Chongqing Connectivity Initiative with Singapore

source: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/chan-chun-sing-calls-on/2699352.html?cx_tag=similar&cid=tg:recos:similar:standard#cxrecs_s

According to MTI, Mr Chan and Mr Sun affirmed their commitment to working closely together in order to achieve the vision of anchoring Chongqing’s hub status in Western China.

Singapore pushing the envelope insistently for FinTech

Can't fault the Singapore government for effort.

photos from: http://www.sporela.com/index.php/latest-singapore-business-news/3314-inaugural-singapore-fintech-festival-to-be-held-in-nov2016

source: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/business/singapore/singapore-s-first/2691168.html

Deputy Prime Minister and MAS Chairman Tharman Shanmugaratnam launched the Festival at a roadshow in New York City on Wednesday. The US city is the first in a series of global outreach initiatives Singapore's central bank is conducting to draw the attention of the global FinTech community to the possibilities for innovation and collaboration on offer here, the press release said.
In his speech, Mr Tharman affirmed Singapore's stake in the advancing FinTech sector.
He said: "What we are trying to do is to push the envelope. We are trying to find new ways of doing the financial business, every area of business, in a way that makes more sense to the customer, a borrower, a lender, a middle-class saver, someone who’s making payments, someone who’s receiving payments."
He added that with digitisation taking place across global industries, it is more timely than ever for banks to engage proactively with technology.
"We are at the cusp of a new wave in finance that is I think very promising. There's no assurance it’s going to succeed, but it shows great promise - promise of delivering better value to the customer. That’s really what we’re trying to achieve in FinTech," said Mr Tharman.

Water - The Stuff of Life pt 2

Water scarcity increasingly is driven by three major factors: Global warming is forecast to create more severe droughts around the world. Meat consumption, which requires significantly more water than a vegetarian or low-meat diet, is spiking as a growing middle class in countries such as China and India can afford to eat more pork, chicken and beef. And the world’s population continues to grow, with an expected 2 billion more stomachs to feed by 2050.

A classified U.S. cable from Saudi Arabia in 2008 shows that King Abdullah directed Saudi food companies to search overseas for farmland with access to freshwater and promised to subsidize their operations. The head of the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh concluded that the king’s goal was “maintaining political stability in the Kingdom.”

“The effects of water scarcity will leave the rich and powerful largely unaffected,” Seche wrote in the classified 2009 cable. “These examples illustrate how the rich always have a creative way of getting water, which not only is unavailable to the poor, but also cuts into the unreplenishable resources.”

“Nestle thinks one-third of the world’s population will be affected by fresh water scarcity by 2025, with the situation only becoming more dire thereafter and potentially catastrophic by 2050,” according to a March 24, 2009, cable. “Problems will be severest in the Middle East, northern India, northern China, and the western United States.”

source: https://www.revealnews.org/article/were-running-out-of-water-and-the-worlds-powers-are-very-worried/


Investing in Water

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/04/18/3-best-stocks-to-invest-in-water.aspx
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/investing/11081169/Forget-gold-investing-in-water-could-generate-far-greater-returns-over-time.html
http://www.energyandcapital.com/report/water-investing-101-the-best-water-stocks-to-buy/190
http://www.investopedia.com/articles/06/water.asp