The Importance of 11/11 The world’s largest shopping event has amassed total sales of nearly USD $70 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV) across China’s two largest e-commerce platforms, Alibaba and JD.com. The 24-hour event is known as the Double 11 shopping festival as it falls on the 11th of November, China’s annual ‘Singles Day’. …
Written by Out-Law, Pinsent Masons Significant changes to the security of payment regime in Singapore are due to come into force in the near future. The changes contained in the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Amendment Bill 2018 are the most extensive changes to the Security of Payment Act (SOP Act) since it became …
Written by Out-Law, Pinsent Masons There has been a significant increase in the number of unsolicited proposals (USPs) for greenfield and brownfield public-private partnership (PPP) infrastructure projects in Asia over the past two years. Unlike solicited proposals where a government entity launches a formal public tender, in the case of an unsolicited proposal, it is the …
Written by Out-Law, Pinsent Masons The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Philippine government have signed an agreement which will see $1.3 billion provided to help finance the Malolos-Clark railway project. The ADB is co-financier of the project and has agreed to provide a total $2.75bn loan facility to support construction. According to the ADB statement, …
Written by Out-Law, Pinsent Masons US ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim has said that US is supporting the Duterte administration’s ambitious ‘build, build, build’ infrastructure programme and American private companies will take part in major infrastructure projects under this programme, according to CNN. This project has also been financed through Chinese loans and grants. The …
Written by Out-Law, Pinsent Masons China will remove some restrictions on foreign investment in the financial sector in 2020, a year earlier than expected, according to a statement from the China’s Financial Stability and Development Commission. The statement followed the sixth meeting of the financial stability and development committee chaired by China’s vice premier Liu He. …
Written by Out-Law, Pinsent Masons Foreign arbitration and dispute resolution institutions are allowed to establish business organisations in the new Lingang area of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, according to plans published by China’s State Council. The plan said that the new section would compete with leading free trade zones, would open up the …
Written by Out-Law, Pinsent Masons The US, China and other countries will next week sign a new international agreement in Singapore on cross-border mediation agreements. The Singapore Convention on Mediation is the final version of the United Nations Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation, which was adopted by the UN in December. It aims …
Written by: GHD.com Invited by the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade), GHD recently took part in high-profile dialogues between Pacific Island governments and Australian and US businesses at the 2019 Asian Development Bank (ADB) Annual Meeting, in Nadi, Fiji. This is the first time in 52 years that the ADB Annual Meeting was held …
Written by Alexander Chipman Koty and Qian Zhou, Asia Briefing, Dezan Shira & Associates Minimum wages in China continue to grow. Through the first six months of 2019, four regions have increased their minimum wages: Beijing, Chongqing, Shaanxi, and Shanghai. Last year, 15 out of the 31 regions in mainland China increased their minimum wages, while 20 did …