Word: blocs
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...former Soviet bloc countries, the children take Junior Eurovision seriously. Very seriously. Eastern European nations have won four out of the past five competitions, which isn't particularly hard when the vast majority of the performers come from that part of the world. Steve De Coninck-De Boeck, the founder of Belgium's Junior Eurovision program, believes the show is a barometer of the east's promise. "A lot of people don't see the evolution in Eastern Europe," he says. "When you're within Junior Eurovision, you see it every year. Their self-confidence is growing. They're becoming...
...sliver of Central and South America, as well as big non-Asian economies like the U.S., Russia and Canada. If all of APEC's member countries participated - a big if - its combined annual GDP would be $37 trillion, 21/2 times that of the E.U., the world's largest economic bloc in terms of combined output, according to the International Monetary Fund...
...chatter of the formation of an Asian trading bloc could make things awkward for U.S. President Barack Obama during his scheduled appearance at APEC in Singapore. But some American businessmen support the idea - as long as the U.S. is included. Creating a common set of trade rules would simplify the bewildering spaghetti bowl of bilateral trade agreements that have been signed between various Asian countries in recent years, executives say. Others, worried about their prospects in a China-led free-trade zone, are eager to see APEC take the lead. Says Kevin Thieneman, the Southeast Asia and India country manager...
...Realistically, it could take many years to form an E.U.-style trading bloc in the region - if such a body can be formed at all. Historical enmities simmering between nations like China and Japan could make close cooperation impossible, as could divergent economic interests of poor developing countries like Vietnam and those of advancing industrial economies like South Korea. Another commonly cited impediment is cultural diversity. "Europe is in a sense a single civilization; Asia is not," says Ravi Menon, Permanent Secretary of Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry. Others question whether Asia's institutions are robust enough...
...There are other reasons Asia may not be ready. One of the central goals of an Asian bloc would be to make it easier for China to buy a greater proportion of the region's output as the U.S. fades as an engine of global consumption and growth. But, while China's per capita GDP now stands at about $3,200, up nearly fourfold since 1997, it's still a far cry from U.S. per capita GDP of about $46,000. Moreover, conservative Chinese financial habits are deeply ingrained and driven by the need for "precautionary savings" for medical care...