Ambani has poured $35 billion into what may come across as the world’s single greatest act of philanthropy. After spending years erecting more than 200,000 cell-phone towers across India, as well as laying 150,000 miles of fiber-optic cables, Ambani launched a new cellular service called Jio—a Hindi word that translates to “live life.” To boost users, Jio offered 4G data completely free of charge for an introductory three months.
Millions of people rushed to sign up. For many Indians, it was their first taste of high-speed internet. “Life is going digital,” Ambani told investors at the time. In other words, the internet revolution was for everyone—not just for the country’s urban, English-speaking elites. Ambani would later extend the free offer for three additional months. By the time Jio began charging small amounts for access, 100 million Indians had already subscribed. As of this writing, a quarter of a billion Indians have Jio connections. In many cases, they get basic Jio phones to access the internet and social media for as little as a $23 security deposit.
Despite the freebies, Jio is no philanthropic endeavor. Ambani has long been aware that to hold on to his position as Asia’s richest man, he would have to diversify his company’s interests beyond its traditional petrochemical, refinery, and retail businesses. He also seems intent on dragging India into the digital era and then being the first to control and monetize an entire ecosystem of internet products.Ambani seems intent on dragging India into the digital era and then being the first to control and monetize an entire ecosystem of internet products.
[Human beings are rarely rational—so it’s time we all stopped pretending they are, Fareed Zakaria writes.]
The first phase of his plan is working. Jio has already rocked the Indian cellular and smartphone market by aggressively cutting prices and expanding the pool of potential users. Two large wireless operators have either shut down or filed for bankruptcy, while other competitors have been forced into uneasy mergers. Rivals have accused Jio of predatory pricing, but they have failed to convince India’s regulators. Given Jio’s immense investment in cellular infrastructure—and Ambani’s ability to stomach short-term losses—its market share is expected to keep growing.
The second stage of Ambani’s plan is more ambitious. Jio’s real competitors aren’t local cellular providers, such as Airtel or Vodafone India; instead, insiders say Ambani has long had his eyes set on competing with Google, Netflix, Spotify, and Facebook. Jio services now include attractive lifestyle products: a streaming TV service with hundreds of channels, a digital payments system, a music library, a health care app, a connected home system, a messaging platform. Each of these could reach Jio’s growing customer base in a multitude of Indian languages.
Ambani’s big bet is not about life going digital. That’s inevitable. His real bet is that average income in India—currently less than $2,000 a year—will rise enough for large numbers of Indians to start paying for the content they consume online. When that happens, Jio will be ready to cash in. If Ambani succeeds, he may become the richest man in the world—and he will have accelerated a smartphone internet revolution in the world’s largest democracy.
This article originally appeared in the Winter 2019 issue ofForeign Policymagazine.
Ravi Agrawal is the managing editor of Foreign Policy. @RaviReports
A bill to outlaw trade in goods from Israeli settlements has been passed by the lower house of Ireland’s parliament, a major step on its journey into law.
Frances Black, the independent senator who initiated the legislation last year, greeted the result as “amazing,” adding that “Ireland will always stand for international law and human rights, and we’re one step closer to making history.”
Amazing! First the Seanad, now the Dáil: an overwhelming majority have voted for the Occupied Territories Bill 2018 and a ban on illegal #SettlementGoods! Ireland will always stand for international law + human rights, & we're one step closer to making history. Onwards
In December, the upper house gave its final approval to the bill, making the Seanad the first house of parliament in the world to pass legislation banning the import of goods from Israeli settlements in occupied territory, which are illegal under international law, according to Sadaka, an Irish group that helped craft the bill.
Passage in the Dáil was assured as Fianna Fáil, the second largest grouping in parliament, had given its backing to the bill, along with other opposition parties:
Since World War II, U.S. firms were the most aggressive in the world with a zenith in the 1960s. Therefore, the U.S. private sector appeared not to need any help in its international trade efforts.
The result of this overall philosophy was a continuing effort by the U.S. to aid countries abroad in their economic development while U.S. domestic firms were overlooked. The policies of helping to stimulate foreign economies were quite successful in the 20th century. However, the climate of the international market is quite volatile. As the U.S. continued to encourage trade abroad and not to aid the international ventures of its domestic firms, U.S. firms were placed in an unfavorable position.
