May 31 – The latest issue of DPRK Business Monthly is now available as a complimentary PDF download on the Asia Briefing Bookstore. The regular magazine looks at current international, domestic, and peninsular affairs concerning North Korea while also offering commentary and tourism information on the country.
In recent international news, British energy company Aminex PLC has withdrawn from North Korea, two years after signing a deal, through its shareholding in Korex Ltd, covering a 50,000 square kilometer area off the country’s east coast. Continue reading
May 30 – Selling coal to Newcastle? Sand to the Arabs? Refrigerators to the Eskimos? Changing tastes and consumer behavior in China are seeing the country that invented tea – and has it by the millions of tons – importing increasing amounts of the same commodity from India.
May 29 – Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held talks and signed a slew of agreements with Myanmar’s President Thein Sein on Monday. Singh’s visit marked the first time an Indian leader has traveled to the strategically located country in 25 years.
May 28 – In an important moment for India-Pakistan relations, both nations have signed a commercial agreement to buy natural gas from Turkmenistan, which will be shipped from a pipeline that travels through Afghanistan, Pakistan and into India. This long-delayed project, commonly referred to as the TAPI Pipeline, is worth over US$7.6 billion. When completed, the pipeline will run 1,680 kilometers and will have the capacity to carry 90 million cubic meters of gas a day. It is slated to become operational in 2018.