present distance only by 24 km.”
The Peoples Convention intends to demand accountability from the development financial institutions, particularly AIIB which lacks robust policies on environmental-social safeguards, transparent public disclosure and a complaint handling mechanism.
Meera Sanghamitra from the National Alliance of People’s Movements stated that The push for massive infrastructure projects has become a legalised way of grabbing land. Andhra Pradesh has a history of justifying land grabbing and resource appropriation in the name of multilateral donor-funded development aid and the WB-AIIB funded Amaravati Capital City Project joins this bandwagon by further legalizing the loot, leading to livelihood loss for thousands of families and a shared debt on all people of the state. Projects like Sagarmala, industrial corridors that are being pushed and promoted without considering the irreversible impact on the people’s traditional livelihoods and the environment are disasters-in-the-making.
The movements and CSOs will hold the Convention under the aegis of Working Group on International Financial Institutions (WGonIFIs), which include around 90 people’s movements and other CSOs, including National Alliance of People’s Movements, National Hawkers Federation, National Fishworkers Forum, Narmada Bachao Andolan, Ghar Bachao Ghar Bano Andolan, Soshit Jan Andolan, Samajwadi Jan Parishad, Bhumi Adhikar Andolan; Environment Support Group; North East Peoples Alliance, and others.
Kim invites Trump to visit Pyongyang
Kim Jong Un invited Donald Trump to visit North Korea during their historic summit and the US President accepted, Pyongyang state media reported Wednesday, calling it the start of a “radical switchover” in the nuclear-armed Cold War foes’ fraught relations.
The unprecedented encounter in Singapore Tuesday saw the leader of the world’s most powerful democracy shake hands with the third generation scion of a dynastic dictatorship, standing as equals in front of their nations’ flags.
Kim agreed to the “complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula”, a stock phrase favoured by Pyongyang that stopped short of long-standing US demands for North Korea to give up its atomic arsenal in a “verifiable” and “irreversible” way.
In its first report on the landmark summit, the official KCNA news agency ran a glowing dispatch on the talks, describing them as an “epoch-making meeting” that would help foster “a radical switchover in the most hostile (North Korea)-US relations”.
The report said the two men each asked the other to visit their country.
“The two top leaders gladly accepted each other’s invitation,” KCNA said.
Pyongyang has reason to feel confident after the meeting which was a major coup for an isolated and heavily sanctioned regime that has long craved international legitimacy.
In a blockbusting press conference after the summit, Trump said the US would halt military exercises with Seoul — something long sought by Pyongyang, which claims the drills are a rehearsal for invasion.
The US stations around 30,000 troops in security ally South Korea to protect it from its neighbour, which invaded in 1950 in an attempt to reunify the peninsula by force.
“We will be stopping the war games which will save us a tremendous amount of money,” Trump told reporters, adding that “at some point” he wanted to withdraw US troops from the South.
Both Seoul and US military commanders in the South indicated they had no idea the announcement was coming, and analysts expressed immediate concern.
Ending the drills “is in excess of all expert consensus, South Korean requests, and even a close reading of North Korean demands”, said Adam Mount of the Federation of American Scientists.
The KCNA report said Trump committed to ending the drills during his meeting with Kim.
It added that denuclearisation on the Korean peninsula would be dependent on the two sides “refraining from antagonising… each other out of mutual understanding”.
US approves sale of Apache attack choppers
US Govt has approved a deal to sell the Indian military six AH-64E Apache attack helicopters for $930 million,the contract also includes night vision sensors, GPS guidance &hundreds of Hellfire anti-armor &Stinger air-to-air missiles.
United States government has approved a deal to sell the Indian military six AH-64E Apache attack helicopters for $930 million, the State Department said Tuesday.
The agreement has been passed to the US Congress for approval, but if no US lawmaker raises an objection the contract is expected to go ahead.
Boeing and Indian partner Tata have begun to produce Apache fuselages at a plant in India, but Tuesday´s approval concerns a direct sale of finished products from US manufacturers.
The lead contractors are US arms, aviations and engineering giants Lockheed Martin, General Electric and Raytheon.
In addition to aircraft, the contract includes night vision sensors, GPS guidance and hundreds of Hellfire anti-armor and Stinger air-to-air missiles.
“This support for the AH-64E will provide an increase in India´s defensive capability to counter ground-armored threats and modernize its armed forces,” the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency said, in a statement.
