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Forestry Investments in Emerging Markets
the Netherlands – 30 May, 2011 Investments in forestry have many desirable features. Under certain conditions, forestry investments yield attractive returns to investors and can contribute substantially to the economic, social and environmental development of countries. Environmentally and socially conscious investors are actively exploring the “ins and outs” of forestry opportunities, motivated by opportunities that are profitable, but also in line with their core values. Between the 17th and 19th of May 2011, about 50 participants attended the meeting “Forestry Investments in Emerging Markets.” About one third of the participants were socially and environmentally conscious investors and investment advisors. Another one third of the participants jointly represented 17 investment opportunities in the tropical hemisphere, together worth over 95 million of investments in responsible forestry. The meeting took place in the Netherlands, a country with significant expertise in tropical forestry and a history of public and private investment in forestry in developing countries. The meeting was organized by FAO , the NFP Facility and Tropenbos International with support of the Business in Development Network , and the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation of the Netherlands. The meeting was attended by institutional investors, investment advisors, timber funds, forest business developers, and forestry specialists. Selected NFP Facility partner countries attended the meeting. Participants from these countries included forest finance professionals that have worked domestically to identify promising business opportunities. Objectives of the meetings were to: Share perspectives on challenges and opportunities regarding the greater involvement of investors in forestry (REDD+, biodiversity, forestry) in emerging markets Showcase and discuss a variety of forestry-based business cases and fund structures as a basis to better understand the requirements and potential of such business cases and for collaborative work between potential investors and promising forest business initiatives in emerging markets. Contribute to an action plan to narrow the gap between investors and forestry opportunities. The interactive programme – consisting of plenary, panel and group sessions – provided and informal platform for exchange and engagement among participants. Seventeen businessfact sheets from seven countries provided the basis to discuss in concrete terms the risks and opportunities to invest in forestry in emerging and frontier markets. The cases included plantation forestry, natural forest management, processing and alternative businesses. In addition, several participants shared short notes on their work, which were contained in the information package. Publications Documents Presentations Contact Media Report: Forestry Investments in Emerging Markets Information package Business Factsheets Programme: Forestry Investments in Emerging Markets List of participants to the Forestry Investments in Emerging Markets event Continue reading
Market Turmoil Forces G8 Leaders To Focus On Global Economy
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/97cbce80-d4ee-11e2-9302-00144feab7de.html#ixzz2X2HHQztS By Chris Giles in London, Robin Harding in Washington and Ben McLannahan in Tokyo Turmoil in financial markets is once again overshadowing a Group of Eight summit, turning world leaders’ attention away from trade, tax and transparency and back to the bumps on the road to recovery. With global bond markets swooning on the hint that the US might slow its money-printing operations and currency market volatility leaping as investors try to gauge the right level of the dollar and the yen, G8 leaders know the world economy remains a dangerous place. None of this was in Britain’s scripts for the summit. Only a month earlier, when the finance ministers and central bank governors of the Group of Seven met just outside London, George Osborne welcomed the breathing space financial markets were offering. “We are meeting at a time when financial market sentiment has improved and there are signs this is feeding through to an improved outlook in some of our economies,” the British chancellor said after the G7 meeting. Britain’s expectation of a relaxed chat about Abenomics, the name given to Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe’s three-pronged approach to reviving his country’s economy, alongside the perennial pressure on Germany to boost its domestic demand will now have a sharper edge. But the actor who has done most to influence the global economy in the past few weeks, Ben Bernanke, chairman of the US Federal Reserve, will not even be at the G8 and will not speak until the day after it finishes. The Fed winds up its two-day meeting on Wednesday. Mr Bernanke will be at the centre of G8 discussions because it was his comment last month that the Fed might start to slow its third round of quantitative easing at one of its next few meetings that sent markets down. Next week is unlikely to be that meeting, given some continued weakness in the data, and uncertainty about the effects of tighter US fiscal policy. But bond investors have taken the words as a sign that the peak of bond prices had passed and the smart money should exit. Instead, Mr Bernanke is likely to sharpen the signal about when the Fed will taper QE3, while repeating as loudly as he can that it all depends on the economic data and there is a big difference between easing at a slower pace and actually tightening monetary policy. The simple reality for most Fed officials is that the economic outlook looks better now that it did when the Fed began QE3 last September. The unemployment rate has come down from 8.1 per cent to 7.6 per cent. Given that, it cannot make sense to keep easing