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Workers from Indonesias state utility firm PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) maintain a power plant station in Jakarta on Wednesday. Indonesia is looking into infrastructure and green bonds, a senior advisor to the government said on Thursday, as the biggest economy in Southeast Asia is in need of billions of dollars for the sectors development. Indonesia will need $140 billion over the next five years in infrastructure development ranging from paving roads and highways to providing more power and water supplies nationwide. – AFP

LONDON/BEIJING – Manufacturing in China, India and Russia powered ahead in August while growth slowed in European factories, emphasizing a growing divide in the pace of recovery between the rich and emerging worlds.

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BEIJING – Auto sales in China, the worlds biggest car market, rebounded in August as subsidies for energy-efficient vehicles and a stronger currency spurred demand, while sales in the US faltered.

Sales rose 55.7 percent over a year earlier to 1.21 million vehicles, up from 1 million vehicles the month before, the Cabinets China Automotive Technology and Research Center said Wednesday.

The increase compared with 17 percent year-on-year growth in July and 19.4 percent in June.

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JEDDAH – Nabatt, an exhibition of over 130 works by 23 Saudi contemporary artists will be held from Sept. 11 to Oct. 31 in Shanghai sponsored by the Saudi Arabian Pavilion at Shanghai 2010, the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture at Saudi Aramco and supported by the Saudi Ministry of Culture and Information.

The grand opening of the exhibition will be held on Sept. 10 at the Shanghai Duolun Museum of Modern Art, the first professional modern museum of contemporary art in China, which serves as a platform for the international exchange of contemporary art.

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DUBAI – Better market prospects will emerge as the UAE construction market poises for rebound, said Danube Building Materials, the leader in construction, building materials and shop fitting industries.

With a recent report from the Dubai Chamber revealing that $714.8 billion worth of construction projects are either at design stage or already underway in the UAE, the company is seeking to leverage the anticipated growth in local demand. Following the opening of its 22nd global store in India in July this year, Danube also revealed expansion plans toward Qatar and other parts of Saudi Arabia and Oman, as well as in China.

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BEIJING – Premier Wen Jiabao told a visiting Japanese delegation Sunday that Japanese companies operating in China should address workers unhappiness over low wages that he says led to labor disputes this year.

Wens comment comes after Japanese Foreign Miniter Katsuya Okada called for “transparent policies” governing workers in China, saying the labor disputes that halted work at dozens of factories were troubling to Japanese companies.

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SEOUL, South Korea – Talk of the global economic recovery fizzling doesnt faze Cho Byung-cheol, president of a small South Korean technology company that has already set up a branch in China and plans one soon in the United States.

The company, which designs and makes semiconductor-based high-speed data storage and processing equipment, is planning to boost its South Korean workforce of nearly 60 by half, says Cho, who founded Seoul-based Taejin Infotech Co. in 1996. Sales, which totaled only 8.4 billion won ($7 million) last year, could swell fourfold this year and reach 100 billion won next year, he predicts.

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BEIJING – The economies of China and Japan are interdependent and their close cooperation has helped two-way trade rebound above the levels before the world financial crisis, a top Chinese economic official said Saturday.

Vice Premier Wang Qishan made the remarks to delegates from the two countries – the worlds second and third largest economies – who were meeting in Beijing to discuss ways to recover from the crisis and foster regional cooperation.

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HANOI – Economic ties between the United States and Southeast Asia are “a high priority”, an embassy spokesman said Saturday despite the absence of US officials from a key regional trade meeting.

Ministers from China, Japan, India and other leading trade partners of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) attended the annual talks which ended Friday in the central Vietnamese city of Danang, but US officials were absent.

Analysts blamed domestic US political factors for the no-show.

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SEOUL – South Koreas crude imports in July went up 5.5 percent year on year to 68.96 million barrels (2.22 million b/d) despite a marginal rise in demand and crude throughput and a drop in exports, data released this week by state-run Korea National Oil Corp. showed.

Crude imports were up 2 percent from Junes 67.61 million barrels. The South Koreans paid an average $75.37/barrel on a CIF basis for their crude imports in July, compared with $68.71/b in July 2009 and 77.30/b in June this year.

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RIYADH – The Shanghai Expo currently in progress in China has attracted more than 40 million visitors to date and it is expected that the number of visitors to the Saudi Arabian Pavilion will reach seven million during the next few months.

According to a survey of the Chinese News Agency Xinhua, the Saudi Pavilion has been one of most popular with officials and visitors to the Shanghai Expo, which has 300 exhibitions from all over the world.

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