American companies were assured that because of its size and the diversity of its resources, the American economy could satisfy consumer wants and national needs with a minimal reliance on foreign trade. The availability of a large U.S. domestic consumption power and the relative distance to foreign markets resulted in many U.S. manufacturers simply not feeling a compelling need to seek business beyond national borders. Subsequently, the perception emerged within the private sector that exporting and international marketing were simply too risky, complicated, and not worth it.
This perception also resulted in increasing gaps in international marketing knowledge between managers in the U.S. and those abroad. This gap shaped different incentives to innovation. The Late-developing Advantage Theory can illustrate those differences, not only at a national, but also at a firm specific level. A less favorable position can always be an opportunity and motivation. While business executives who deal with small market sizes are willing to learn about cultural sensitivity and market differences, many U.S. managers remain blissfully ignorant of the global economy. Given such lack of global interest, inadequacy of information, ignorance of where and how to market internationally, unfamiliarity with foreign market conditions, and complicated trade regulations, the U.S. private sector became uninterested and fearful of conducting international business activities.
However, conditions have changed. Traditional education institutions are becoming more attuned to the international dimension. Universities and particularly business programs are emphasizing responsibilities and obligations at the international level both in theory and in practice. Meanwhile, some government agencies are paying closer attention to the international needs of the U.S. business community. The U.S. Department of State offers training and instruction in business-government relations to domestic firms.
Newly emerging economies also accelerate the process of rising public attention. For instance, electronic commerce has made it more feasible to reach out to the global business community, whether a firm is large or small. International events can lend a new focus to business. In 2018, Alibaba generated US$30.69 billion in sales on Double Eleven or November 11th, which is known as a day of special promotions, and now includes a large share of international sales. Related industries and supply chains, such as transportation and logistics, are prospering with the growing volume of international trade as well.
In effect, U.S. corporate interests given to international markets both as an opportunity find both customers and suppliers to be growing. How can the U.S. maintain a sustainable competitive position? How can the managers further learn from what used to be former students? The need and demand for international marketing expertise can be expected to rise substantially. Overall, avoiding ignorance is the first step to becoming wiser.
Professor Czinkota (czinkotm@georgetown.edu) teaches international marketing and trade at the University of Kent in Canterbury and Georgetown University. His latest book is “In Search For The Soul of International Business”, (businessexpertpress.com) 2019
Rudolph W. Giuliani, President Trump’s personal attorney, dialed back comments he made Jan. 20 about negotiations over a Trump Tower project in Moscow.(Drea Cornejo/The Washington Post)
First, Rudolph W. Giuliani said serious conversations about developing a Trump Tower project in Moscow occurred throughout the 2016 campaign, then he said they were hypothetical. He said they might have stretched the entire campaign, then he said they ended by “January 2016 or shortly thereafter.”
He said he had listened to recordings proving President Trump was not guilty of instructing his former lawyer Michael Cohen to lie to Congress, then he said that he shouldn’t have mentioned any tapes exist and that they were not pertinent.
He said it would have been “perfectly normal” for Trump to talk with Cohen before he testified on Capitol Hill in 2017 about the Moscow project, then he said he was not sure they had spoken. Then he said they had definitely not.
“I have since checked the record. The answer is, he didn’t talk to him at all,” Giuliani said of Trump in an interview Tuesday night.
These were among the dizzying array of statements and clarifications made in recent days by Giuliani, one of Trump’s lawyers and the public face of the president’s legal team handling the special counsel investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.
The former New York mayor has left White House aides, his fellow lawyers and people involved in the special counsel’s probe puzzled over what, exactly, he was trying to say in defense of the president — and why he was saying any of it at all.
“There is a strategy,” Giuliani said. “The strategy will become apparent. There have been these objections in the past. It’s become obvious somewhat thereafter. You have to be patient.”
The strategy, it seems, was lost on his client.
Trump this week asked Giuliani to scale back his media appearances after the recent interviews,
White House aides said, and complained that his lawyer did not know all the facts of the case. The president also asked Giuliani to clean up some of his misstatements publicly, complaining he created a weekend of news, including negative cable chyrons, at a time when Trump wanted public attention focused on special counsel Robert S. Mueller III disputing a BuzzFeed report that Trump had asked Cohen to lie to Congress.
The recent tensions between Trump and Giuliani highlight the unique role he plays for the president.
