Presented by: Verspeeten J. ; Ostyn M. ; Prat L. ; Tanghe S. : Devriese S. : Parmentier J.
10-05-2011
Sixth and final stop: Saudi -Arabia
Summary:
The last stop is in Saudi-Arabia. We move from East-Asia to the Middle-East. A totally different country: Saudi Arabia. A very rich oil state, where we end our trip.
Prince Walid, or better known as the 26th richest man in the world (to Forbes magazine), has obtained a loan of $26 million from the international World Bank. They borrowed him the money for a 9 year loan-contract, for building a new hotel in Ghana. IFC (or the biggest shareholder in the United States) gave the loan to the KHI Company (or better known as the Kingdom Hotel Investments). The building of the hotel will create an economic boom in Ghana. Because the 109 million hotel will bring some new facilities, like a commercial center etc with it.To the IFC it will be a project with strong developmental impact in Ghana. This will be the beginning of the attraction of new investors in the low-income countries in Africa.
Opinion:
I think its a good idea of the KHI Company to invest in a new (not touristic) country like Ghana. Instead of always putting new hotels together in touristic areas, where you have an overwhelm of choice, its better that you support a country with an economical and touristic low level. I guess that there will be some discussions about the fact that they will build a 5-star hotel in a place where people have no money, that he uses the money of the IFC (thats a part of the World Bank Group, but lost of people who give commentary on these projects, dont see the fact that there will be a creation of 300 new jobs in the hotel itself, but another creation of more than 400 jobs for the delivery of the food, the reparation services, and as a result of the building of a mega-hotel, a new shopping center will be opened, and how many jobs will create this? We better would have a project like this in our touristic cities like: Bruges, Gent, Ypres, Some people would be against, thats for sure, but it would create another economic boom. Jobs would be created, tourists would be more attracted, the only problem that we have, it that the reservation of a room would be very expensive, because we arent a low-income country. Companies arent interested in investing in Belgium, caused by our difficult laws, our very high loan wages and so many other reasons. Maybe the political minsters of Belgium should do something on this, because its getting serious. How many times dont you see that companies are leaving from Belgium, jobs are cancelled and factories are closing? The only advantage that we have, is that we have a knowledge of several products for about 50 years, that other countries doesnt have.
F1 is a popular sport, and this all over the world. Also in India, where on the 30th of October, the 17th race of the F1 championship will be organized. Everyone is looking forward to it, and so is Sebastian Vettel, the current leader in the F1. The Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida can host a 110000 persons, and all of them will surely be filled in October. India is becoming a great sport-country. With a 1,15 billion inhabitants, they have some of the best cricketers of the world (the most popular sport in India), and last year, they even organized the Commonwealth Games (a variant of the European Championships, but a thousand times more popular).
Opinion:
I think its always good for a country when they can create an international well known sport (like the F1). This always stimulates the economy, and gives the country a good reputation. Different from the World Championship football, they can use the track every year. In South Africa, where they built a lot of World Championship stadia for the world championship football last year, they now have a lot of misery with those stadia. They cost a lot of money, and that for some fame that lasted only 4 weeks. Lots of people came to South-Africa to see the football, but the revenues were small, and the problems afterwards were big. Empty stadia are standing there, and are asking a lot of maintenance (so thats another word for money). I am very happy that the Belgium Bid for bringing the World Championshipto Belgium and The Netherlands failed. It would only cost money, and the revenues would only be temporary. The capacity of the stadia that they need for a final, is way too big for the clubs that we have in Belgium and Holland.
So my opinion about the racetracks is, that its not a bad investment. Its only used once a year for the F1, but the other days of the year, you can use it for other sections of the racing sport. 100000 visitors might sound a lot, but with so many inhabitants it will be filled fast.
In a conference last week between several East-Asian leaders, the political leaders talked about Myanmar's bid to take over the rotating chair of the regional grouping in 2014, food shortages, spiraling energy prices, human trafficking and maritime security. But no important decisions were taken. Other discussion were the potentially oil-rich Spratly-islands. The Asian countries (who corporate with the US) fear an overwhelm of China if they would own those island. Another discussion about the violence and the disputes at the Thailand-Cambodia-border, ended up in a heavy discussion. Both countries deal with the problem that their economy suffers in that region, caused by the daily border violence.
Opinion:
I didnt really liked the article, because its doesnt really has a subject. There are several subjects, for example: The fact ASEAN-Conference wasnt a great success, the fact that Myanmar will take over the place as leader of the ASEAN-group in 2014, and the discussionbetween Cambodia and Thailand about their conflict at their borders.
