Asia & Pacific

The Korean government intends to lure 790 billion won (784 million US dollars) in investments before 2010 to build an industrial cluster for radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology in Songdo, near the western coast city of Incheon.

China received a loan of 100 million dollar from the World Bank in order to promote and sustain the development of cross-border trade in the autonomous region of Inner Mongolia.

Ministers from Laos, Viet Nam, Cambodia and Thailand met during the 11th Mekong River Committee conference in Vientiane (Laos) December 7 - 8, 2004 to discuss regional development.

The Textile Committee of the Ministry of Textiles of the Indian government has brought in senior expertise from the Netherlands. The Committee signed an agreement with the Netherlands Management Cooperation Programme (NMCP), an organisation that offers the expertise of senior managers.

Kazakhstani president Nursultan Nazarbayev recently visited the Yutex textile mill, one of the companies set up to develop a textile cluster in southern Kazakhstan.

Pune, the second largest city in the state of Maharashtra, India has received a formal government approval to set up an auto cluster, making it the first cluster of its kind in the country.

During a cluster road show led by the Office of the National Competitiveness Committee mid August , Thai north eastern province Nong Khai showed its readiness to encourage cluster development.

Victoria, Australia's south eastern state has started a cluster for the radio frequency identification (RFID) industry. The launch of the cluster, named VIC RFID Action, was announced by the Victorian ITC Minister, Marsha Thomson earlier this month.

"Too Many with Too Little - The Challenges for India's Development Paradigm'' is the title of a publication by the the Regional UNIDO Director, George B. Assaf, in which he emphasizes the importance of cluster development for India.

'Clusters and corridors in Andhra Pradesh' and 'Creating entrepreneurs and forming networks in the weaver cluster of Pochampalli' are two articles by Sameer Sharma about the weaver cluster in the Indian state Andhra Pradesh.