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PARIS — The leaders of France and Barbados joined forces on Thursday to push for an overhaul of the international financial system at a summit aimed at tackling poverty and climate change.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who is hosting the two-day conference in Paris, invited Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley to co-headline the event which seeks to improve the lending system for developing countries mired in poverty and threatened by planet-heating emissions.

In his opening remarks, Macron told delegates that the world needs a "public finance shock" — a global surge of financing — to fight these challenges, adding the current system was not well suited to address global challenges.

"Policymakers and countries shouldn't ever have to choose between reducing poverty and protecting the planet," Macron told the Summit for a New Global Financial Pact.

Ugandan climate campaigner Vanessa Nakate took the podium after Macron and asked the audience to take a minute of silence for people who are suffering from disasters.

With oil-rich Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman in the crowd, she slammed the fossil fuel industry, saying they promise development for poor communities but the energy goes elsewhere and the profits "lie in the pockets of those who are already extremely rich". 

"It seems there is plenty of money, so please do not tell us that we have to accept toxic air and barren fields and poisoned water so that we can have development," she said. 

Economies have been battered by successive crises in recent years, including COVID-19, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, spiking inflation, debt, and the spiralling cost of weather disasters.

Mottley, whose Caribbean island nation is threatened by rising sea levels and tropical storms, has become a powerful advocate for reimagining the role of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) in an era of climate crisis.

"What is required of us now is absolute transformation and not reform of our institutions," Mottley said.

Barbados has put forward a detailed plan for how to fix the global financial system to help developing countries invest in clean energy and boost resilience to climate impacts.

"We come to Paris to identify the common humanity that we share and the absolute moral imperative to save our planet and to make it livable," said Mottley.

Debt or healthcare 

Outlining the challenges facing developing countries, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said more than 50 nations were now in or near debt default, while many African countries are spending more on debt repayments than on healthcare.

Guterres said the post-World War II global financial system was failing to rise to modern challenges and now "perpetuates and even worsens inequalities".

"We can take steps right now and take a giant leap towards global justice," he said, adding that he has proposed stimulus of $500 billion a year for investments in sustainable development and climate action.

In a nod to those looking for tangible progress from the summit, IMF director Kristalina Georgieva announced that a key pledge to rechannel $100 billion of liquidity boosting "special drawing rights" into a climate and poverty fund had been met. 

"Ultimately it is the future of humanity that is being discussed here," she told reporters. 

Macron also said he was hopeful that a 2009 pledge to deliver $100 billion a year in climate finance to poorer nations by 2020 would finally be fulfilled this year — although actual confirmation the money has been delivered will take months if not years.

Big ideas 

The summit comes amid growing recognition of the scale of the financial challenges ahead.

Last year, a UN expert group said developing and emerging economies excluding China would need to spend around $2.4 trillion a year on climate and development by 2030.

Countries are calling for multilateral development banks to help unlock climate investments and significantly increase lending, while stressing that new debt arrangements should include, as Barbados has, disaster clauses allowing a country to pause repayments for two years after an extreme weather event. 

Other ideas on the table include taxation on fossil fuel profits and financial transactions to raise climate funds. 

France backs the idea of an international tax on carbon emissions from shipping, with hopes of a breakthrough at a meeting of the International Maritime Organisation in July.

Observers are also keenly awaiting details of a plan from South American countries to create a global structure for so-called debt-for-nature swaps. 

Kenyan President William Ruto said all these ideas should be explored and urged delegates not to see the challenges facing the world as divided between the global north and south.

"Climate change will consume all of us," he said. 

NEW DELHI — Twitter owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on Wednesday he discussed potential "significant investments" in India after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the United States.

Musk, one of the world's richest men, said that Modi was "pushing us to make significant investments in India, which is something that we intend to do, and are trying to figure out the right timing".

New Delhi has rolled out the red carpet for top global investors and companies — including tech giants like Google and Apple — in the last few years. 