My opinion about the fact that Thailand and Cambodia have troubles to keep peace in the border-region, is that the government should react more adequate to problems like those. People often have troubles caused by ethnic or racist reasons, this is a typical point of opinion for creating problems. If you notice that the political partners dont have a good relationship, then you may say that it will be difficult for the inhabitants for having a good relationship with their neighbors (of the other country). The prime ministers of both countries should solve this problems, instead of postponing the problem, and giving it to their ministers ofForeign businesses.
The conflict is about some ancient temples that should belong to one or another country. Already 20 people have died between those battles. I think that ancient temples dont belong to a country, but to the past. Instead of making trouble for such a bagatelle, they better would make a tourist attraction from it, so both countries could have a revenue from it. Of course its difficult to react on something if you dont know the roots of it.
The third stop is in Vietnam, a beautiful country in the South-East of Asia. The article considers the dead of 3 babies in Hanoi (the capital of Vietnam with 6.5 million people).The article says that 3 children diedlast week, on an week-long protest by the Hmong ethnic group. More than 5000 people demonstrated for an autonomous region, but as a result of their demonstration, with poor living conditions, people became ill. The problem is, that there wasnt enough food and drinking water for one week. As a result of the demonstration, 40 people were arrested, and the result of their stubbornness, 3 infants between 1 month and 1 year died.
Opinion:
Everywhere in the world, people want autonomy (for example: Catalonia, Northern Ireland, Northern Tirol, Flanders , ). But people often dont see the costs and problems that they might create if they want an autonomous state. I chose this article, because it refers a bit to the Belgian state, where we have a political deadlock. Flanders is an economical strong part of Belgium, and they might be (in theory) better off in a county without Wallonia, but the practical side is more important! We both have our strengths and weaknesses, so why dont we just combine them, and make the best of it? There is an expression who says: together we are strong. Or in Asian terms: The ying and yang. If we can combine the best of the 2, we can be stronger than before. People should see this more often, thats how you create solutions and not problems. For example the Vietnamese people who ask for autonomy. They are one of the poorest parts of Vietnam, so autonomy will be very difficult. They create a chaos, and so people get arrested, people get hurt and they even die. And if it are children, its even more painful. So they have to see that demonstrating for something impossible, is impossible!
With a shrink of 32% the last century, Indonesia has lost a part of the battle against the recovery of illegal timber in the Indonesian woods. Together with the EU trade commissar De Gucht andsecretary general of the European Timber Trade Federation De Boer, Indonesia has reached an agreement to reduce the illegal wood import to the European Union. The idea is to create a stamp of approval to prove that the wood or paper isnt illegal. The same deal would be made with Liberia, one of the greatest timber exporters in West Africa.
My opinion:
I think that this deal between Indonesia and the European Union is a good step into the direction of a better lifestyle of our use of the environment. Over the last century, a lot of wood has been cutted illegal, over a long term, this will lead to a world who is less healthy. If we want to make it a better world (or less bad) for our children, we now have to make restrictions about illegal woodcutting, pollution of the air, pollution of the sea, we already are making some good improvement in continentals like America, Europe and Oceania, where the companies and governments have the money to invest in a more healthy environment. But in other continentals and countries, they screw all the good work that we are doing. I think it already became far, that we (Europe), as a rich continental have to tell Indonesia that they have to make a special stamp, so we wont buy any illegal cutted wood anymore. If Indonesia would be more professional (and richer), they would make their own restrictions. Thats how it should work, so we dont even have the chance to buy illegal wood. If we had done this 50 years ago, nowadays there wouldnt be 30 million people depending on the forest. Now, a lot of families are depending on that illegal woodcutting, so you create another (maybe even bigger problem): the creation of an unemployment of many families. A solution would be, that they build some factories over there, so the people have another job, if they abandon the illegal woodcutting. if everyone is against the illegal woodcutting, if nobody from Europe (which is a big consuming market) buys illegal wood anymore, the illegality will fade away from itself. But if there will always be a demand, there will always be an offer. Thats the main principal of the economy.
Todays problem in Saudi Arabia is the rising food prices. Tensions have boiled over in Tunisia and Egypt because of rising prices and lack of jobs. In the supermarkets in Saudi Arabia they have to make difficult choice. The price for daily products like sugar is doubled! In the Middle Easts largest economy Saudi Arabia, food price inflation is expected to hit 9% this year. Also prices of some items such as beef, chicken and vegetables have nearly doubled in just a few years.
It will be very difficult for the inhabitants of Saudi Arabia to buy enough food with only a salary of 15.000 dollars a year or less. Much of the countrys enormous wealth is concentrated in a minority of the population, making food inflation a severe problem for those at the bottom of the social ladder. Hotels and restaurants are also complaining.
2 years ago Saudi Arabia started to look at Africa as a solution or as a choice for them to start cultivating.