Even though Trump has been frustrated with Giuliani’s performance several times since he became his lawyer in April, he continues to get a longer leash than most of the president’s aides and surrogates. That’s because Giuliani, whom he considers a friend, is doing what Trump wants — serving chiefly as his public defender rather than his pragmatic legal counsel — and because the president would struggle to replace him after being turned down by several high-profile attorneys reluctant to represent the mercurial Trump.
President Trump's lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani is now arguing that even if the president colluded with Russia or directed hush-money payments, it is not a crime.(JM Rieger/The Washington Post)
The first lawyer who represented Trump in the Russia probe, John Dowd, quit in March over a dispute on how to best handle responding to the investigation.
For now, the two septuagenarian New Yorkers appear stuck with each other — to the chagrin of some of the president’s allies.
White House communications staffers have grown frustrated with Giuliani and privately mock some of his interviews, saying they spend more time responding to Giuliani’s answers than Giuliani does preparing to give them.
A person close to the president’s legal team said the comments were seen as “bizarre,” even by those involved in the case. A second person said the president’s other lawyers are also frustrated with Giuliani for his TV appearances and do not view him as helping the case. Both spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss Giuliani’s performance.
“Most of what he says is not consistent with the actual facts,” one of the people said. “Thinking there is a strategy would give Rudy too much credit. He doesn’t know what he is talking about.”
People familiar with the legal team say Giuliani’s public comments could hurt their standing with Mueller and prolong the probe — as the special counsel’s office investigates his various statements and contradictions.
“From a legal standpoint and a public perception standpoint in terms of trying to help your client, nothing he is doing makes any sense whatsoever,” said Ted Boutrous, a Gibson Dunn partner who regularly argues cases in front of the Supreme Court.
Jay Sekulow, one of the president’s lawyers, said Giuliani remains a “valuable member” of the legal team. The president does not plan to oust Giuliani and continues to consider him a friend, according to five current and former White House aides and outside advisers who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive issue.
Trump wants people out there “pushing back, pushing back on everything,” said a senior administration official who also spoke on the condition of anonymity. The president sees much of the battle over Mueller’s investigation as a public relations fight and is often unconcerned if Giuliani’s answers are inaccurate — as long as they are delivered with confidence and don’t sow confusion.
“His role is largely in the court of public opinion. Giuliani’s goal is to tell the American public that this is political, not legal. He’s succeeded in doing that with some blips along the way,” said Alan Dershowitz, a retired Harvard Law School professor and occasional Trump adviser. “His main task is to politicize legal issues. In the end, Rudy has been a major plus for Trump.”
Trump has told advisers and other lawyers that Giuliani’s combative posture toward Mueller’s team and his refusal to answer questions from the special counsel’s office was a welcome change from the early days of the investigation, when lawyers persuaded the president to cooperate — and convinced him that the inquiry would be over soon if he did.
Giuliani has finished a report that he has shown the president, questioning the integrity of the investigation, and Trump has been impressed at its length. The two men have complained about particular members of Mueller’s team such as prosecutor Andrew Weissmann, whom they view as overly aggressive.
Many of the president’s closest aides want nothing to do with the investigation, fearful of legal fees and subpoenas. For example, former White House chief of staff John F. Kelly would often walk out of the room when the president began talking about the probe — or had a meeting scheduled with his lawyers. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders has sought to avoid questions about the investigation and to have statements put in her name.
And the president’s other lawyers — Jane Raskin and Sekulow — are not regular TV personalities like Giuliani. Two people close to the president’s legal team said Raskin and Sekulow handle much of the actual interactions with Mueller and brief Giuliani later. Trump frequently commiserates with Emmet Flood and Pat Cipollone, White House lawyers focused on the Mueller investigation whom he has come to trust.
“There is an outside, inside game happening,” Dershowitz said.
Trump has told advisers that people increasingly see the probe his way, partially because of Giuliani, even though the latest Politico-Morning Consult poll shows 57 percent of Americans believe Russia has compromising information on Trump.
Giuliani is shrugging off the latest criticism of his performance, saying it’s part of the job.
“He doesn’t get upset with me,” Giuliani said in an interview. “At least I don’t think he does. My goal is to make sure nothing bad happens to him. If I get bad publicity for a day or two, so what?”
Melting glacier in Svalbard, Norway. Photograph: Goncalo Diniz / Alamy/Alamy
Jonathan WattsGlobal -
As ice melts and shipping lanes open up, geopolitical tensions are growing and old cold war bases are being reopened
The climate crisis is intensifying a new military buildup in the Arctic, diplomats and analysts said this week, as regional powers attempt to secure northern borders that were until recently reinforced by a continental-sized division of ice.
