by Admin | May 29, 2016 | World Leaders in AIWS Award Updates
(May 30th, 2016) After warning at the G7 Summit that the global economy faces the risk of another crisis like that of 2008-2009, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to propose a fiscal stimulus package of as much as $90.7 billion to help ward it off, Nikkei, the Japanese newspaper, and Mint, the Indian newspaper, reported.
Proposals will include accelerating building a magnetic-levitation train line from Nagoya to Osaka, issuing vouchers to boost consumer spending, increasing pay for child-care workers and setting up a scholarship fund.
“When you want to get the economy going, as long as demand in Asia is weak, you need additional public spending,” Martin Schulz, a senior economist at Fujitsu Research Institute in Tokyo, told Mint by phone. “Since private spending is still not picking up, the government is simply taking up the slack.”
by Robert Whitcomb | May 28, 2016 | AI World Society Summit
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who just finished hosting the G7 summit, plans to propose a fiscal stimulus package of as much as $90.7 billion after warning G7 leaders that the global economy faces a significant risk of another crisis like that in 2008. Many observers, however, think that his fears are exaggerated.
The proposed stimulus will include accelerating the construction of a magnetic-levitation train line from Nagoya to Osaka, issuing vouchers to boost consumer spending, increasing pay for child-care workers and setting up a scholarship fund. Hit this link.
by Robert Whitcomb | May 27, 2016 | Statements, Event Updates
(May 30th, 2016) G7 Summit host Shinzo Abe, the Japanese prime minister, said he and the other leaders of the most important industrialized democracies share a strong “sense of crisis’’ about the global economic outlook.
(From L-R) Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Chad President Idriss Deby Itno, U.S. President Barack Obama, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, French President Francois Hollande and President of Indonesia Joko Widodo attend a family picture along with other world leaders during the final day of the Group of Seven (G7) summit meetings in Ise Shima, Japan May 27, 2016. REUTERS/Carlos Barria
G7 leaders wrapped up a summit in central Japan by, among other statements, vowing to use “all policy tools” to boost demand and ease supply constraints.
“Global growth remains moderate and below potential, while risks of weak growth persist,” they said in a declaration. “Global growth is our urgent priority.”
Mr. Abe referred to current parallels to the global financial crisis that followed the 2008 Lehman Brothers collapse.
“The most worrisome risk is a contraction of the global economy,” led by a slowdown in developing nation economies, he told reporters after chairing the two-day summit. “There is a risk of the global economy falling into crisis if appropriate policy responses are not made.”
by Robert Whitcomb | May 26, 2016 | AI World Society Summit
The biggest issues at the G7 Summit have been how to get the global economy humming again; the refugee crisis in Europe and the Mideast; Chinese expansionism in the East and South China Sea, and cybersecurity. Read this link.
The last item has been a priority of The Boston Global Forum this year. BGF experts have presented their proposals on how to improve cybersecurity in particular and cyberbehavior in general to the G7 leaders. Indeed, a key part of the BGF’s BGF-G7 Summit Initiative is its Ise-Shima Norms for cyberbehavior, named for the location of the summit.
As for the refugees: European Council President Donald Tusk said on Thursday he would seek G7 support for more global aid for them.
“If we (G7) do not take the lead in managing this crisis, nobody would,” Mr. Tusk told reporters. A flow of migrants to Europe from Syria, other parts of the Mideast and Africa confronts the continent with its biggest refugee crisis since World War II.
In a closing communiqué, leaders were also expected to cite the importance of maritime security, including calling for respect for the rule of law and opposition to provocative acts that try to change the status quo by force – in a clear reference to Chinese expansionism.
Although full agreement on macro-economic policy looks difficult, the G7 leaders are expected to promote monetary, fiscal and infrastructure policies to spur growth in the final summit communiqué.
Britain and Germany are resisting calls for fiscal stimulus, and so Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will urge the G7 leaders to adopt a flexible fiscal policy, taking into account each country’s economic and political situation.
by Robert Whitcomb | May 26, 2016 | Initiative
(May 30th, 2016) The Group of Seven (G7) leaders agreed on May 26 at their summit in Japan on the need to send a strong message to China about its maritime claims in the western Pacific, where an increasingly aggressive China has territorial disputes with Japan and several Southeast Asian nations. China has been seizing and militarizing some disputed islands and reefs in the region and threatening nations in the region that have challenged the seizures.
“Prime Minister (Shinzo) Abe led a discussion on the current situation in the South China Sea and East China Sea. Other G7 leaders said it is necessary for G7 to issue a clear signal,” Japan’s Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroshige Seko told reporters after a session on foreign policy.
At a news conference late on Wednesday, Mr. Abe said that Japan welcomed China’s peaceful rise. But he repeated Tokyo’s opposition to acts aimed at changing the status quo by force and urging respect of the rule of law.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying retorted in Beijing that the South China Sea issue had “nothing to do” with the G7 or any of its members.
“China is resolutely opposed to individual countries hyping up the South China Sea for personal gain,” she said.
U.S. President Obama called on China to resolve maritime disputes peacefully and he reiterated that the United States was concerned about freedom of navigation and overflights in the region, through which 30 percent of world trade passes.
Read more