Since the coronavirus pandemic, many companies have expanded their presence in India as a way to cut their supply-chain dependence on China and tap into the South Asian nation's huge domestic market. 

Modi, who saw the tech billionaire shortly after arriving from India on a state visit, said it had been "great meeting" Musk in New York.

"We had multifaceted conversations on issues ranging from energy to spirituality," Modi tweeted on Wednesday, a day before he is due to be hosted by US President Joe Biden for a state dinner.

Musk said he was a "fan" of Modi. 

"I am actually incredibly excited about the future of India. India has more promise than any large country in the world," he added. 

Musk has faced questions from free speech activists over Twitter reportedly caving into the Indian government's demands for takedowns of critical posts. 

Critics accuse India's government of democratically backsliding, including by curtailing free speech and not doing enough to check attacks on journalists and minorities.

Last week, former Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey said the platform he founded had come under sustained pressure from Indian officials during his tenure.

Indian information technology minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar responded that Dorsey's claim was an "outright lie", while also accusing Twitter of repeated violations of local laws.

Twitter said last year that India ranked fourth globally in the number of requests made by a government to remove content — behind Japan, Russia and Turkey.

DOHA — Qatar announced a second 27-year supply deal with a Chinese company on Tuesday as it expands production from the world's biggest natural gas field.

The agreement, to supply four million tonnes annually to the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), matches the terms of a November deal with China's Sinopec as the longest ever seen in the industry.

Asian countries led by China, Japan and South Korea are the main market for Qatar's gas, which has been increasingly sought by European countries since Russia's invasion of Ukraine early last year.

"Qatar will supply 4 million tonnes annually of natural gas from the North Field East Expansion Project to China over a period of 27 years," Kaabi told a signing ceremony in Doha. 

"This will become the second LNG [liquefied natural gas] sale and purchase agreement to China within the North Field East Expansion Project."

By expanding activities at North Field, which has the world's biggest natural gas reserves and extends under the Gulf into Iranian territory, Qatar is raising its LNG production by 60 per cent-plus to 126 million tonnes a year by 2027.

CNPC signed a separate agreement for a 5 per cent interest in North Field East, the equivalent of one gas-liquefying complex producing 8 million tonnes of LNG a year.

"It lays a solid foundation for the energy cooperation between the two sides in the next three decades," CNPC chairman Dai Houliang said in a statement.

"CNPC will continue to actively discuss with QatarEnergy all-round cooperation across the hydrocarbon industry chain and other areas like green and low carbon energies," he added.

The value of the deals was not announced. Qatar, whose gas riches have made its per-capita gross domestic product among the highest in the world, has struck a series of major agreements surrounding the North Field expansion.

Earlier this month, QatarEnergy agreed a 15-year supply deal with Bangladeshi state firm Petrobangla, and last month it awarded a $10 billion contract to France's Technip Energies and Consolidated Contractors Company for the engineering, procurement and construction of the North Field South project.

In April, Sinopec became the first Asian firm to get a stake in the North Field East expansion, also gaining a five per cent stake.

Although much of its gas is sold to Asian countries, in November Qatar announced its first major deal with Germany, selling up to 2 million tonnes annually for 15 years.

The talks took several months as Germany resisted the long-term contracts that Qatar normally demands to justify its massive investment.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine increased pressure on the German government to find new sources of supply.

LE BOURGET — European aircraft maker Airbus made a splash on the first day of the Paris Air Show with the announcement of the biggest-ever order for civil aircraft, as the French president joined a big crowd for the event's return after a four-year COVID hiatus.

The 500-plane deal with low-cost Indian carrier IndiGo kicked off what organisers have billed as the "recovery airshow" after the coronavirus ravaged the sector and the biennial trade fair was cancelled in 2021.

Fighter jets and civilian aircraft streaked across the sky while besuited and uniformed delegations, including Ukrainian military officials and President Emmanuel Macron, toured the stands.