Opinion
In Belgium, the food prices can rise with 3% or even less, but an increase of 9% is a lot. Remarkable is that mostly only the food prices rise, the one we need every day. When the prices of the hotels or the prices of the plane tickets become more expensive, we dont mind as much as we do if the food prices are rising. In Saudi Arabia it is worse, because of their little salary. The salaries in Belgium are mostly higher and the inflation of food prices isnt so high.
Unfortunately this was our last stop what means our city trip is coming to an end. We learned a lot and maybe we will do 6 other countries next year!
Blog6_Prat_L_WikiLeaks: Saudi Arabia cannot pump enough oil to keep a lid on prices
Laurent Prat
2MAR1
Business English 1B
Blog6_Prat_L_WikiLeaks: Saudi Arabia cannot pump enough oil to keep a lid on prices
1/3 SUMMARY
The text I read about Saudi-Arabia tells us a very interesting fact. A US diplomat pretends that the reserves of the worlds biggest oil exporter have been overestimated by nearly 40%
The US fears that Saudi-Arabia hasnt enough reserves to prevent oil prices escalating. The revelation comes because of the rising oil prices in the recent weeks to more than $100 a barrel. The US pretends that the Saudis let the price rise, to shrink the global demand. And that in order to save the stock. A l-Husseini believes that Aramco's reserves are overstated by as much as 300bn barrels. In his view once 50% of original proven reserves has been reached
2/3 OWN OPINION
Im again astonished about what they pretend in this article. How is it possible that one country rules the whole world. Did isnt realistic I think! In this article it is clear that money and monopoly are the biggest trumps to rule the world. Saudi-Arabia is its own boss and thats the big mistake! So the US fears that Saudi-Arabia, (dont forget: the worlds largest crude oil exporter!) may not have enough reserves to prevent oil prices escalating. In my opinion thats ridicule. How is it possible that just one man pretends that the Saudi oil stock is overestimated by 40%? There has to be a little truth in the whole case! In my opinion it isnt strange anymore how the Middle-East dominates the world by manipulating the market. When the prices for oil are high, mostly because of the Saudis themselves) they are satisfied. When the demand takes off, they will pump more oil, to avoid that the high price will threatened the demand. Sadad al-Husseini, a geologist and former head of exploration at the Saudi oil monopoly Aramco, met the US consul general in Riyadh in November 2007 and told the US diplomat that Aramco's 12.5m bar a day in 10 years but before then global oil production would have hit its highest point. And it went on: In a presentation, a current senior vice-president for exploration, reported that Aramco has 716bn barrels of total reserves, of which 51% are recoverable, and that in 20 years Aramco will have 900bn barrels of reserves.
And totally not a loss of 40%, pretends by Al-Husseini. Who said that believing Aramco's reserves are overstated by as much as 300bn barrels. In his view 50% of original proven reserves has been, and this amount will be able to stop the production! He believes that what will result is a plateau in total output that will last approximately 15 years followed by decreasing output." Like Jeremy Leggett pretends: We are asleep at the wheel here: choosing to ignore a threat to the global economy that is quite as bad as the credit crunch, quite possibly worse."
Blog5_Prat_L_India_Indiaâs economy to grow 8 percent by 2011-2012 World Bank
Laurent Prat
2MAR1
Business English 1B
Blog5_Prat_L_India_Indias economy to grow 8 percent by 2011-2012 World Bank
1/3 SUMMARY
The first article I read, tells us the future prospects about the Indian economy . and how there economy handles with the past economical crisis. A World Bank report says that the economy of India will grow at 7.5 percent in 2010-2011. The following years the grow would be better and reach the 8 percent in 2012. Hans Timmer, director of the World Bank says that the future prospects are based on the first quarter of fiscal 2009-2010 and thats the raison why the amount of percentage is so big. India stays optimistic after the global crisis because its country is very depended on export. India is still the second biggest country in advance after Brazil.
2/3 OWN OPINION
The article I had found was very pleasant to read because Im very interested in economical situations of other countries. It was rather difficult but understandable. After reading the article twice, I was rather upset because of huge inefficiencies in the financial market in India. I thought India was already more specialized in manufacturing and financial cases. But considering the text India is still one of the biggest and fastest growing developing countries. The future prospects are still rose-colored so the Indian population has still no raison to worry. The manufacturing and natural resource sectors have been particularly negatively impacted by the crisis. And thats (in my opinion) the biggest problem of India. When your biggest sector (after agriculture) is so tender because of an economical crisis. Then you have still a lot of work to do. The growth during the first quarter in the current fiscal was 6.1 percent and rose unexpectedly at 7.9 percent (the World Bank report said that the Indian economy would grow with 7.5 percent during 2010-2011). while the global economy grew 6.7 percent during 2008-2009 and 9.1 percent in 2007-2008. We can degree that the Indian economy had corrected itself very, very fast. They have still an arrears because of the global crisis! But it will not take long to correct that small arrears. We can also consider that the Indian economy grows faster than Hans Timmer, director of the World Bank had expected. The first quarter the growth was unexpected 1.8 percent higher than earlier expected. And thats in my opinion the biggest advantage of a country like India. Half a year after the global economical crisis its economy grows faster than expected and reaches almost the same percentage than 2 years ago. (in years of big economical increase). So in general: Indias economy is almost unbreakable but for how long?
