Asia Insights - Free Internet Links on Asia

The website of the APEC Virtual Center for Environmental Technology Exchange. APEC assists municipalities, corporations and environment related institutions in the Asia-Pacific region to share environmental information via the Internet. The APEC-VC home page is designed and constructed to provide access to vast environmental information on the World Wide Web. Currently, Japan, Australia, Chinese Taipei, New Zealand, China, The Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Chile, Indonesia and Malaysia have APEC-VC up and running. The website categories are unified so that information can be retrieved in the same manner from any of the Virtual Centres in the region.
http://www.apec-vc.or.jp/index_e.asp
Keywords: China, East Asia, Environment, In Focus, In Focus 2008, In Focus 2008 Week 32, In Focus 2009, In Focus 2009 Week 16, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Southeast Asia, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam,

Recognising the lack of adequate data on trafficking, IOM launched a pilot research project to identify “best practice” in data collection on trafficking, and to prepare a situation report by government agencies in four ASEAN member countries (Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand). This extensive report presents the findings of that research. The report looks at the data presently available from government sources in the four countries studied and highlights some of the issues that need to be addressed in order to improve data on trafficking over time. The report discusses lessons learned from the country studies, including common challenges facing each of the four countries. Key recommendations include: * countries need to use the definition of trafficking in the UN Trafficking Protocol as the regional standard for collecting data on trafficking * countries need to establish a mechanism for the collection of qualitative and quantitative data to prevent trafficking in persons, especially women and children, and to prevent victims of trafficking from re-victimisation * coordination and cooperation on data collection needs to be improved at the regional level by establishing a “focal point on trafficking data collection” within each country * templates for data collection need to be developed
http://www.iom.int/jahia/webdav/site/myjahiasite/shared/shared/mainsite/publishe...
Keywords: Cambodia, Crime, General references, Human trafficking, Indonesia, Law and legislation, Philippines, Research, Research methods, Southeast Asia, Thailand,

The ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Organization (AIPO) is a special body of ASEAN which is concerned with promoting cooperation between ASEAN parliaments and parliamentarians in order to encourage the growth of greater democracy in the region. Members include: Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia. The website provides information on the history, purpose of the organisation and its recent activities.
http://www.aipo.org/
Keywords: Cambodia, Democracy, Development. Poverty, In Focus, In Focus 2007, In Focus 2007 Week 35, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Political systems, Politics and society, Singapore, Southeast Asia, Thailand, Vietnam,

ARTNeT is an informal and open network of research and academic institutions with a strong interest in trade and investment policy and facilitation issues. Institutions involved in the network are classified as ARTNeT Members, Core Partners, and Associate Partners. Please consult the ARTNeT membership guidelines or the list of members and partners for more information. iven the increasing complexity of the international trade environment, policy makers in the UNESCAP region are in need of more effective institutions able to deliver the research and analytical studies to make better decisions. In April 2004, developing countries in Asia and the Pacific expressed support for the establishment of a research network on trade to equip the region with a mechanism for enhancing the capacity of research institutions. This led to the creation of the Asia-Pacific Research and Training Network on Trade (ARTNeT), an open regional network composed of leading trade research institutions across the UNESCAP region, and supported by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada. The UNESCAP Trade and Investment Division is the Secretariat of the Network and coordinate its activities, while an Institutional Advisory Board (IAB) has been set up to provide leadership and guidance during its initial phase. Three Permanent Advisors for Research, Professors Jagdish Bhagwati, Alan Deardorff and John Whalley, also provide strategic guidance on the ARTNeT research programme and its implementation.
http://www.unescap.org/tid/artnet/member.asp
Keywords: Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, East Asia, Economic issues, Education, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Laos, Melanesia, Nepal, Oceania, Philippines, South Asia, South Korea, Southeast Asia, Thailand, Vietnam,