monetary policy at the same pace forever, and Mr Bernanke’s “next few meetings” remark reflected that. To the extent that recent turmoil knocks a bit of froth out of global markets, the Fed will regard it as no bad thing. If G8 leaders are missing one key figure in the global economy, the other is in the room, Mr Abe, whose “Abenomics” has pushed a rapid recovery in the world’s third-largest economy, but with continued long-term fears for its sustainability. Mr Abe will come to Lough Erne with a simple argument. The 15 years of deflation Japan has experienced, more or less without interruption, were extraordinary, so they demanded an extraordinary policy response. G8 summit Read our coverage of the gathering as leaders debate tax, trade, the global economy and foreign policy So far, trading partners have fixated on the yen, still the world’s worst-performing currency over the past six months even after its rapid rise over the past week. But a lower yen is a side-effect of a concerted effort to rouse the world’s third-largest economy from slumber, the prime minister will say. What is good for Japan is good, for everybody else. Unofficially, the Japanese argument is even simpler, however. The yen acted as the world’s shock absorber for the four years after the Lehman crisis, Japan thinks. Even now, amid a fresh round of fears over global growth, it is still about 5 per cent stronger than its 10-year average against the US dollar. So, leaving aside all the talk of trade wars and stealing growth from neighbours, isn’t it time Japan caught a break? Germany and the US are wary about this conclusion and will be relieved by the yen’s recent bounce back as they tolerated but did not welcome the yen’s depreciation since the start of Abenomics. But the key question for Japan is whether the boost to growth is anything more than temporary. Here, Mr Abe will try to spell out the guiding principles behind the “third arrow” of structural reforms, that was approved by the cabinet on Friday. Arrows one and two – fiscal and monetary stimulus – were easy to implement and quick to take effect. The third will not be. Continue reading
UK’s Offshore Finance Centres Commit To Tackling Tax Evasion
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7f1d3e2a-d5e6-11e2-9dbd-00144feab7de.html#ixzz2X2GjjljT By Vanessa Houlder All of Britain’s offshore finance centres have committed to sign a treaty tackling evasion, in a boost to David Cameron’s efforts to secure agreements on transparency from other world leaders next week. Danny Alexander, chief secretary to the Treasury said the decision by all Britain’s Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies to sign the multilateral convention on mutual tax assistance would “strengthen enormously” the arguments for greater transparency at next week’s summit of the G8 group of leading countries. The announcement was made at a meeting of political leaders, business representatives and civil society in London on the agenda of trade, tax and transparency. Mr Cameron also promised to consult on whether to make public a planned central register of the ‘beneficial ownership’ of companies, which will reveal who are their ultimate owners. Campaigners have called for public registers to maximise scrutiny of potential illicit deals. He said more transparency was needed because “some people use complicated and fake structures to hide their profits and avoid taxes and also because bribes are often held in opaquely-owned companies with bank accounts in secretive havens.” Mr Cameron said “The most important thing is that it is available to tax authorities. It will be their first point of call to try and uncover corrupt payments or tax evasion. “We will consult on whether it will be public but personally I would hope the whole world will move towards public registers of beneficial ownership.” He added: “I want to maximise the leverage the UK has over others in terms of taking each step in turn and want to make sure that business and enterprise comes with us on this debate. “ Will Morris, chair of the tax committee of the CBI said it was “very supportive of the idea of a register of beneficial ownership. “We think it is a ‘no brainer’”, he said. He said the CBI did not yet have a view of whether it should be public or private but he personally would support making it public. Mr Cameron told the meeting: “Each and everyone of our Overseas Territorities and Crown Dependencies has agreed to sign up to the multilateral convention on information exchange. “They have also agreed to exchange information automatically with the United Kingdom and to produce action plans on beneficial ownership. Mr Cameron said he would call on other international partners to work with their territories reach similar agreements. Although most of the Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories had already committed to sign the treaty, some had expressed reservations. In a statement, Bermuda said the concerns it had expressed about signing the multilateral convention were because Bermuda’s fiscal system was not appropriate for automatic exchange of tax information. But it added, the ‘wisdom of the drafters’ of the multilateral convention meant that automatic exchange was based on mutual need and mutual agreement of both parties. The decision of all the offshore centres to commit to the treaty will help neutralise some of the criticism frequently levelled at the UK by other countries asked to make concessions on transparency although reservations are likely to remain regarding the transparency of trusts. All the overseas territories and crown dependencies said they supported the government’s drive on transparency but Richard Hay, counsel to the IFC Forum, which represents professional firms in British offshore centres, said the UK was taking a risk of an own goal by moving ahead of other countries, particularly the US. Continue reading
