Opinion

When Kazakhstan bid to host the 2017 EXPO in its capital Astana, it must have surprised many observers. It was not just that no country from the former Soviet Union had yet to host EXPO, but the theme we chose was future energy. After all, Kazakhstan is one of the world’s largest oil and gas producers. Promoting new energy sources ...

Last week, global equity investors got a much-needed reprieve from volatile, loss-inflicting markets. But rather than signaling the start of a calmer market phase, this may well prove a prelude to renewed volatility in the weeks ahead. After ending the last trading session of the previous week with a gain, global stocks got off to a good start last Monday. ...

China’s overseas investment has long worried Western observers. From the constant updates on the soon-to-be operational Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), to the rather more nebulous One Belt One Road initiative, China’s trade and economic influence is spreading on multiple fronts. This has fed into broader anxieties in the West, who feel that important allies and opportunities are slipping into ...

Blaming President Obama for his past mistakes in Syria may be satisfying, and is largely deserved, but it’s not a policy. This is the most complicated battlefield the world has seen in decades, and the next moves by the US and its allies have to be deliberate, and carefully considered. The US should move forward with the cease-fire process begun ...

Users of smartphones wonder where the technology take them amid markets reaching point of saturation and army of customers looking for cheaper smartphones or reluctant to buy new ones. And with the annual Mobile World Congress (MWC) kicking off in Barcelona, the world’s biggest manufacturers are set to feature their latest products that may address tastes of more tech-savvy customers. ...

Regional economic prospects are dimming in Southeast Asia, with unemployment expected to rise and increasing concerns over job security preoccupying many – with Malaysians in particular being the hardest hit – a survey by the Financial Times has found. The survey of jobseekers by the FT Confidential Research found that unemployment was expected to rise in ASEAN after significant job ...

Any doubts that Donald Trump has had a huge (as he might say) influence on the Republican Party were dispelled this month when Senator Rob Portman came out against the Trans-Pacific Partnership. There is no more respected member of what’s called the Republican establishment: The Ohio lawmaker is a confidant of the Bush family, a runner-up vice-presidential pick in 2012 ...

Critics have already begun writing their obituaries for Abenomics, after the latest disappointing data showed Japan’s economy is yet to get off its hospital bed despite massive monetary stimulus. But for a government searching for more answers, the solution might lie closer to home than in the realm of exotic policy instruments. On Thursday, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and ...

Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah is going to announce the government’s fiscal budget for 2016-17 on Wednesday. The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants Hong Kong (ACCA) estimates that the government will record a surplus of approximately HK$70 billion (US$9 billion). Given there has been a significant surplus consistently over the past few years, leading to the accumulation of fiscal reserves ...

One could argue — and some, like UKIP leader Nigel Farage, already do — that the concessions British Prime Minister David Cameron obtained late on Friday from other European Union leaders in order to stay in the bloc are meaningless. Or one could rejoice in a victory as Cameron does. That won’t change a fundamental fact: The UK is not ...