More at : Indias economy to grow 8 percent by 2011-12: World Bank (Lead)
I watched a short movie (7min) about the tourism in Thailand. The movie is called the color of Thailand. And tells the story of John. John is an explorer and had already travelled many countries. He travels the world extensively and he still believes that therere still a lot of fascinating destinies to discover his next destiny is Thailand. In the movie it is clear that the city never sleeps, lights are everywhere! John visits Bangkok the Capital City of rich culture Thailand. He visits al historical and architectural places in no time! In the movie you see the typical massage therapies, the city cruises, the exceptional sunset. John visited also the Central Plain and took an elephant ride around the archeological city.
2/3 OWN OPINION
The movie I watched was, like I already expected an indisputable commercial! I had the intention to learn something more about the advantages and disadvantages of Thailand. But I only saw the advantages! John, the protagonist during the movie was pleasant to see, but I sometimes it was to processed block ( cliché) to watch. During the movie it is easy to explain how the tourism of Thailand is so overwhelming. A Thailand holiday has so much to give, next to the friendly people, the wealth of exotic and cultural distinctive destinations . The country offers more than that! The biggest advantage of Thailand, in my opinion, is it diversity! The country offers 76 provinces. And those who travel to Thailand want to see as much as possible from all these provinces! Knowing that every experience in Thailand will be unique and so much fulfilling! You cant ignore the whole country and its culture. If I have to believe the whole commercial, Thailand is the place to be for an exciting Cultural and comforting holiday. But honestly when so see the movie, nothing is different its all the same. Okay it is nice, they arent lying! But its all to artificial, to forced, to unnatural! How they were greeting each other, how the fireworks begins when he Bangkok enters, how he rides an elephant, how he eats fruit from the trees alongside the roads. Sorry for me its more a trap than objectivity and why am I so sure? Because my parents went to Thailand 4 months ago. And they hoped to have the time of their live but when they came back, they were totally contrary to expectations! The food was totally not that good or special, every evening there was other food. One evening Turkish, another evening Spanish. The beaches were also very polluted, filled with rubbish and trash. The local inhabitants threw away their trash just in the sea and beaches alongside their house. Unbelievable!
Blog3_Prat_L_Vietnam_Vietnamâs economy doing battle against inflation
Laurent Prat
2MAR1
Business English 1B
Blog3_Prat_L_Vietnam_Vietnams economy doing battle against inflation
1/3 SUMMARY
The article a read about Vietnam tells us that the Vietnam economy has to battle against the internal inflation since almost two year! Statistics of the General Statics Office in Hanoi had calculated this. Over the past year the value of Vietnams official currency, the dong has been going up in smoke. The consumer prices rose by 17.5% in the first quarter of this year. Only Ethiopia and Venezuela are more worse. It doesnt seems that de Vietnamese government can extinguish the whole inflationfire. The central bank is also fighting the creeping dollarization and even goldisation of the economy. its core business. The Vietnamese government has raised fuel and electricity prices and hopes for a good spring harvest, so the prices of rice can lower.
2/3 OWN OPINION
When I read the article I was astonished that the Vietnamese government doesnt really cares about the giant inflation period of their economy. Maybe they know that there will be an improvement of their economy the second quarter of this year. But they are estimating thats clear. What alarms me the most, is the price of rice, knowing that Vietnam is one of the biggest consumers of rice in the world. For the industry and their economy thats detrimental. But for the poor Vietnamese population, the whole inflation story is a disaster. Another year like this and there will be a massive famine! And who will take his responsibility for this? Nobody! So in my opinion the Vietnamese government has to take action! They first have to help their own population (by reducing their Inflation). Thinking that the consumer prices rose by 17.5% in the year to April and that poor countrys like Ethiopia and Venezuela are the only persuaders. Than we can talk about one of the biggest Vietnamese problems since years. Next to the inflation the central bank is also fighting the creeping dollarization and even the goldisation of the economy. And thats the big problem in Vietnam. Despite its capital controls, holders of the dong find it unusually easy to switch to hard currency of soft metal. In April, the government capped the interest rates offered on dollar deposits at 3% compared with the rates that are as high as 14%. The expansion of the rates shows that the Central Bank cares more about the inflation increasing than their own internal economy. And thats an advantage for the Vietnamese people. At last I hope that the decision of the Vietnamese government by raising the fuel and electricity prices will succeed and that the rice spring harvest will be lucrative for the Vietnamese provincials.
