COMESA cancels head of state summit

LUSAKA, Nov.13 (Chinese media) -- Africa's largest trading bloc announced Thursday

that it has postponed its summit of presidents of member countries which was

supposed to have been held in Zimbabwe next month.

The 19-member Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) said

in a statement that the summit will be held during the first half of next year.

The postponement of the summit takes into account the need to begin the

process of implementing the decisions of the Summit of three trading blocs held

in Uganda last month regarding the harmonization of Free Trade Areas (FTA) and

common external tariffs.

The three trading blocs, the COMESA, Eastern African Community (EAC) and

the Southern African Development Community (SADC) agreed to create one free

trading zone.

The leaders of the three trading blocs agreed to create a free trade zone

of 26 countries with a GDP of an estimated 624 U.S. dollars. It is hoped the

deal will ease access to markets within the region and end problems arising from

the fact that several countries belong to multiple groups

"Of immediate priority is the harmonization of the common external tariffs

of COMESA and the EAC," the statement says.

"It is for this against this background that it has been deemed prudent to

postpone the COMESA Summit to a future date during the first six months of 2009

to enable the harmonization process and consultations to be completed," the

statement adds.

Myanmar saves $8 million by substituting fuel with gas monthly

YANGON, Nov. 13 (Chinese media) -- Myanmar has saved nearly 8 million U.S. dollars per month by substituting imported fuel with domestically-produced natural gas in operating motor vehicles, the local 7-Day News reported Thursday.

It was able to cut import of 2.26 million gallons of diesel and999,620 gallons of petrol monthly, the report said, quoting the disclosure of a recent paper reading session dealing with traffic rule education.

According to official statistics published in October, there was a total of 22,821 petrol- or diesel-run motor vehicles so far converted into compressed-natural-gas (CNG)-operated ones as part of the country's effort to save fuel and reduce import of crude oil.

Of the CNG-converted motor vehicles, passenger buses accounted for the majority, followed by school buses and taxis. Others went to trucks, departmental cars and private ones.

Myanmar has worked to ultimately change all motor vehicles in the country into CNG-operated's starting from bus and truck down to private-owned saloon car under a plan to modify all vehicles gradually in the country in terms of fuel operation.

To facilitate the conversion, Myanmar has allowed over a dozen private industries to carry out the undertakings on buses, trucks, taxis and saloons in addition to the Ministry of Energy.

Myanmar began the move amid sustained rise of crude oil prices in the world and the plan was introduced due partly to the abundance of natural gas in the country.

The country encourages import of CNG-run cars rather than petrol- or diesel-consumed ones.

According to the State Customs Department, Myanmar imported 374.06 million dollars' fuel in the fiscal year 2007-08 which ended in March.

The fuel imports accounted for 13.2 percent of the total imports of 2.818 billion dollars, the department's figures show.

Other official statistics also indicate that Myanmar produced 7.62 million barrels of crude oil and 13.393 billion cubic-meters of natural gas in 2007-08.

Natural gas topped Myanmar's exports in the year with 2.594 billion dollars representing 42.9 percent of the total exports during the year.

Kuwaiti bourse halted by court order after heavy losses in early trading

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

KUWAIT CITY, Nov.13 (Chinese media) -- The authority of Kuwait Stock Exchange

(KSE) halted Thursday the transactions in the bourse, the second largest one in

the region, under a local court ruling, the official KUNA news service reported.

The Kuwaiti administrative court's decision came as the small investors

resorted to demonstrations after suffering heavy losses in the market, which has

witnessed five straight losing sessions this week despite the government's

bailout efforts in the banking sector.

KSE's suspension will last until Nov. 17, when another court hearing will

be held on the bourse's destiny.

The benchmark index of KSE shed 157.5 points in early morning trade on

Thursday before the suspension, standing at 8694.1 points by 9:29 a.m., while

the weighted index was at 434.11 after shedding 15.41 points, marking the fifth

losing session since Sunday.

Panic became uncontrollable in the oil-rich Gulf country, which suffered

from the repercussions of the global financial turmoil.

The traders kept dumping despite the Kuwaiti Central Bank's guarantee on

the banking sector, particularly the Gulf Bank, which has made heavy losses in

derivatives, according to media reports.

UAE launches extensive employment survey

ABU DHABI, Nov. 13 (Chinese media) -- The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has launched

the first phase of an extensive survey on the country's employment conditions as

part of the government's strategy to build a national statistical system, local

newspaper Gulf News reported on Thursday.

The survey is conducted by the Ministry of Economy in cooperation with the

statistics centers of Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the two largest emirates and major

economic units of the Gulf country, according to the report.

The key objectives of the survey are to identify the number of institutions

per sector and economic activity and to identify the workforce volume per

gender, nationality and educational qualification, Minister of Economy Sultan

Bin Saeed Al Mansouri said.

The survey will also evaluate salaries paid according to professional

groups and gender, and identify the number of paid working hours as per

professional groups, sectors, gender and employment numbers.

Thus, it will aid the policy-and-decision-making process by providing data

that complies with international standards and reflects the economic growth of

the UAE, the minister added.

The next phase of the survey will include reviewing data and classifying it

statistically, scheduling it, extracting primary results and preparing the

scientific material and statistical information for publishing.

The UAE, with the second largest economy and the largest GDP per capita in

the Arab world, employs several million foreign workers.

Brazil to propose new regulations at G20 summit

RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov. 12 (Chinese media) -- Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will call for new regulations for the international financial system during the upcoming Group of 20 (G20) summit in Washington, a presidential spokesman said Wednesday.

Lula believes it is necessary that the Washington meeting launch the basis for a better set of regulations for the international financial market, either by reforming existing multilateral organizations or by creating new mechanisms, spokesman Marcelo Baumbach told a press conference.

He said Lula will also stress the need for increasing the participation of emerging economies in institutions that decide the course of the world economy.

The Brazilian president will insist on reopening the Doha round of trade talks, as opening up global trade is "one of the best anti-cyclic measures that can be taken, and that can be a powerful tool to fight the crisis," Baumbach added.

Lula is due to arrive in Washington Friday for the summit that is scheduled for Friday and Saturday. He will meet with Argentine President Cristina Kirchner and Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd ahead of the G20 talks.