South Asia remains one of the least integrated regions in the world despite geographical proximity and complementary economic structures. Greater regional trade, improved transport connectivity, cross-border electricity markets, digital payment systems and investment partnerships could substantially reduce external vulnerabilities.
Between 2004 and 2023, India produced roughly five million graduates every year, but graduate employment increased by only around 2.8 million annually. Even fewer obtained salaried employment. Millions are either unemployed or working below their qualifications or in the waiting room for the elusive government job.
Policy instability during the 2015-2024 likely pushed back Sri Lanka’s path towards becoming South Asia’s first High-Income Country. The 2022 financial crisis would never have happened as stable growth during the first half of 2015–2024 would have built enough buffer to weather impact of the Covid pandemic
China’s Belt and Road Initiative - which funded Sri Lanka’s Hambantota Port through loans resulting in a 99-year lease to Chinese State-owned enterprise in 2017 due to Colombo’s struggle to service said loans - follows the same expansionary script.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has called for forging energies to jointly build a closer China-Pakistan community of shared future in the emerging era, adding that the ties between the two countries have transformed into an ‘All-weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership’ after seven decades
China will provide one million Covid vaccines to Nepal under grant assistance, Chinese ambassador to Kathmandu Hou Yanki announced after Nepal President Bidhya Devi Bhandari had a telephonic conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping
Pakistani singer Ali Zafar has released a short music video in collaboration with Chinese singer Xiang Minqi to commemorate 70 years of Pakistan-China diplomatic relations
Ever since the Rajapaksa brothers came to power in Sri Lanka, China has steadily been increasing its footprints in the island nation
Sri Lanka has awarded a contract to build an important expressway in its capital Colombo to a Chinese firm, China Harbor Engineering Cooperation, the same firm which is set to build the controversial Port City Colombo
Sri Lanka will buy 14 million Sinpharm vaccines from China as the government aims to fast-track vaccines drive in the country amid worsening Covid-19 situation, reported Colombopage
New research shows that China has quietly been invading its Himalayan neighbour Bhutan for years, media reports said
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has ordered the introduction of a separate visa category for people associated with China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects and okayed a proposal to set up a CPEC Special Economic Zone in Karachi
Authorities in Pakistan are planning a number of roads under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)- a China-funded multi-billion dollar infrastructure project in Pakistan- in the country's south-western Balochistan province to improve connectivity to neighboring Iran
In what came as a big move for vaccine manufacturing in Pakistan, the country has successfully produced 124,000 doses of Cansino, a single dose Covid-19 vaccine produced by a Chinese firm, Cansino Biologics. The single-shot vaccine has 65.7 percent efficiency
India's support for 'One China' policy - an acknowledgment that there is only one Chinese government with no diplomatic recognition of Taiwan - is a deterrent to burgeoning security and political cooperation between New Delhi and Taipei, according to panelists at a roundtable on India's Taiwan policy
Days after the Sri Lankan parliament approved a controversial Colombo Port City Economic Commission Bill, Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, the former president of Sri Lanka, has said that the country has been brought under the “dominance of a foreign country” and is in process of becoming a “Chinese colony”
The top Chinese and Pakistani leadership have pledged to develop the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) with a focus on achieving high quality, Tribune reported
Myanmar, the Southeast Asian country hit by a serious political crisis, Is pushing ahead with plans to implement giant infrastructure projects that are a key part of China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)
Chinese are buying land around military bases in Japan, an episode that might trigger security concerns and further tensions between the two nations with already frayed relations, media reports said on Friday
