What Happened
Hots
About 19.7 billion U.S. dollars worth of investment deals were struck at the 10th China-ASEAN Expo held in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the organizer said Wednesday.Of all, 73 international cooperation projects involve a total of 8.6 billion U.S. dollars and 94 domestic deals are worth 68.1 billion yuan (11.1 billion U.S. dollars), the expo secretariat said in a statement.
The international cooperation deals cover areas of agriculture, forestry, mining, industrial manufacturing, transport, energy, infrastructure, tourism, catering and logistics.Outbound investment accounts for 40 percent of the total value of international cooperation deals, up 16.6 percent from a year ago.
Deals between Chinese companies and their peers from nine ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) member states were worth 3.4 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 30 percent from a year ago.
The fund will be mainly invested in sectors
like biotechnology, modern agriculture, traditional Chinese medicine, e-commerce and tourism rather than in earlier favored sectors such as traditional manufacturing and mining, it said.Meanwhile, the expo has attracted increased interest from businesses in countries and regions like the United States, Canada, Australia, Russia and Hong Kong.
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Thai Airways delays Airbus A380 London launch
Thai Airways has pushed back its Airbus A380 Bangkok-London Heathrow debut by 11 months, slipping the launch from Dec. 1, 2013 to Oct. 30, 2014. “Thai Airways regrets to announce that due to important technical modifications, the A380 will not be able to commence its operation on the Heathrow-Bangkok route as planned from Dec. 1, 2013. Tentative operational date has been set on Oct. 30, 2014,” the carrier said in a statement.
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Shanghai banks ready for Free Trade Zone
As cross border business becomes increasingly important to China, the upcoming Shanghai free trade zone, is poised to see a flurry of changes to financial policies, and financial services. The Free Trade Zone is expected to be launched on the 27th of this month. A move aimed to make Shanghai a leading international financial center.China’s financial markets are poised to make a giant leap. Once the Shanghai free trade zone is in full swing.
Financial reforms are expected to be deepened as the Free Trade Zone revs up activity. Both interest rates and the exchange rate are expected to become more flexible.ndustry insiders expect a gradual relaxation in the capital account, and eventually realise full convertibility step by step.
China’s big five banks have all set up branches in the free trade zone, but some of them are about to raise their administration level to speed up procedures.
The FTZ is also planning to open its doors to foreign and private banks. While competition is heating up, services options will become even more abundant for individuals as well as companies.