Brunei Darussalam: How to Build an Investment Climate for Renewable Energy?
Brunei Darussalam has yet to make major progress in renewable energy and become an attractive destination for investors. Only 0.05% of Brunei’s electricity came from renewable energy sources, while 99.95% was based on fossil fuels. In 2014, the country set a renewable energy target of 10% in the power generation mix by 2035. To reach the target, it needs to increase the share of renewables by 0.66% every year from 2020 to 2035. The country still needs to adopt a regulatory regime to scale up the development of renewable energy, particularly solar energy, which is more abundant than wind energy. We propose five actions to build the investment climate for renewable energy in Brunei Darussalam: prioritise renewable energy in the governance system; adopt and implement key legislation; mobilise domestic investors; improve market entry for foreign investors.
Telecommunications: the underlying transport means for services exports
This paper analyses the role of telecommunications as a means of transport for services exports with a focus on computer and other business services in India. Telecommunications are typically dominated by major suppliers which need to be regulated and exposed to competition to fulfil their role. This paper notes that India took sweeping unilateral reforms in the telecommunications sector in the 1990s but has been reluctant to bind reforms in international trade agreements. It goes on to show that India is lagging as compared to other lower middle-income countries on international measures of connectivity, and that connectivity is strongly related to timely adjustment of policy to changing market conditions and technology. Second, using gravity estimates, it has been found that connectivity is an important driver for trade in computer and other business services. In particular, broadband connectivity significantly reduces the rate at which exports fall off with distance and extends the reach of exports to distant markets.
Norwegians adapting to a changing world
The world as we have come to know it is changing. How do Norwegians respond to these changes? What are their views of Norwegian foreign policy?
10 new policy briefs on ASEAN countries and climate
Out now: 10 policy briefs covering each ASEAN country as part of the project ACCEPT.
The spiralling effects of the Sino-American trade war
Almost two years ago, China and the United States instigated a trade conflict which has had serious international effects, a situation since exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. What has truly made a solution to this conflict elusive, however, is that its origins lie well beyond questions of trade deficits and fair competition, and are instead based on the looming question of a power transition between to the two states. The effects of this divergence are beginning to be observed in several economic realms, including the financial and the technological. Many other actors in the global economy have begun to experience the side effects of this completion, and may now have to face difficult choices about how to balance between these two emerging poles in the current fragile global economy.
Conventional arms control on the Korean Peninsula: The current state and prospects
At the end of 2017, the Korean Peninsula reached the brink of a nuclear war, as the US president Donald Trump and the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un exchanged words of nuclear threats each other. A tug of war as to whose nuclear button is bigger and stronger exacerbated the nuclear crisis. However, the South Korean President Moon Jae-in intervened to resolve the crisis by taking advantage of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. In doing so, President Moon intended to pursue denuclearisation and peace-building on the Korean Peninsula at the same time. North Korean Chairman Kim Jong-un responded positively to the South Korean call to hold the inter-Korean summit and the Trump-Kim summit. In order to end the Korean war and promote peace-building on the Korean Peninsula including termination of hostile acts on inter-Korean relations, the two Koreas adopted the April 27 Panmunjom Declaration, the September 19th Pyongyang Joint Declaration and the Inter-Korean Military Agreement at their summit in 2018. The Military Agreement is aimed at reducing tension and building trust between the two Koreas through conventional arms control, while the North Korean nuclear issue is being resolved through the US-DPRK summit. The September 19th Military Agreement is a modest but remarkable success in arms control history when compared with a long-term stalemate or even retreat in the contemporary international arms control arena. Indeed, arms control is at its lowest point in history, so dim are its prospects. Nevertheless, heated debates are taking place, both at home inside South Korea and abroad, over the legitimacy and rationality of the Sept. 19th Military Agreement. With little progress on the denuclearisation issue at the Kim-Trump summit and no sign of easing economic sanctions on Pyongyang, North Korea has test-fired short-range missiles ten times to exert pressure on the United States, undermining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula. Against this backdrop, this policy brief intends to analyse the true meaning of the September 19 Military Agreement between the two Koreas, to identify its problems and policy implications in order to draw up supplementary measures to implement it successfully. Furthermore, the paper will draw some implications for the relationship between progress on North Korea’s denuclearisation issue and further conventional arms control on the Korean Peninsula.
Crisis tests China’s relations to Europe
A new report takes the temperature on China’s relations to European countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. Norway is one of the places characterized by little controversy.
Norway: Crisis highlights normality in bilateral relations with China
The chapter describes the situation in Norway and is part of a larger report on China’s relations to European countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. The situation in Norway has been characterized by less noise and controversy than what has been the case in several other countries. China has contributed with protective equipment to Norway, by way of both commercial and aid-related deliveries. China’s role in the pandemic has been debated in Norway too, and Chinese representatives have used both traditional and social media to counter criticism and promote their views.
China, India and the political economy of medical supplies
• The pandemic and lockdowns threaten the supply of medicines, especially from India • Poor countries relying on supplies of cheap Indian medicines are especially vulnerable • New medicines and vaccines are likely to be developed and patented by Western companies and will be expensive. • Norway should help fund the supply of medicines and promote reforms of patent rules to make medicines more affordable
WEBINAR: Understanding the global far right: lessons from India
How global is the far right?