“India will have no difficulty absorbing the helicopters and support equipment into its armed forces. The proposed sale of this equipment and support will not alter the basic military balance in the region.”
Media poll: Trump’s handling of North Korea
Nearly over half of all Americans say they approve of how President Donald Trump has handled North Korea, but only a quarter think that his summit this week with Kim Jong Un will lead to the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Wednesday.
In a joint declaration following their meeting in Singapore on Tuesday, the North Korean leader pledged to move toward complete denuclearization of the peninsula and Trump vowed to guarantee the security of the United States’ old foe. Forty percent of those polled said they did not believe the countries would stick to their commitments.
Another 26 percent said they believed the United States and North Korea would meet their commitments, while 34 percent said they did not know whether they would follow through.
Thirty-nine percent believe the summit has lowered the threat of nuclear war between the United States and nuclear-armed North Korea, slightly more than the 37 percent who said they did not believe it changed anything.
Trump has pursued what he calls a “maximum pressure” campaign” against Pyongyang to force it to give up its nuclear weapons. He toughened up international sanctions to further isolate North Korea and then agreed to meet directly with Kim after South Korea’s president convinced him that the North was committed to giving up its nuclear weapons.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll suggests the Republican president has broad support for one of his biggest foreign policy efforts, despite criticism from non-proliferation experts that Trump had exacted few concrete commitments from Kim on Tuesday on dismantling his nuclear arsenal.
Republicans appear much more enthusiastic than Democrats about the potential benefits of the summit. The poll found that Republicans were twice as likely as Democrats to say that the meeting lowered the threat of nuclear war, and they were three times as likely to say that both sides would follow through on their commitments.
Democrats typically give Trump low approval ratings – only 12 percent approve of his overall job performance. But about 30 percent said they approved of his handling of North Korea.
Trump, who returned to Washington early on Wednesday, hailed the meeting with Kim, the first between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader, as a success that had removed the North Korean nuclear threat. Their seemingly friendly meeting was in sharp contrast to their tit-for-tat insults and bellicose rhetoric late last year while Pyongyang carried out its biggest nuclear and missile tests.
In the poll, Trump received a 51 percent approval rating for his handling of North Korea and also led the list of leaders who should take the most credit for the summit and the joint pledge. Forty percent say the former real estate developer should take the most credit, followed by South Korean President Moon Jae-in
Trump has repeatedly touted his role in bringing the reclusive North Korea to the negotiating table, a feat that he says his predecessors were unable to pull off.
It may be too soon though to know whether Trump’s diplomatic breakthrough will help Republican candidates in congressional elections in November, when Democrats will attempt to retake control of both houses. Typically foreign policy is not a major concern for mid-term voters.
“It’s too early to say if there is a net positive out of that,” said Republican strategist Alice Stewart. “It’s a good step to have the conversation but that doesn’t yet mean that it’s a success.”
Ron Bonjean, also a Republican strategist, said voters were more likely to be influenced if there was serious and measurable progress closer to the election.
Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll was conducted online in English, between June 12-13 in the United States. It gathered responses from more than 1,000 adults, including more than 400 Democrats and 400 Republicans.
It has a credibility interval, a measure of the poll’s precision, of 4 percentage points for the full sample and 6 percentage points for the Democrats and Republicans, meaning that the results could vary in either direction by that amount.
Media agencies
Trump: Oil prices high the cartel “at it again.”
Iran and Donald trump exchange barbs over higher oil pricesand sanctions. ‘This is business Mr Trump, we though you knew it,’ Iran‘s representative said. In Iran media rteports, Iran blames Trump policies for high oil prices.
Hossein Kazempour Ardebili, Iran’s OPEC governor, emphasized that the sanctions that Trump had devised against Iran and Venezuela were largely to blame for high oil prices.
“You cannot place sanctions on two OPEC founder members and still blame OPEC for oil price volatility,” he said in a statement to Reuters.
Kazempour Ardebili’s comments came in response to a Trump message in which he had accused OPEC of working to push up the prices.
“Oil prices are too high, OPEC is at it again. Not good!” he wrote in a post on Twitter.
Oil prices have risen by around 60 percent over the last year after OPEC and some non-OPEC producers including Russia arrived at an agreement in 2017 to reduce supplies, Reuters wrote in its report.
The price of Brent crude peaked in May at $80.50 a barrel, then pulled back, trading on Wednesday near $76 at barrel, partly in anticipation that the agreement may end.
