Asia Pacific

Although the visible omens did not look auspicious for International Trade Minister Ed Fast’s 100-strong business delegation visit to South Korea last week, the country’s underlying prospects are strong.

The contest is heating up for a contract to build a high-speed rail link between Malaysia’s main city, Kuala Lumpur, and the city state of Singapore. At the moment, the 307-kilometre trip takes five hours by bus or up to eight hours by train.

Burma’s temple city, Bagan, has been named the world’s second-best city tourist destination by Britain’s Wanderlust travel magazine.

The political honeymoon of Indonesia’s new president, Joko Widodo, has been short and rancorous. Now he finds himself in the middle of a dispute between the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and the National Police.

China will get a direct opening to the Indian Ocean in May when Gwadar Port on Pakistan’s east coast becomes operational.

Although South Korea looks set to benefit from the dramatic drop in oil prices, there are victims. The country’s top oil refiner, SK Innovation, recorded a deficit last year for the first time since the energy crisis 36 years ago.

Fretful about the dwindling population in its Pacific Far East, the Russian government is preparing to give away free hectare-sized homesteads to encourage an influx of pioneers from the country’s west.

India overtook China last year and regained its traditional place as the world’s largest market for gold.

The garment industry in Burma, also known as Myanmar, is booming, and corporate leaders expect the sector to employ one million people within the next few years.

Trade between North Korea and China shrank by 2.4% to about $7 billion last year over strained relations between Pyongyang and Beijing.