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SINGAPORE: Senior officials from the 21 APEC economies kick-started their round of meetings on Sunday and a key topic of discussion was on broadening access to economic opportunities so that everyone can benefit from growth.
The meet was ahead of the APEC Leaders Meeting next weekend to finalise the outcome documents for their ministers and leaders to endorse.
The 21 APEC economies make up nearly 55 per cent of the world's trade, and their leaders' meeting comes at a time when much of the world is slowly recovering from the global financial crisis.
APEC's senior officials said the grouping's stance on trade is now clear, and vow to resist protectionism.
SHARM EL-SHEIK, Egypt: Chinese premier Wen Jiabao said on Sunday he was encouraged by signs of an economic recovery in the United States, but hoped it would keep its budget deficit to an "appropriate size" to stabilise the US dollar exchange rate.
"We follow very closely China's holdings of US assets, because that is a very important part of our national wealth," Wen told a media conference at the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, where he is attending a China-Africa cooperation summit.
"We have seen signs of recovery in the US economy, which makes us see the light of hope," he said.
SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt: Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao pledged to give African countries US$10 billion in concessional loans as a two-day Forum on China-Africa Cooperation opened in Egypt on Sunday.
"We will help Africa build up its financing capabilities... we will provide US$10 billion for Africa in concessional loans," Wen said at the start of the forum in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
He also pledged to cancel debts of African countries to increase his country's role in the continent.
NEW DELHI: India's premier Manmohan Singh promised Sunday to step up financial reforms to drive economic growth as he rolled out the welcome mat for foreign investors.
India is "better placed than any time in the recent past to push the reform process forward," Singh told more than 600 delegates from around the globe at the World Economic Forum conference.
Since its decisive re-election win last May, the Congress-led government has been in a position to push ahead more boldly with reforms that were blocked by communists in the previous parliament.
PORT SAID - With cheap labour, investment incentives and unrestricted exports, one Chinese textile group has turned to Egypt as an ideal location to produce its ready-made garments, beating stiff competition at home.
The Chinese-owned Nile Textile Group has set up shop in the Port Said free zone, overlooking the north entrance of the Suez Canal, and developed an industrial estate now hiring 600 workers, 20 percent of which are Chinese and the rest Egyptian.
Cheap raw materials and favourable export conditions have given the company easy access to foreign markets.
SYDNEY: Withdrawing Australia's government stimulus now would interrupt the recovery underway, Treasurer Wayne Swan said Sunday as he warned the country was not immune to the risks to the global economy.
Swan said the government's A$70 billion (US$64 billion) stimulus, credited with helping Australia avoid a recession, had already peaked and was gradually winding down.
But he said although the nation had posted 0.6 per cent growth in the June quarter - the best in the developed world - and maintained relatively low unemployment, the domestic boost was still needed.
TAIPEI: Taiwan is expected to forge an agreement on financial cooperation with China "soon", in yet another sign of evolving ties between the two former bitter rivals, it was reported Sunday.
A senior Taiwanese official in charge of relations with China said over the weekend the formal signing of the agreement, which calls for closer banking, insurance and securities cooperation, "could take place soon," local media reported.
Negotiations on the agreement "are almost completed," said Chiang Pin-kung, chairman of the quasi-official Straits Exchange Foundation.
BALHAF, Yemen : Yemen, one of the world's poorest countries, joined the international club of gas exporters Saturday with pumping starting at a newly built liquefied natural gas plant in the Gulf of Aden.
In a hillside ceremony overlooking the coast, President Ali Abdullah Saleh inaugurated exports by pushing a button giving the order to start pumping LNG from the terminal to a vessel anchored offshore.
The first shipment was to be sent to South Korea, with plans to also supply Europe and North America.
LONDON : Thousands of British Airways cabin crew are to vote on whether to take industrial action, the Unite trade union said Saturday, in a row over job cuts and new contracts.
The ballot will open on November 16 and close on December 14. Unite would have to give seven days' notice before the start of any action, so strikes could begin just before the Christmas holiday season.
More than 13,300 cabin crew staff will be balloted, with union leaders predicting a big 'yes' vote in favour of action.
LARNACA, Cyprus : Cyprus opened an ultra-modern airport on Saturday that it hopes will boost flagging tourism and boost prospects of it becoming a regional transport hub.
Cypriot President Demetris Christofias opened the new Larnaca terminal, built by a consortium of French and Cypriot companies, at a ceremony attended by 2,000 guests including French European Affairs Minister Pierre Lellouche.
"Today serves as a landmark in the history of tourism development and the island's infrastructure in general," Christofias said.
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