OPEC will meet next week in Vienna, and producers are seen as likely to raise production, perhaps before the limits are due to sunset at year-end.
The oil supply agreement is set to continue through the end of 2018, but plans for its continuation were unclear. The calculus changed after Trump announced in May that the United States was pulling out of the 2015 deal that restricted Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the removal of sanctions.
Trump also said he would launch mechanisms to re-impose what he described as the “highest level of sanctions” against Iran.
US President Donald Trump and Iran exchanged sharp words over oil prices on Wednesday, with Trump blaming OPEC for high oil prices and Tehran accusing him of stoking volatility after he withdrew last month from a global nuclear arms deal with Iran.
Trump sparked the latest back-and-forth when he renewed his attack on OPEC in a tweet that said oil prices are too high and that the cartel was “at it again.”
Oil prices have risen around 60 percent over the last year after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and some non-OPEC producers, including Russia, started reducing supplies in 2017. The cartel meets June 22-23 in Vienna, and producers are seen as likely to raise production, perhaps before the limits are due to sunset at year-end.
Iran’s OPEC governor, Hossein Kazempour Ardebili, fired back at Trump in a statement to Reuters. “You cannot place sanctions on two OPEC founder members and still blame OPEC for oil price volatility,” he said, referring to his country and Venezuela.
“This is business, Mr. President — we thought you knew it.”
The oil supply deal is set to continue through the end of 2018, but plans for its continuation were unclear. The calculus changed after Trump announced in May that Washington was pulling out of the 2015 deal that restricted Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the removal of sanctions.
The US move has pressured European and Asian clients to stop importing Iranian oil or doing business with the country. Saudi Arabia, Iran’s rival and OPEC’s largest producer, and Russia, the world’s largest producer and a party to the deal, have already increased supply. Saudi Arabia supported Trump’s decision to exit the Iran nuclear agreement.
“I think the Trump tweet makes the Saudis’ job of getting compromise at the OPEC meeting tougher,” said Joe McMonigle, senior energy policy analyst at Hedgeye Potomac Research in Washington.
Saudi production rose to 10.03 million barrels per day (bpd in May, in line with deal quotas, according to OPEC data. Russia’s production was 11.1 million barrels a day at the beginning of June, exceeding its quota, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The price of Brent crude peaked in May at $80.50 a barrel, then pulled back, trading on Wednesday near $77 a barrel, partly in anticipation that the deal may end. US crude traded Wednesday near $67 a barrel.
“Oil prices are too high, OPEC is at it again. Not good!” Trump wrote in his post on Twitter after last raising the issue in April.
The potential for OPEC to boost production has raised concerns about the cartel’s limited spare capacity, which could fall to as low as 2 million bpd. This would make it harder to respond to a supply shock, such as in Venezuela, where output has declined to a 33-year-low due to an economic crisis.
“OPEC has the lowest spare capacity ever right now,” said fund manager Pierre Andurand, in a tweeted response to Trump. “There is going to be a real issue,” he wrote, predicting prices above $150 per barrel within two years.
In the United States, gasoline pump prices nationwide have risen to near $3 a gallon during the peak summer travel season, still less than the $4 a gallon during the 2007-2009 Great Recession. Gasoline demand has remained strong, rising to an estimated 9.9 million bpd as of last week, according to US Energy Department data.
Trump sent his tweet hours after returning to Washington from a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore.
Separately, a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the US House of Representatives was pushing legislation that would subject OPEC to US antitrust law and fight what the group called artificial production controls.
The measure would have to pass the full House and the US Senate before Trump could sign it into law. Past presidents have not supported similar bills when they have been proposed.
Moon meets Pompeo
Moon meeting Pompeo raises many eyebrows on the global scale and the leaders of Russian and Chinese group has welcome the move but with the vast amass of interest of Chinese the fulcrum which has shifted to US is likely to be on the condition of the US and its allied forces or the other polar are to make their interventions in time of development to have their influence too embedded in the region so the best is the route of follow of International laws or conventions to bring durable peace to the regions and the influence by way of trade and economical development is shared in its proportion.
South Korean President Moon Jae-In said on Thursday the world had escaped the threat of war after this week’s Singapore summit, echoing US President Donald Trump’s upbeat assessment of his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Trump and Kim issued a joint statement after their historic meeting that reaffirmed the North’s commitment to “work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula”, an end to joint US-South Korean military exercises and gave US guarantees of security to North Korea.