That so-called unpaid sentry is now literally melting away, opening up shipping lanes and geo-security challenges, said delegates at the Arctic Frontiers conference, the polar circle’s biggest talking shop, who debated a series of recent escalations.
Russia is reopening and strengthening cold war bases on the Kola peninsula in the far north-west of the country. Norway is beefing up its military presence in the high Arctic.
Last October, Nato staged Trident Juncture with 40,000 troops, its biggest military exercise in Norway in more than a decade. A month earlier Britain announced a new “Defence Arctic Strategy” and promised a 10-year deployment of 800 commandos to Norway and four RAF Typhoons to patrol Icelandic skies. The US is also sending hundreds more marines to the region on long-term rotations and has threatened to send naval vessels through Arctic shipping lanes for the first time.
While these strategic moves have echoes of the cold war, the modest buildup falls far short of that era, and there remains a strong spirit of cooperation in many areas. The current tensions are a result of a world warmed by industrial emissions. The Arctic is heating up twice as fast as the rest of the planet, shrinking sea ice and exposing more water and territory to exploitation and access.
“Right now, the reasons we are seeing more military activity is that countries are worried by the spectre of open water,” one of the speakers, Klaus Dodds, a professor of geopolitics at Royal Holloway, University of London, told the Guardian. “The unique Arctic security architecture has shape and form that come from natural extremities. If the Arctic becomes just another ocean, this breaks down. It’s elemental.”
Norwegian tanks during Trident Juncture exercises on 2 November 2018. Photograph: Frederik Ringnes/Forsvaret/EPA
The Arctic’s unique characteristics are under attack from all sides. Below, the once-frozen ocean is now mixed with warmer, more saline Atlantic waters. In the skies above, the polar vortex above is weakening, allowing intrusions of balmy air currents from the south.
Sea ice is being lost at a rate of more than 10,000 tonnes per second, according to Tore Furevik, a professor at the Geophysical Institute at the University of Bergen. “We’re heading for a new and uncertain Arctic with ramifications for nature and politics,” he said. “We should strive to be less suspicious, less hostile and more open-minded if we are to deal with a problem that we have so recklessly created.”
By 2035, the Arctic is forecast to be free of ice during summer, which will allow ships to sail across the north pole.
Business interest is growing. For the first time, last summer, a Maersk container ship navigated the northern sea route from Asia to Europe carrying fish and electronic goods. Energy companies are exploring new oil and gas fields.
Once remote regions are becoming geopolitical hotspots. Tromsø, in Norway, which hosted the conference, was once a tiny trading post. Today, it’s a tourism hub and a gateway to the mineral-rich north. “Now we have a historically strange situation with political and economic activity in the Arctic. So many people are knocking on our door, including business and state representatives from China, Pakistan, Singapore and Morocco,” the mayor, Kristin Røymo, told the Guardian. “There is also a very obvious increased naval presence.”
This concerns many conference participants, who highlight the peaceful history of cross-border cooperation in the far north. Even during the cold war, there were agreements on fishing, scientific research and reindeer herding that continue today.
Norwegian politicians were at pains to downplay the significance of the current military buildup.
“There is no direct link between climate change and conflict,” the former defence minister Espen Barth Eide said. “It’s not because there is an immediate threat, it’s that, as an area becomes more important, it’s natural to have a heightened military presence.”
Tromsø was once a tiny trading post. Today, it’s a gateway to the mineral-rich north with representatives from China, Pakistan, Singapore and Morocco ‘knocking on the door’, says its mayor. Photograph: Olivier Morin/AFP/Getty Images
He compared the situation to the South China Sea, where China, the US and other nations compete, not by firing weapons, but by demonstrating capacity and presence. “To some extent that is happening now in the Arctic,” he said, although he stressed there were no territorial disputes to inflame passions.
The build-up is portrayed almost as a form of climate adaptation – strengthening the military presence along with infrastructure affected by melting permafrost.
However, there are tensions. In a keynote speech, the Norwegian foreign minister, Ine Marie Eriksen Søreide, complained about communications interference by Russia in the far north. She plans to arrange a meeting with the Russian deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, to discuss the allegation.
“Most important is to open political dialogue and talk not just about what we agree on but what we do not agree on,” she said.
