Belgium

Belgian Ex-Change to Provide Vietnamese Businesses with Experts on Non-profit Basis

February 18, 2012 (Vietnamica) — Ex-Change is a Belgian not-for-profit organization created by a number of associations of SMEs from different economic sectors in Flanders/Belgium. Following 2011 fact finding mission to Vietnam, Ex-Change has started operations in Vietnam since 2012 and looks forward to receiving expert requests from local businesses.

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Majority of EU Member States to Establish Landmark “Fiscal Compact”

December 11, 2011 (Vietnamica) — European leaders agreed to establish a new “fiscal compact” by means of an intergovernmental agreement late Dec 8 after 10 hours of talks. The United Kingdom will remain outside the agreement, which will seek to improve fiscal stability and economic co-ordination between its signatories.

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He Chose Well

December 9, 2011 (Vietnamica) — Today is a very sad day. We believe that the markets are telling us that there is a horrible abscess in Europe, and that the Euro is the pus. We believe that fuelled by injustice, the infection of nationalism will now tear Europe apart – making outright enemies of Germany and Greece, France and Italy, the Netherlands and Spain.

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CFR: EU Leaders Prepare for Crucial Summit

December 8, 2011 (CFR; Repub. by Vietnamica) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged all twenty-seven members of the EU to agree to broad amendments to the EU treaty (DeutscheWelle) in order to ensure greater fiscal coordination and budget discipline. Merkel and Sarkozy called for decisive action to stem the tide of the eurozone sovereign debt crisis ahead of an EU summit that gets underway Thursday evening.

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Euro Crisis “Gets Worse Every Day”, Britain May Get “A Lot More QE”, Gold Jewelry Preferred to Platinum in China

November 16, 2011 (Vietnamica) — U.S. dollar prices to buy gold climbed to $1779 an ounce Wednesday lunchtime in London – 0.5% down from last week’s close –amid suggestions that central bankers in London and Frankfurtare growing more interventionist.

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Europe, the International System and a Generational Shift

November 9, 2011 (Vietnamica) — Change in the international system comes in large and small doses, but fundamental patterns generally stay consistent. From 1500 to 1991, for example, European global hegemony constituted the world’s operating principle. Within this overarching framework, however, the international system regularly reshuffles the deck in demoting and promoting powers, fragmenting some and empowering others, and so on. Sometimes this happens because of war, and sometimes because of economic and political forces. While the basic structure of the world stays intact, the precise way it works changes.

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