“There have been many analyses on the outcome of the summit but I think what’s most important was that the people of the world, including those in the United States, Japan and Koreans, have all been able to escape the threat of war, nuclear weapons and missiles,” Moon told US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ahead of a meeting between the two in Seoul.
The summit statement provided no details on when Pyongyang would give up its nuclear weapons program or how the dismantling might be verified.
Skeptics of how much the meeting achieved pointed to the North Korean leadership’s long-held view that nuclear weapons are a bulwark against what it fears are US plans to overthrow it and unite the Korean peninsula.
“I am confident that we took a very good, significant step in Singapore,” Pompeo told Moon on Thursday ahead of a trilateral meeting including Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono.
Pompeo insisted after the meeting that Pyongyang was committed to giving up its nuclear arsenal but said it would “be a process, not an easy one”.
Pompeo asked the South Korean president to play a leading role in the process of denuclearizing North Korea, using his close personal relationship with the North Korean leader, according to the Cheong Wa Dae spokesman.
Moon and Kim have held bilateral summits on April 27 and May 26, while they are also set to meet again in Pyongyang before the end of the year.
Pompeo said there remained many tasks to be discussed and done but insisted the ongoing U.S. efforts to rid the North of its nuclear weapons and long-range missiles will prove to be successful and eventually bring peace to the Korean Peninsula, according to the pool reports.
The top U.S. diplomat arrived here Wednesday to directly explain the outcome of the historic U.S.-North Korea summit to his South Korean counterparts.
President Moon stressed the importance of close discussions and cooperation between the allies to swiftly and thoroughly implement the outcome of the U.S.-North Korea summit.
Kim Jong Un understood getting rid of his nuclear arsenal needed to be done quickly and there would only be relief from stringent UN sanctions on North Korea after its “complete denuclearization”, Pompeo said.
United States has long insisted on complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization by North Korea but, in the summit statement, North Korea committed only to the “complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula”, phrasing it has used in the past.
Pompeo said a day earlier he would like to accomplish major nuclear disarmament in North Korea within Trump’s current term.
“Absolutely … you used the term major, major disarmament, something like that? We’re hopeful that we can achieve that in the 2-1/2 years,” he said.
Pompeo, who is charged by Trump with leading follow-on negotiations, bristled at a question about why the words “verifiable” and “irreversible” were not used in the summit joint statement in the context of denuclearization.
“It’s in the statement. You’re just wrong about that … Because complete encompasses verifiable and irreversible. I suppose you could argue semantics, but let me assure you that it’s in the document,” Pompeo said on Wednesday.
Trump returned to the United States on Wednesday and took to Twitter to hail the meeting, the first between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader, as a major win for American security.
“Everybody can now feel much safer than the day I took office,” Trump tweeted. “There is no longer a nuclear threat from North Korea. Meeting with Kim Jong Un was an interesting and very positive experience. North Korea has great potential for the future!”
Democratic critics in the United States said the agreement was short on detail and the Republican president had made too many concessions to Kim, whose country is under UN sanctions for its nuclear and weapons programs and is widely condemned for human rights abuses.
Tokyo has reacted with concern at Trump’s plans to cancel military exercises with South Korea, saying such drills are vital for East Asian security.
Two North Korean missiles flew over Japan last year as Pyongyang made rapid advances in its program to develop a missile capable of striking the U.S. mainland with a nuclear warhead.
Tokyo is working on arranging a meeting between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Kim Jong Un, with one possibility including the premier’s visit to Pyongyang around August, the Yomiuri newspaper reported.
A government source familiar with the matter told Reuters that Japanese officials planned to discuss the summit meeting with North Korean officials at an international conference on Northeast Asian security to be held in Mongolia on Thursday and Friday.
Despite Trump and Moon’s assertions about the North Korean nuclear threat being over, a senior US official responsible for studying the North Korean military said the US intelligence assessment of the nuclear and other military threat posed by North Korea to US and allied forces in Asia and the northwest Pacific remained unchanged.
U.S. officials said it was unclear what types of training involving US and South Korean troops might cross into Trump’s now forbidden zone of “war games”. But big, joint US-South Korean exercises appeared off-limits under the new guidance.
“Make no mistake, we are going to maintain the readiness of our forces in South Korea,” said one US official, speaking on condition of anonymity. The official acknowledged, however, it was still not certain how that was going to happen.