Norway is also contributing to the climate problem and the strategic tensions. It has just approved a raft of new oil exploration licenses in the Barents Sea and one of its citizens has been caught spying in Russia.
Russia is uneasy about recent Nato exercises that have pushed deep into the north, according to Teimuraz Ramishvili, the ambassador to Norway. He told the Guardian the military modernisation on the Russian side was overdue after 20 years of neglect and its significance should not be overstated.
“In Europe, you have military installations that are used for peaceful purposes. Why it that OK in Europe, but not in Russia?” he asked. He said Moscow put a high priority on the northern region, where the potential was so great that some talk enthusiastically of an “Arctic age”.
“For us, this is a matter of sustainable development of Russian territory. This is not open water, it is Russian territory,” said Ramishvili. “The Arctic isn’t a nature resort. It’s a place where Russians have lived for a long time.”
A polar bear in the Franklin Strait in the Canadian Arctic. Photograph: David Goldman/AP
Currently, cargo companies that use the northern shipping lanes need to pay Russia. But this will change as the sea ice recedes and Arctic routes open up in international waters. China, which has declared itself a “near-Arctic nation”, is among the countries exploring this area. Last year, it launched a second Snow Dragon ice breaker and released an Arctic white paper that explored the potential for infrastructure investments in a Polar Silk Road.
The US, by comparison, is lagging behind. Although its nuclear submarines have operated under the ice for decades, its surface navy is ill-equipped for the Arctic. “Everyone’s up there but us,” the navy secretary, Richard Spencer, complained last month.
“The threat is back on. This is an area … we need to focus on,” he said. Spencer has called for a strategic Arctic port in Alaska and US naval vessels to conduct navigation operations later this year in northern shipping lanes so they have the capacity to conduct emergency operations if necessary. “Can you imagine a Carnival line cruise ship having a problem, and the Russians do the search and do the extraction?” he said.
The prospect of a US warship sailing near Russia’s vast northern border would certainly amplify unease, as well as highlighting the geopolitical challenges caused by global heating.
Lisa Murkowski, a US senator for Alaska, did not expect the US navy to enter Russian waters, but, considering everything else that is going on, she said any freedom of navigation mission in the region would raise sensitivity.
“It’s important for the US to project military strength, but there should be no intention to be unduly provocative,” she told the conference. The problem, she said, was that the White House had not updated its strategy to deal with a fast-changing region. “Under this administration, we are not assigning a significant priority to our role as an Arctic nation. There is a void,” she said.
Environmentalists at the conference highlighted the dual role of oil in worsening the tension: both as a driver of climate change and of the push for more resource extraction from the still largely pristine Arctic. Norway came under fire for approving 83 new exploration licenses last week, more than a dozen of which were in the Barents Sea.
“The false narrative of this conference is that Arctic countries are doing sustainable development,” said Martin Sommerkorn, head of conservation of the WWF Arctic Programme. “You can’t say that just days after you grant 83 new licenses. That’s completely wrong.”
A hostess waits as journalists arrive for a press conference and launch of new 5G Huawei products at the Huawei Beijing Executive Briefing Centre in Beijing on January 24, 2019. Source: Fred Dufour/AFP
CHINESE smart smartphone Huawei has proven immune to “political forces” threatening the company, announcing this week that sales of their smartphones and other devices grew by 50 percent in 2018 and hit a record high of US$52 billion.
The manufacturer has fast become a force to be reckoned within the market, causing an upset in rankings when it surpassed Apple to become the world’s second biggest smartphone maker, second only to Samsung. Huawei now corners almost 16 percent of the global market, shipping 206 million units in 2018.
Richard Yu (C), CEO of the Huawei consumer business group, arrives for a press conference and launch of new 5G Huawei products at the Huawei Beijing Executive Briefing Centre in Beijing on January 24, 2019. Source: Fred Dufour/AFP
The Chinese company’s growth is impressive considering it was a largely unheard of brand just a few years ago and it has been embroiled in political clashes as it tries to grow its market.
It is largely locked out of the US market – one of the biggest in the world – as Washington has accused the company of ties to the Chinese leadership and claim it is helping Beijing to spy on western governments.
Australia and the UK have also echoed these concerns, disallowing Huawei from carrying out its 5G connection across Australia.
Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou was arrested on 1 December in Vancouver at the request of the US. The incident has let to Beijing retaliating by arresting Canadians living in China and heightening tensions with Canada.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin (L) and Meng Wanzhou, Executive Board Director of the Chinese technology giant Huawei, attend a session of the VTB Capital Investment Forum “Russia Calling!” in Moscow, Russia October 2, 2014. Picture taken October 2, 2014. Source: Reuters/Alexander Bibik
Despite the ramped up political pressure, Huawei executives have come out fighting. Speaking at a product launch on Thursday, Consumer division president Richard Yu called the reports “fake news” and said the companies growth plan would remain unchanged.
“The concerns all came from the political guys making noise,” he told reporters, as reported by Bloomberg. “That’s some influence, but definitely we are confident about our future.”
While the direct impact of this on business is not clearly known, the revenues speak for themselves.
The company’s revenue is expected to top US$125 billion in 2019, while smartphone shipments rose 35 percent in 2018. And they have ambitious plans to expand.
Huawei is angling for the lead in 5G, the technology that powers everything from self-driving cars to smart cities.
Journalists and guests take pictures of the 5G chipset Balong 5000 during a press conference and launch of new 5G Huawei products at the Huawei Beijing Executive Briefing Centre in Beijing on January 24, 2019. Source: Fred Dufour/AFP
On Thursday, it unveiled a self-developed chip for 5G base stations as well as a modem chip for devices. According to Bloomberg, the company has already shipped over 25,000 of its 5G base stations worldwide.
The company’s founder, billionaire Ren Zhengfei, has shirked off concerns of political pressure and has his sights firmly trained on the top spot.
“The US market is big, but unfortunately there is a political guy there, we can’t do anything,” he said last week in a rare public appearance.
“Even without the US market, we will be the number one.”
FILE PHOTO: Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is pictured during his meeting with Algerian Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia and officials in Algiers, Algeria December 2, 2018. Bandar Algaloud/Courtesy of Saudi Royal Court/Handout via REUTERS
DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - If you somehow missed the news about the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents and the global outcry that ensued, you might think Saudi Arabia is the darling of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
The kingdom has sent one of its strongest delegations ever to the Swiss mountain resort and packed its top executives’ agendas with meetings with international peers.
It has managed to secure top Western businessmen for a panel debate on ‘Next Steps for Saudi Arabia’, where French oil major Total’s chief executive Patrick Pouyanne and Morgan Stanley’s boss James Gorman spoke alongside the Saudi finance and economy ministers.
The Davos gathering in the Swiss Alps is a chance for the Saudis to try to put behind them months of intense criticism over the murder of Khashoggi, a critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October.
His killing by a team of Saudi operatives provoked widespread revulsion and tarnished the image of the crown prince, previously admired in the West for pushing deep changes including tax reform, infrastructure projects and allowing women to drive.
At Davos, the signs are that the damage control is working.
Swiss President Ueli Maurer said on Wednesday his country has moved on, and wanted to build strong relations with Riyadh, a rich, oil-producing kingdom that is itself a major global investor.
“We have long since dealt with the Khashoggi case... We have agreed to continue the financial dialogue and normalize relations again,” Maurer told Swiss news agency SDA.
‘LISTEN TO INVESTORS’
Western allies including some U.S. politicians have called on Riyadh to hold those responsible for the Khashoggi murder accountable. The Saudi public prosecutor is seeking the death penalty for five suspects, as the kingdom tries to contain its biggest political crisis for a generation.
So there had been doubts about Saudi Arabia’s status at Davos. After all, a number of A-list global investors stayed away from the Crown Prince’s annual Future Investment Initiative conference in October, overshadowed by the Saudi journalist’s death.
Then, at a summit of the G20 big economies in Buenos Aires, leaders appeared to ignore Prince Mohammed on stage during the “family photo,” even if many went on to have closed-door bilateral meetings with him afterwards.
But at Davos, the Saudi delegation had dozens of meetings and no Western investor pulled out, Saudi economy minister Mohammad Al Tuwaijri told Reuters on Wednesday.
“On a day-to-day basis in Saudi Arabia it is business as usual. Our job as government is to make sure infrastructure, legal in particular, is stable. This transformation journey hopefully will attract investors,” Tuwaijri said.
He said the probe into the killing needed time. The message he would take back to the crown prince was to “listen to the investors’ feedback”.
Finance minister Mohammed al-Jadaan said it was “absolutely sad, what happened to Jamal Khashoggi” but also suggested to wait for the probe’s results and the trial. He also said the fact that a $7.5 billion Saudi bond was heavily oversubscribed earlier this month showed investors were regaining confidence.
