Whanganui's Inland Container Terminal

Photo: Graeme Siddle

This photo of containers in the Palmerston North railyards was taken from Tremaine Avenue on Friday 17 December, 2010.   Having heard/read suggestions for an inland port for Palmerston North I googled ‘inland port palmerston north ‘  and found that on 7^th October, 2010, the Wanganui Chronicle announced the creation of an inland container terminal in Whanganui’s industrial area in an article by John Maslin - http://www.wanganuichronicle.co.nz/local/news/inland-container-terminal-is-all-shipshape/3925469/

Train enthusiasts have posted some photos of the line to Castlecliff and the facilities at:

http://www.bettertransport.org.nz/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=2401

It appears then that Palmerston North has missed out on this opportunity and will instead consolidate its position as a distribution hub with a population catchment of over 1 million people.

Exporting companies are playing a key role in the Whanganui development.  However there doesn’t seem be any information on the net about how the project is going and whether it is fully operational yet.   Perhaps Whanganui readers of this blog or those interested may be able to contribute to this.

Learning languages follows trade deals?

The Palmerston North Tribune recently (November 24, 2010) published an article about Dr Colin Anderson, retiring senior lecturer in languages at Massey University.  He said that language studies follow fashions and trade deals.  'All BA students in the 1970s had to have a foreign language as part of their degree and many opted for French.   In the 1980s that requirement was dropped, but emerging trade deals with Japan created demand for Japanese speakers.  Something similar happened in the 1990s with more trade and contact with Latin America triggering demand for Spanish.'   Dr Anderson said that he can see the next big push will be for Chinese.  He also believes that children should start learning another language at eight or nine.
Since New Zealand has trade talks coming up with Russia will there be a renaissance of Russian teaching?  Or will Korean studies be set up in one of our tertiary institutions?
It seems Dr Anderson is not alone in stressing the importance of teaching foreign languages.  Japan's education minister Yoshiaki Takaki has said: "Since we are living in a globalized society, I am keenly aware of the necessity of children acquiring the ability to communicate in foreign languages."  (Japan Times October 13, 2010)
Will New Zealand exporters be equipped first to negotiate deals with countries such as Russia, Kazakhstan and Korea, and then to carry on successful trade with them?  Or will we expect these new trading partners to speak English?

  

TPP Talks in Auckland 6-10 December 2010

You may have been wondering where to get further resources on the TPP talks which are currently being held in Auckland.  The newspapers and news websites do have reports -  by googling:  tpp talks Auckland you will retrieve some information.

A website sponsored by a grant from the School of Law at the University of Auckland which has more comprehensive information is the Trans-Pacific Partnership Digest at:

http://p4tpp.dyndns.org/

As the name suggests it brings together information about the TPP – it tends to give space to those who oppose the TPP but as the talks are not open to the public, there is no information which can be given at the moment.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade does have daily media briefings at this page:

http://www.mfat.govt.nz/Trade-and-Economic-Relations/Trade-Relationships-and-Agreements/Trans-Pacific/index.php#tppround4

Trade in Waste

Having fulminated earlier this month about the non-e-day we had in Palmerston North city, I was very interested to read in the IELP blog of the trade in waste which is happening between Japan and the Philippines.   You can read it at: http://worldtradelaw.typepad.com/ielpblog/2010/11/trade-in-everything-electronic-waste.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+ielpblog+(International+Economic+Law+and+Policy+Blog)
 There are some references to other posts at the bottom of Simon's post.  

Of course China is the world's largest importer of the world's waste materials according to an article published in The Guardian Weekly on the 16th January 2010.  China is reputed to take as a third of Britain's recyclables.  However the economic downturn has affected this industry in China.

Unhealthy dependence on dairy exports???

From the International Economic Law and Policy Blog 15 November 2010:

Exports and Domestic Demand

Posted by Simon Lester
President Obama:
"countries with large surpluses must shift away from an unhealthy dependence on exports and take steps to boost domestic demand".
Is domestic demand too low in China and other countries with trade surpluses?  Or is domestic demand too high in the U.S. and other countries with trade deficits?  How do we determine the appropriate level of domestic demand?

This blog is managed by WorldTradeLaw.net.  You can find it at: http://worldtradelaw.typepad.com/ielpblog/
The 15 November posts also include one on the TPP which is a matter of debate for New Zealand.

Proposed new FTA between New Zealand and Russia

I hope that our negotiators are aware of the following information in their work to get this FTA developed and signed:

Russia’s Doing Business Rating Falls Seven Points

Nov. 9 – Russia ranked only 123rd this year in an international rating of improving entrepreneurial conditions by country. The report was compiled by the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation under the title, “Doing Business 2011: Making a Difference for Entrepreneurs.” The research involved 183 countries.

Compared to last year, Russia’s rating has fallen seven points. From the CIS, Russia is topped by Kazakhstan ranked 59th, which took top honors for the most-improved business environment in 2009-10, Belarus ranked 68th.

The top 10 leading reformers were Singapore, Hong Kong, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Ireland and Australia.

During the investigation period from June 2009 to June 2010, only two reforms were settled in Russia. The regulator eased construction permitting by implementing a one-stop shop for all procedures related to land use and introduced a series of legislative measures to improve creditor rights and the insolvency system.

At the same time, the construction permitting procedure is still one of the weakest points of doing business in Russia. The country ranks 182nd in that category.

Russian businessmen are spending 41.4 percent of their income on getting electricity, while in other countries businessmen spend an average of 6.8 percent of their income.

“To come to a building site in Moscow, a developer has to collect about 50 different signatures,” Anton Danilov-Danilyan from Delovaya Rosiiya criticizes.

It takes 30 days and demands nine different conciliatory procedures to start a business in Russia. By comparison, it takes just six procedures and 16 days to set up a business in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

Russia did however receive appreciation for judicial maintenance of contracts execution and occupied 18th place in the annual survey. The cases are considered in 281 days (1.8 times faster than in OECD member-countries), and costs 13.4 percent from the claim price (19.2 percent).

“Probably, doing business in Russia is easier that is appears from the World Bank report, but on such ratings foreign investors size up the country, ” Igor Nikolays from FBK said, but “it does not matter what we think of our achievements. The matter is how we are estimated by others.”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 9th, 2010 at 6:23 am   Russia Briefing

Global Entrepreneurship Week November 15-21

GEW is the world's largest celebration on entrepreneurship and innovation with 88 countries participating.  Have a look at www.unleashingideas.org to see what's going on.  Palmerston North has a full programme organised by Vision Manawatu which you can see at their website www.visionmanawatu.org.nz and it's really great to see that.  I have to say I was surprised to see that e-day seemed to pass unnoticed in this city - of course that is another story although it does have a connection with export products!