The United States maintains about 28,500 soldiers in South Korea, which remains in a technical state of war with the North after the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty.
Media agencies
Nissan alliance to launch midsize electric vehicles by 2020
Nissan Motors alliance with Renault of France and Mitsubishi is trying to boost its lagging sales in Southeast Asia, various fiscal,marketing and technical cooperation are being sorted out to give big leap inits sales of cars in region of South Asia. Electric car innovation work is in progress and as per media reports the midsize electric vehicles will be launched by 2020.
Renault-Nissan Alliance stands as number three among, top 10 biggest car manufacturers in the world in 2018, Chairman of Nissan-Renault-Mitsubishi signals focus on lowering prices and Electric car range issue has been solved, says Ghosn.
Nissan Motor will deepen ties with Mitsubishi Motors through such steps as rolling out each other’s vehicles.
Mitsubishi Motors on Tuesday held an opening ceremony for a plant in Indonesia that is expected to supply multipurpose vehicles to Nissan starting as early as 2019. MPVs, commonly known as minivans, are widely popular in Indonesia.
The 65 billion yen ($585 million) plant, located in Bekasi regency in the province of West Java, is operated by a joint venture of Mitsubishi Motors, trading house Mitsubishi Corp. and a local partner and has an annual output capacity of 160,000 units.
The factory will initially churn out 30,000 units of Mitsubishi Motors’ Pajero Sport sport utility vehicle. It will also produce 80,000 units of an MPV to be released as early as this fall. The Colt L300 commercial vehicle will also be made.
The plant’s output is expected to reach 140,000 units a year. With the remaining capacity, Mitsubishi Motors will be able to supply Nissan, President Osamu Masuko said.
Nissan, for its part, may produce Mitsubishi Motors vehicles, said Carlos Ghosn, chairman of both automakers. Nissan became the largest shareholder of Mitsubishi Motors last year by taking a 34% stake.
Nissan has been struggling in Southeast Asia. Its Asian sales, including the Oceania region, accounted for just 6% of its global total of 3.99 million vehicles in the April-December period.
Family-oriented MPVs make up 70% of the new-car market in Indonesia, while low-cost green cars represent just shy of 30%. Lacking an attractive MPV offering, Nissan holds a mere 4.2% market share in the country, trailing Mitsubishi Motors’ 6.6%.
Top 10 biggest car manufacturers in the world in 2018:
1. Volkswagen Group
2. Toyota
3. Renault-Nissan Alliance
4. General Motors
5. Hyundai-Kai
6. Ford
7. Honda
8. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles
9. Suzuki
10. PSA Group
Nissan Motor’s alliance with France’s Renault and new partner Mitsubishi Motors generated 5.7 billion euros ($6.71 billion) in synergies in 2017, as the automakers combined procurement and development operations.
The alliance’s impact grew 14% from the 5 billion euros seen in 2016. Nissan alone gained 3.1 billion euros in cost savings and increased revenues. Renault reaped 2.3 billion euros in benefits. And Mitsubishi enjoyed 300 million euros in savings and revenues during its first full year in the alliance. Nissan acquired a 34% stake in its smaller peer in October 2016.
The trio is aiming for more than 10 billion euros in synergies by the end of 2022.\
Collaboration on procurement and the integration of the automakers’ research and development operations reduced costs across the board. The companies have also begun sharing warehouses for repair parts in Europe, Japan and Australia. Nissan and Renault’s sales financing operations now offer auto loans and other financial services for Mitsubishi.
Nissan and Renault have adopted common vehicle platforms, slashing development and production costs. The Japanese partner makes Renault vehicles at its plants in Mexico and elsewhere, raising efficiency in production. In Thailand, Nissan has teamed up with Mitsubishi to more cheaply transport cars from the factory to dealerships.
All three companies plan to jointly develop a platform for midsize electric vehicles by 2020, and to launch a $1 billion venture capital firm.
IFAD attracts business to climate smart investments
Rome, 13 June 2018– Agriculture is stepping up in the fight against climate change with help from the private sector. A new report from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) shows that investing in climate-resilient agriculture can attract sizeable contributions from the private sector.
The Business Advantage – Mobilizing Private Sector Led Climate Actions in Agriculture, a study of IFAD investments through its Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP), shows that for every dollar of ASAP investment, between US$0.77–2.85 was leveraged in private-sector investments – helping countries reach climate finance commitments scheduled under the Paris climate agreement.