Asian Affairs is produced and published by by Larkincil International Ltd, a private consulting company based in Hong Kong providing policy makers, transnational group executives and major think-tanks with a strategic perspective of Asian affairs through specific research studies and confidential reports. asian affairs is dedicated to regular studies and analysis of Asia, South, Southeast and East Asia, particularly in the field of international relations, economics and financial affairs.The purpose of Asian Affairs is to strengthen communication and understanding and to offer a platform of exchange of information between Asia and Europe in the field of regulations, policies and economic trends and business cooperation.
http://www.asian-affairs.com/Frametop/think-tank.html
Keywords: Bangladesh, Central Asia, China, East Asia, General references, In Focus, In Focus 2010, In Focus 2010 Week 08, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, North Korea, Philippines, Research, Singapore, South Asia, South Korea, Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam,

the work of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is aimed at improving the welfare of the people in Asia and the Pacific, particularly the 1.9 billion who live on less than $2 a day. Despite many success stories, Asia and the Pacific remains home to two thirds of the world's poor. ADB is a multilateral development financial institution owned by 65 members , 47 from the region and 18 from other parts of the globe. ADB's vision is a region free of poverty. Its mission is to help its developing member countries reduce poverty and improve the quality of life of their citizens.
http://www.adb.org/
Keywords: Burma - Myanmar, Cambodia, Development. Poverty, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Southeast Asia, Thailand, Vietnam,

The Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) is a network of civil society organisations which was founded in 1997 and seeks to promote democracy and free elections in Asian nations. Its website provides information on the aims of the organisation, its membership and recent activities. It includes press releases about recent and forthcoming Asian parliamentary and presidential elections, plus access to a growing collection of full text election monitoring reports. Other useful features include summaries of the constitutions, electoral laws and election codes of individual nations.Countries covered include: Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
http://www.anfrel.org/
Keywords: Bangladesh, Cambodia, East Asia, Elections, In Focus, In Focus 2009, In Focus 2009 Week 17, India, Japan, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Politics and society, South Asia, South Korea, Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka, Thailand,

Network of some 35 national policy institutions, commercial banks and NGOs from nine countries in Asia - namely Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Its objective is to link microfinance with the financial system. It pursues this objective through research, advocacy, policy dialogue, information sharing and capacity building. The BWTP Network arose out of the Banking with the Poor project of the Foundation for Development Cooperation. The Foundation is an independent, non-profit organisation based in Brisbane, Australia, whose aim is to strengthen international cooperation and development, especially in the Asia-Pacific region. The Banking with the Poor project is aimed at exploring, demonstrating and publicising the potential for increased access to credit for the poor on a sound commercial basis. The essence of Banking with the Poor is to establish linkages between commercial banks on the one hand, and non-government organisations (NGOs) and self-help groups (SHGs) of the poor on the other. WWW site provides details of the structure and governance of the Network, its members and associates, listings of publications (many in full text) and newsletters, links to member's websites and key microfinance sites, and contact details.
http://www.bwtp.org
Keywords: Bangladesh, Banking, Credit, Cultural revolution (1966-1976), Development, Development. Poverty, Economic issues, In Focus, In Focus 2010, In Focus 2010 Week 36, India, Malaysia, Micro credit, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka, Sustainable development, Thailand,

A free weekly service offering forecasts of 10 Asian stock markets Hongkong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, including Dow Jones and the NASDAQ-index
http://www.asiachart.com
Keywords: China, East Asia, Economic issues, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, International economic relations, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Asia, South Korea, Southeast Asia, Taiwan, Thailand,

Th Philippine BAS is a branch of the Department of Agriculture and providing statistical information for planners, decision and policy makers in both government and non-government organisations as well as researchers and academics. Included in the department's website is a database that includes selected statistics (in PDF format) for the macroeconomic and agriculture sector, prices, and foreign agricultural trade.
http://bas.gov.ph/
Keywords: Agriculture, In Focus, In Focus 2008, In Focus 2008 Week 25, Philippines, Southeast Asia, Statistics,