Mohammed El Kuwaiz, Chairman of the Saudi Capital Market Authority, said the murder of Khashoggi caused investors to pull back, but only temporarily.
“Speaking not just as a government employee but as a Saudi citizen, everyone in Saudi has been absolutely horrified by what happened... But a country of 30 million people should not be held hostage by an event, no matter how heinous, particularly at this point in time when we have been working very hard to set a new course for the country,” Kuwaiz told Reuters.
FILE PHOTO: Swiss President Ueli Maurer speaks at the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, January 22, 2019. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann
NEW DEALS
Latest Saudi data will show new foreign direct investment licenses doubled last year from 377 in 2017, a Saudi government source said. The World Economic Forum has chosen two state Saudi companies – Aramco and Sabic - to be among its 100 strategic partners in 2019.
Oil giant Aramco also plans to issue a mega bond this year and is looking to acquire gas assets in the United States, its chief executive told Reuters.
In the future, Aramco still plans to list its stock sometime in 2021 in what could become the world’s largest initial public offering.
Pouyanne said he was carrying on with a $5 billion refining and petrochemical investment in Saudi Arabia and would also soon announce a new venture for petrol stations.
“What is the alternative for a company like Total? To boycott Saudi Arabia? We are always against sanctions and boycotts. Who suffer from boycott and sanctions? It’s the normal people, the people on the street,” Pouyanne told the panel.
Morgan’s Gorman also said investors wanted “clear light and transparency” about the murder which was “utterly unacceptable”.
“You have to decide what process you play in a country which has had an incident versus the 30 million people who are going through an extraordinary reform,” said Gorman, whose bank has been present in Saudi Arabia for more over 40 years.
Bill Browder, a critic of Vladimir Putin, who successfully pushed through some of the harshest U.S. sanctions against Russia for the killing of his lawyer, known as the Magnitsky Act, said the same sanctions should be applied to Saudi Arabia.
“Until Mohammed bin Salman bears responsibility for this crime, there cannot be business as usual with Saudi Arabia,” Browder told Reuters.
Additional reporting John Revill; editing by William Maclean and Mark Trevelyan
When the Rana Plaza collapsed on 24 April 2013 within 94 seconds, killing more than 1,100 employees and injuring over 2,500 in Bangladesh, it became the worst industrial disaster in recent times
When fashion festivals move from a city to a city and non-stop catwalks occupy and titillate the senses, possibilities are quite remote in controlling consumption
Thursday, 24 January 2019 Catwalks sizzle! What’s on the catwalk – the skin, the silk, lycra parading endlessly broadcast to the world whatever new and popular in clothing and accessories and it also communicates desirable dimensions too in a not-too-subtle manner.
Knowing the critical importance of textiles and apparel in meeting our needs and the necessity of keeping with the times, we have joined in our own way too. However, the creativity and inventiveness shown on our catwalks when we have them one has to recognise and admire too as that is a quality attribute that needs to be recognised. Catwalks perhaps define minimalism quite differently, though greening these events too is creeping in.
This is however, about action! This is all about the need for some quick meaningful action where each one of us has to play a part. As we speak Australia is under a severe heat wave. Imagine that you have to endure 50 deg C – all-time records for temperatures. We complain even at 30 deg C. Well, the current story is some even stay and live underground in Australia – of course in one particular location for the moment yet! – to escape the heat.
We know that much of Australia is desert and as such warm temperatures are not new. Yet the sizzling heat wave is one no one is enjoying. The issue is Australia usually is considered to be in the frontline in climate change. They will know it and feel it first. Accompanying other effects such as bush fires can be pretty devastating. Well I thought usually people escape on boats to heaven and not to hell!
There should be a sense of urgency as the clock ticks and we remain much focused on consumption, which catwalks in my view epitomise. There was a time when New York was circulating yarn at one time through different neighbourhoods and then collecting garments from the same households in another round. Even today they are trying to resurrect that trade with ‘Made in New York’ label – well that is President Trumps in-shoring perhaps!
Well today one of the bedbug dense cities of the world it is not really about stitching but all about fashion. There are many countries that fulfil that role for them. It is giving certain quotas or trade preferences that will do the trick in ensuring different value chains. Textiles do have very long distance relationships.