“IFAD works with the private sector on adaptation investments that are both financially profitable and socially and environmentally sound,” said IFAD President Gilbert F. Houngbo. “Many of these adaptation investments were deemed high risk by the private sector, but ASAP operates as a de-risking or insurance instrument to encourage business to invest in them.”
Previously, in Bhutan the private sector was wary of investing in small scale dairy farms due to product quality concerns. With IFAD investment leading the way, however, local farmers improved the quality of their milk and then partnered with a local dairy company to create an assured market. In the first year, the investment ($77,429) was close to 2.5 times the amount invested by IFAD. The company’s supply of milk was greatly improved while farmers reported their income from dairy sales increased by 54 to 170 per cent.
In Vietnam, a grant scheme was established by IFAD’s partners to finance company business plans that helped to develop climate resilience among smallholder farmers. With this approach, the development of the companies was bound to the development of the rural communities.
With upfront payments and revolving funds paid to farmers by the project, farmers were encouraged to invest in good cropping practices and select high-quality seeds, which eventually ensured high-quality supply of agricultural products to business. The total investment was close to $1.5 million, of which IFAD contributed $0.4 million and the remaining $1.1 million was from private companies.
“This report is ground-breaking work that links the private sector into climate change adaptation by finding opportunities for partnership that benefit both businesses and smallholder farmers,” said Bruce Campbell, Program Director of the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security, which led the research for the report. “Public-private partnerships are an essential ingredient of the agricultural transformation we need to address climate change.”
According to Margarita Astralaga, Director of IFAD’s Environment, Climate, Gender and Social Inclusion Division, the private sector is becoming an increasingly important partner in IFAD’s work. “While the fundamental goals underpinning IFAD’s purpose have remained constant over the years, the way by which IFAD is achieving these goals has undergone changes, with business taking a more central role in the agenda,” she said. “IFAD wants to include producers in these new partnerships with business. Valuable lessons are being drawn from IFAD’s experience in partnering with the private sector, via mechanisms such as public-private-producer partnerships (4Ps), where business is increasingly recognized as a main force in development.”
For a copy of the Business Advantage Report click on to this link
Ten new Swachh Iconic Places launched under Swachh Bharat Mission
सन २०१४ में हुआ स्वच्छ भारत अभियान का प्रक्षेपण, आज तेज़ी से अपने आखिरी पड़ाव की ओर बढ़ रहा है यह जन आंदोलन। आइये हम सब मिलकर इसका हिस्सा बनें और देश को स्वच्छता की ओर ले चलें । #SBM
Ten new iconic sites, namely, Raghavendra Swamy Temple (Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh); Hazardwari Palace (Murshidabad, West Bengal); Brahma Sarovar Temple (Kurukshetra, Haryana); VidurKuti (Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh); Mana village (Chamoli, Uttarakhand); Pangong Lake (Leh-Ladakh, J&K); Nagvasuki Temple (Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh); ImaKeithal/market (Imphal, Manipur); Sabarimala Temple (Kerala); and Kanvashram (Uttarakhand) have been taken up under Phase III of the flagship project Swachh Iconic Places (SIP) of the Swachh Bharat Mission.
The project envisioned by the Prime Minister is being coordinated by Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation with the support of State governments and local administration. The consultation is in process for finalizing the PSUs/corporates for extending support to new sites as CSR partners. These new sites have joined the 20 iconic places under Phase I & II where special Sanitation work is already underway.
Launched in 2016, the Phase I iconic places were: Ajmer Sharif Dargah, CST Mumbai ,Golden Temple, Kamakhya Temple, Maikarnika Ghat, Meenakshi Temple, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi, Shree Jagannath Temple, The Taj Mahal and Tirupati Temple.
Phase II of Swachh Iconic Places was launched in Nov 2017, included Gangotri, Yamunotri, Mahakaleshwar Temple, Charminar, Convent and Church of St. Francis of Assissi, Kalady, Gommateswara, Baidyanath Dham, Gaya Tirth and Somnath temple.
SIP is a collaborative project with three other central Ministries: Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, M/o Culture, and M/o Tourism. It also involves local administrations in the concerned States and Public Sector and Private Companies as sponsoring partners.
The third phase of SIP was launched at Mana village which is situated close to the Badrinath temple in Uttarakhand. The village, which now becomes a Swachh Iconic Place, is visited by tourists and pilgrims as it houses places of mythological interest.
