Forumblog.org - The World Economic Forum Blog

Rising Questions

When Asia was struck by the Tsunami, the whole world offered the healing touch.The world wept for those who were effected and aid collection broke all records.At that time I wrote on the blog about my fear of misutilization of funds.That is exactly what is happening, the BBC has reported that people are getting peanuts as aid.One woman,living on the Andamans island got a cheque of just two rupees (less than five cents).

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4492695.stm

Today Asian economies will have to address the question about corruption.Millions of dollars of aid money gets drowned and there is no respite for the "common man".George Bush is right in raising questions about linking aid to the task accomplished,with no accountability "making poverty history" will just remain a dream.

Asia is a hub of activity

I'm in Singapore attending the World Economic Forum's annual meeting of Asian business, political and civil society leaders - and the buzz is tangible.

Participants seem to agree that the centre of the world's economic gravity has shifted to Asia. This region is the emerging hub of global economic activity.

This Asia Roundtable has drawn an impressive list of participants including Heizo Takenaka, Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy and Privatization of the Postal Services of Japan, His Majesty King Abdullah of Jordan and Peter Mandelson, the European Commission's Trade Commissioner.

Whilst India and China are the two words on everybody's lips,  participants are also addressing how the rest of Asia's economies can avoid being squeezed out by the emerging giants and benefit from the region's rapid growth. I was particularly interested to hear political and business leaders talk about the need to develop alternative sources of energy to fuel the region's growth. Pressure on natural resources is too big-of-a-problem to ignore for much longer...

Read our website to get more indepth coverage of the Asia Roundtable.

Indonesia quake

On Monday, 28 March, a magnitude 8.7 earthquake struck near the island of Nias off the coast of Sumatra in Indonesia, which is just 100 miles southeast of December’s deadly tsunami.

The Disaster Resource Network, an initiative of the World Economic Forum, is in touch with a number of relief organizations on the ground and will provide assistance as needed.  Nias, population 700,000, lies about 870 miles northwest of Jakarta.