Fast fashion and shortcuts
As fashion was not fast enough fast fashion has emerged, energising the supply chains to be even more agile and responsive. If you can stich on the ship on your way to Americas, some may even do that. Some respond superbly, while most perhaps follow less than perfect pathways. These shortcuts and pursuant of cash flow and meeting demand at any cost can endanger lives and limb.
If an order is delayed there are enormous repercussions. If one is not responsive and the season’s sales dip, then the end would be in sight. As such it is a serious business. Well it was for a reason that the concept of sweatshops has emerged.
One event was to change that so much. When the Rana Plaza collapsed on 24 April 2013 within 94 seconds, killing more than 1,100 employees and injuring over 2,500 in Bangladesh, it became the worst industrial disaster in recent times. It has been revealed that the production heads forced people to work on the day that the building collapsed, as deep cracks have been visible on the day before suggesting an impending failure. The pressure of commerce has blinded them.
It is also important to mention that the top four floors of the building had been added without any permission and with the obvious intention of increasing capacity. The sights and sounds made global rounds and many of the buyers reacted sharply. Much more order in safety and work conditions perhaps was definitely brought into the industry. Yet the overall reason behind the situation has not changed much.
We still want change and change happening in quick time in this industry and more have to make a living responding to such demand. Industries in this part of the world really depend on the purchase patterns of the markets in the west. Some emerging trends such as ‘no bra’ movement after the #metoo definitely can be bit unnerving for some.
When high end fashion houses has to change their associated slender images the systems developed to serve a fixed image – the ad look – is haunting some of the dependent industries. It is important to mention the Sri Lankan apparel sector however is currently leading not only with ethical fashion and Garments without Guilt but in greening as well as in innovation. It is interesting to watch the Colombo Innovation Tower rising to serve design. Still I would caution some mindset changes are necessary and faster the better. Even though we may be in high-fashion and high end exporter, we cannot very well serve on something as simple as providing quality school uniform.
Climate change
Climate change is the most haunting prospect in store for us on this planet. What is critical is even if we have been explained the science and the reality too has been evident some of us and even those in very high places ignore and contribute by doing what exactly is not prescribed. The issue is this is not just endangering a few but almost all!
We note that on 20 January this year, the CO2 value recorded has been 413.21 ppm as the daily CO2. A year ago on the same date the value had been 408.09 ppm. It was on 10 May 2013 that the CO2 reading crossed for the first time again after about two to three million years the value of 400 ppm. It is an imperative that we must understand the negative consequences of this rising value of this particular gas in the atmosphere.
The isolated pioneering effort of David Keeling who developed and measured the atmospheric CO2 in 1959 had been kept going and the CO2 curve named after him had shown steady but a slow climb. This sadly is not conquering another summit for the human kind but more likely the demise.
Another worry is we just do not know the value when the point of no return is likely to happen – 420 ppm or 450 ppm. Today the prospects of a 420 ppm looks alarmingly closer. In such circumstances we again hear of the release of other gases such as CFCs, which too have a more serious global warming effect, by countries that consider the economics of these gases is to be utilised in their SMEs even though they have been banned for many decades. 400 ppm should have been the day for action but that really did not happen.
Unsustainable consumption
The issue is reckless, unsustainable consumption and the inability of us to reign in this habit. The sustainable development goals specially consider the importance of this by identifying it as SDG 12. Nationally the policy for Sustainable Consumption and Production is ready and available, though yet to be adopted. Yet when growth is aspirational and higher numbers are revered with the mechanism to achieve greater numbers is only through production and consumption there is a serious disconnect on what we should do and doing.
When fashion festivals move from a city to a city and non-stop catwalks occupy and titillate the senses, possibilities are quite remote in controlling consumption. It is quite interesting to note how this trend may have begun indicating that consumer society was not an accident.
The recorded advise of an officer – Victor Lebow of USA who was a retailing analyst – is available us today to understand when one considers utilisation of assets the means are through pushing the masses to believe and behave in a way conducive to such results: “Our enormously productive economy … demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction, in consumption…. we need things consumed, burned up, replaced, and discarded at an ever-accelerating rate.”
It must be said that over the years the expectations of people like Victor had been very well met. We all know once the addiction has set in rehabilitation is not easy and definitely costly.
Melting glacier in Svalbard, Norway. Photograph: Goncalo Diniz / Alamy/Alamy
Norwegian tanks during Trident Juncture exercises on 2 November 2018. Photograph: Frederik Ringnes/Forsvaret/EPA