The Phase I iconic sites have witnessed initiatives taken up such as improvement in sewage infrastructure, drainage facilities, installation of Sewage Treatment Plant (STP), sanitation facilities, water vending machines (Water ATMs), Solid and Liquid Waste Management (SLWM) set-up, structure restoration, roads maintenance, lighting arrangements, beautification of parks, better transport facilities in approach and access areas besides at the main sites. The annual review of Phase I & II iconic sites for assessing the progress is scheduled at iconic site, Charminar, Hyderabad later this month. Further, four major SLWM activities in Mana village, including community soak pits, compost pits, separation centre for organic and inorganic waste, and naalis for liquid waste with a sanctioned amount of Rs. 26.87 lakhs were also launched recently.
RBI Blind, Incompetent – Creating Loss Making Monopolies
June13, 2018 (C) Ravinder Singh progressindia2015@gmail.com
It is two years since Urjit Patel took over as RBI Governor ahead of more experienced Banking Professionals. Ever since he took over entire Banking in India is subjected to all kinds of stresses likeDemonetization, Schemes to Write of Corporate Loans at 50% to 70% Price, Loss Making Companies taking over Loss making Companies.
Banking NPAs as per his own admission are Rs.8.99 Lakh Crores as on Dec.2017. It could go beyond Rs.12,00,000 Cr this time 2019.
RUCHI SOYA’s NPA of Rs.12,000 Cr Shall Be CHARGED 66% or Rs.8,000 Cr as ‘HAIR CUT’ for lending banks – ADANI FAMILY who already owe Rs.1,10,122 Cr to lenders shall Contribute Just Rs.4000 Cr that too from BANK LOANS – already taken or to be taken.
It is scandalous ADANI GROUP which has a group turnover ofRs.77,060 Cr, reports Operating Profits of 15,182 Cr but Net Profit is NEGATIVE Rs.815 Cr and Borrowings of Rs.1,10,122 Cr. [Fortune India 500]
Adani Group itself is NPA Case NOT EARNING PROFITS For Shareholders.
Adani-Wilmar already has 55% Branded Vegetable Oil Market Share – 4 million tones of Annual Capacity by adding nearly 5 million tones capacity of RUCHI SOYA – it shall more than Double Vegetable Oil Processing Capacity.
Why RBI do wants to Create Monopolies?
Adani-Wilmar is 50%-50% partnership – 50% owned by Singapore Company.
So WILMAR is acquiring RUCHI SOYA EQUITY at 66% Discount.
Ø RUCH-SOYA operates Processing Plants in 16 Locations – Can be SPLIT and Sold to 16 different HEALTHY PROMOTER COMPANIES through AUCTION. Perhaps Banks could recover even 100% of their dues.
Ø It is better to SPLIT a Company which has MULTI-LOCATION Plants.
Ø Urjit Patel was Blind as Director of GSPC – almost Rs.25,000 Cr SCAM – not producing a drop of Oil or Gas.
Ø New Consortium Banks with EXPERTS in Engineering & Technologies located close to the Industrial Centers like NOIDA or JAMNAGAR to ensure regular monitoring of Companies NEEDS or BUNGLING.
Ravinder Singh, Inventor & Consultant, INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES AND PROJECTS
Y-77, Hauz Khas, ND -110016, India. Ph: 091- 8826415770, 9871056471, 9650421857
Ravinder Singh* is a WIPO awarded inventor specializing in Power, Transportation,
Smart Cities, Water, Energy Saving, Agriculture, Manufacturing, Technologies and Projects
Dear Naresh, Ask Congress: Stop Jeff Session
| Dear Naresh, Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s calculated dismantling of the asylum system may well turn out to be one of the most lasting and damaging legacies of the Trump Administration. This week he made a sweeping ruling that aims to block women and children fleeing domestic violence from protection in the United States, sending them back to danger. At a time when thousands of women and children are fleeing unspeakable violence at home, his effort to bar most survivors of domestic abuse and gang violence from protection may be a death sentence. Without refuge in the United States, these individuals will be left in the direst of circumstances. Tell Congress to stand up to Jeff Sessions’s cruel attacks and disdain for the human rights of women. And make no mistake, seeking refuge is a human right. Fighting to protect the asylum system, |
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan 
U.S., June 22, 2018: New research reveals that religious hostility is on the rise globally, as government-sponsored restrictions and non-state actor assaults on religious practice have grown for the second year in a row.
vs Belgium 
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