Asia-Pacific countries to discuss economic crisis

September 25th, 2009 Walsh is new US Pacific Fleet commanderPEARL HARBOR, Hawaii — Adm. Patrick M. Walsh has taken over as the commander of the U.S.

July 27th, 2009 New AP bureau chief appointed in TokyoNEW YORK — Malcolm Foster, The Associated Press business editor for the Asia-Pacific region, was named Monday to be bureau chief in Tokyo. Foster will lead the AP staff in Tokyo to produce insightful coverage of Japan as its corporate giants and society grapple with the worldwide economic crisis, the effects of an aging population and its struggle to find a new role in Asia in the face of an increasingly powerful China and worries about a nuclear-armed North Korea.

June 19th, 2009 MasterCard names Citi Asia Pacific exec COONEW YORK — MasterCard says its new president and chief operating officer will be Ajay Banga, the former CEO of Citigroup's Asia Pacific division, beginning Aug. 31. Banga, 49, replaces Robert W.

May 12th, 2009 TOKYO - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Moscow and Tokyo could resolve their existing territorial dispute by building mutual trust and developing strong economic ties. Putin, who arrived in Tokyo Monday, said he was in Japan to discuss a long-standing territorial dispute, along with economic, energy and international issues with the Japanese leadership.

May 7th, 2009 WASHINGTON - With the global economic crisis hitting Asia hard, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects India's growth to slow markedly in 2009 before starting to rebound toward year end. 'The spillovers from the global crisis have impacted Asia with unexpected speed and force,' according to the IMF Regional Economic Outlook (REO) for Asia and Pacific which was released in Singapore Wednesday.

April 24th, 2009 UN calls on Asia to protect poor from food crisisBANGKOK — The food crisis that hit many developing countries last year is likely to re-emerge following the recession and Asian countries must take measures to protect poor people from rising prices, a U.N. report said Friday.

April 18th, 2009 BOAO - Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari Saturday said his country needed more international support in combating terrorism, which he described as being more serious than the global economic slowdown. 'Help us, help the region, in the fight against terrorism,' Zardari said while addressing the annual Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) in this southern Chinese city in Hainan province.

April 18th, 2009 BOAO - The annual conference of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) opened in this scenic town of China's southern Hainan Province Saturday, focusing on the cooperation of Asian countries amid the global financial crisis. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is to deliver a keynote speech at the opening plenary meeting.

April 7th, 2009 BEIJING - A recovery in China, fuelled largely by the country's huge economic stimulus package, is likely to begin this year, the World Bank (WB) said Tuesday in its mid-year report. As countries in the East Asia and the Pacific region prepare for an expected surge in joblessness resulting from the global economic slowdown, a ray of hope may be emerging with signs of the Chinese economy bottoming out by mid-2009, said the report, which is a half-year assessment of the region's economic health.

March 31st, 2009 MANILA - Economic growth in developing Asia was expected to slow to its lowest rate in more than a decade due to the global economic crisis, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said Tuesday. It predicted India's economic growth would be five percent in 2009.

March 19th, 2009 TAIPEI - Several Asian countries plan to jointly build a third Asia-Pacific undersea cable to bring faster Internet service to the region, Taiwan media reported Thursday. The countries plan to jointly invest $500 million to lay the Asia-Pacific Cable Network 3 (APCN3), according to the Economic Daily News and the Commercial Times, which cited unnamed Chunghwa Telecom Co sources.

February 15th, 2009 WASHINGTON - US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton left for Asia Sunday, kicking off her first trip abroad as President Barack Obama's top diplomat, in an effort to build a closer relationship with four major Asian countries. Clinton will visit Japan from Feb 16 to 18, Indonesia from Feb 18 to 19, South Korea from Feb 19 to 20, and China from Feb 20 to 22, the state department said in a statement.

February 7th, 2009 HYDERABAD - The seventh Routes Asia 2009, a premier event for the airlines and airports, will be held here March 29-31. GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL) is hosting the event aimed at sustaining and developing air services.

January 27th, 2009 BANGKOK/GENEVA - Global unemployment would increase by 18 million to 51 million people this year from 2007 figures, depending on the extent and length of the economic crisis, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) predicted Wednesday. 'We are now facing a global jobs crisis,' the UN organization's director general Juan Somavia said in Geneva.

January 5th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The global economic turmoil poses a grave threat to developing nations even though their contribution to the cause of the crisis is negligible, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said here Tuesday. 'Given the magnitude of the global financial and economic crisis today, the developing countries may become its worst victims even though they were not the cause of the crisis,' Mukherjee said while delivering his address at the general session of the Afro-Asian Rural Development Organisation (AARDO).