We investment pacts with China, Korea

Real head: ASEAN to ink investment pacts with China, Korea. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) may soon ink investment pacts with China and South Korea to boost economic integration.The pacts are part of a series of deals under ASEAN’s free trade agreements (FTA) signed with China in 2005, and South Korea in 2006. 

The pact with China could be signed next month in Thailand during the ASEAN meeting with China, South Korea and Japan, an official from the Jakarta ASEAN Secretariat, Lim Chze Cheen, told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday. 

The deal with China was aimed at opening up both markets to investment flowing either from China or other ASEAN member countries, Cheen said.

“We will have greater certainty and room, not just from an investment perspective but also in terms of trade,” Cheen said.

The expected pact comes after ASEAN and China’s negotiations for FTAs on goods and services concluded in 2005 and 2006, respectively.

Under the new pact with China, a zero-tariff market is targeted to come into full effect in 2010 for six original ASEAN members, and in 2015 for the other four.

Trade value between ASEAN member states (combined) and China jumped by more than three fold to US$171.1 billion in 2007, from $59.6 billion in 2003, growing at an annual rate of 30 percent. 

In terms of trade, for ASEAN member states China is the third largest market after Japan and the EU. 

However, for China trade with ASEAN countries ranks fifth after United States., the European Union, Japan and Hong Kong. 

Around 3 million Chinese tourists visit ASEAN countries each year. 

As well as the pact with China, Cheen said, ASEAN was also expecting to sign a similar agreement with South Korea in June, but he refused to elaborate on this, suggestign only that negotiations were still underway. 

ASEAN is South Korea’s fifth-largest trading partner and more than 2.5 million South Koreans travel to ASEAN member states each year. South Koreans comprise the largest expatriate population (by nationality) in Indonesia.  According to the immigration office, around 40,000 South Koreans have permanent residency in Indonesia.

With a combined population of 575 million (as of 2007), ASEAN groups together Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.The region has a total trade value of more than $1.8 trillion and a gross regional product of $1.2 trillion. ASEAN has recently inked an FTA with Australia and New Zealand.  The region is also planning to sign an FTA with India later this year. 

Source: Ika Krismantari , The Jakarta Post , JAKARTA | Wed, 03/25/2009 11:46 AM | Business 

Obama signed Form of Post Special Women

United States President Barack Obama, Friday (6 / 3), announces the establishment of one post in the foreign policy of his country, specifically to deal with global problems of women. Obama appoints Melanne Verveer, a former government official in President Bill Clinton, as the Ambassador of International Women's Affairs. He now works at the Department of Foreign Affairs Minister of Foreign Affairs leader Hillary Clinton. 

Clinton Menlu own work to improve women's participation in the campaign's core international development (from the U.S. department of foreign affairs) in which he wanted a woman should be equal partners in diplomacy and defense of U.S. foreign policy. Verveer is the founder, chairman, and executive deputy head of Vital Voices Global Partnership, an international NGO that attempts to print the women leaders. 

White House says, women mold Vital Voices is a pioneer in the furtherance of economic, political, social, and in each country. Verveer been working as assistant to the President Clinton, from 1993 to 2001, and head of staff for the mother country that Hillary Clinton has become Menlu U.S. "Verveer also initiated the establishment (institution) Interagency Council on Women in the presidency office, which serves as a model of how government should handle the problems of women," the White House. He also had been an executive vice president at People for the American Way, an organization for the freedom of civil rights and the Constitution in which he plays a key role for a number of discharge laws on civil rights.

Better education accessible

In a recent conversation with a good friend who has been a teacher for over 20 years I was surprised to hear him speak very openly about the "education industry". 

This was a surprise because I had always thought of him as someone who had very high ideals for and about education. He trained as a teacher and earned a master's degree in education and has had a distinguished career in education really means services and increasing in line to become a director. 

He has taught at least four continents and is now working in Indonesia, it seems, is much to enjoy their time as part of what he sees as "a really vibrant and growing industry of education in the country." I had always seen as someone who saw education as a great gift of being a teacher and as a vocation and not just making money. But now seems to have a slightly different perception. 

He is watching the international spread of curricula and teaching methods and practices, and this is something he calls "the globalization of education." I'm not sure if "globalization" and "education" really work well together for me as a positive expression. There are, in my opinion, some of the concerns and questions about globalization, but I think I understand the essence of what he suggests. 

Education has become more international in flavor in Jakarta and other cities throughout Indonesia. The number of international schools seem to be growing at an impressive rate. Recent reports indicate that in 2008 the Ministry of Education licenses to more than 200 new school projects that include international education. 

What does this mean in the field? Well, there is concern that there are too many people involved in schools and perhaps the figure of 200 new licenses for the school is a representation of this kind of problem. It is perhaps too easy to license. It is much harder to be able to provide international education. 

This does not mean they are not good things happening in international education and in the case of Indonesia. There may be some school projects that are neither established nor well managed, but the truth of the matter is that they are and which no longer fall by the wayside. 

What is the most useful is the manner in which greater diversity and spread of education is being developed for Indonesia. This seems very appropriate when we think of the Indonesian motto "Unity in Diversity." All these schools are successfully implementing international standards in all curriculum directed to the same effect of providing quality education and is therefore a unity about them and what they are trying to do. 

However, this leaves room for diversity and the diversity of approaches to education. International curricula and curricula are being implemented in Australia and the United Kingdom and other countries with an international approach to education in Indonesia are also represented. I recently heard about a new school is following a Canadian curriculum. While we must recognize that nations can be represented by these curricula, but internationalism is the key to what they are doing. 

These international curriculum and often the direction consistent international citizenship, and promote global awareness. This may be what my friend is referring to when he speaks of "the globalization of education." This means that a truly global mind-set is being introduced and promoted through the schools of this kind and this can only be a good thing. 

Another very positive development of such schools is to help develop a set of human resources to help education in general. Teachers have to teach in these schools are using a different curriculum and are learning to use different methods to help their students understand. 

All this means that Indonesia is becoming a greater choice of what education can do. The national education system has had its critics, but it is the adaptation and the influence of what is happening internationally. This means that the Indonesians are becoming more and more access to better education. 

Source: Rachel Davies, Contributor, Jakarta | Thu, 01/22/2009 4:35 PM | Supplement; The writer is an education consultant in Sydney, Australia.