This year's airshow has a new focus on defence following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, along with the industry's efforts to reduce its carbon footprint, with French President Emmanuel Macron arriving in a helicopter partly using sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

Macron called for "restraint" to protect the environment but said measures for aviation should be "reasonable" rather than "punitive", adding that the world shouldn't "give up on growth". 

Huge traffic jams around Le Bourget airport outside Paris were testament to the interest in this year's show, as aircraft makers field hundreds of orders and airlines brace for a near-record number of passengers this year.

The Ukraine conflict has also prompted countries to step up military spending, which could benefit aerospace defence firms.

While Russia has been excluded from the event, Ukrainian military officials toured the huge exhibition space at Paris-Le Bourget airport, some taking photos of missiles on display.

There were star turns for the Rafale fighter made by France's Dassault and the American F-35 jet, with hundreds of visitors turning their phone cameras to the skies and some plugging their ears against the deafening flypasts.

Le Bourget offers a forum to announce deals with some 2,500 firms lining up to show off their latest planes, drones, helicopters and prototypes such as flying taxis.

With 125,000 square metres of exhibition space — the equivalent of nearly 18 soccer pitches — around 320,000 visitors are expected during the week-long event.

"Passion for the air hasn't disappeared, that's good news," said Bertrand Godinot, Easyjet's Belgium and France director.

Big deals 

Along with the Farnborough airshow in England, which takes place in even numbered years, Le Bourget is a key sales event for the civil and defence industries.

Airbus and rival Boeing compete fiercely in announcing orders for aircraft running into the billions of dollars.

Monday's IndiGo-Airbus deal covers A320 family planes at a list price of $55 billion.

Although closely-held actual sale prices are usually lower, it marks the largest ever civil aviation order by volume, hailed by Airbus chief executive Guillaume Faury as "an enormous milestone".

Airbus and Boeing are also battling to solidify supply chains as they increase production to meet growing demand.

At least 158 planes, helicopters and drones will be on display, from the latest long-haul commercial jets to the F-35 stealth fighter.

The United States has a strong presence with 425 exhibitors, while firms from 46 other nations are present.

China, which lifted COVID restrictions only at the beginning of this year, is also represented. 

However, Beijing is not displaying its first homegrown medium-haul passenger jet, the C919, built to compete with the Airbus A320neo and Boeing 737 MAX.

Flying taxis 

The airshow also hopes to open a window into the future as projects for flying taxis and other vertical take-off aircraft abound.

Several prototypes will be on display as part of a "Paris Air Mobility" exhibition to showcase the latest innovations that developers hope will change how people travel.

Engine maker Safran announced early Monday that it would open four production lines in France and Britain making electric motors for small planes.

For his part, Macron arrived aboard Airbus' latest helicopter, the H160, in a flight fuelled with 30 per cent SAF before visiting the European group's stand laying out its net-zero-by-2050 plan.

Macron had on Friday announced $2.2 billion to help develop technologies to reduce aircraft emissions.

Air travel accounts for nearly three percent of global CO2 emissions but serves only a small minority of the world's population.

With the industry targeting net zero emissions by mid-century, firms are turbocharging efforts to achieve it.

The initial focus is on SAF, made from sources such as municipal waste, leftovers from the agricultural and forestry industry, crops and plants, and even hydrogen.

But companies are also working to develop battery- and hydrogen-powered aircraft.

GENEVA — The Swiss, feeling the impact of global warming on their rapidly melting glaciers, on Sunday backed a new climate bill aimed at steering their country towards carbon neutrality by 2050.

Near-final results showed almost 59 per cent of voters supporting the new law, which will require Switzerland to slash its dependence on imported oil and gas, scaling up the development and use of greener and more homegrown alternatives. 

Voters also overwhelmingly backed adopting a global minimum tax rate of 15 per cent for multinational corporations in a second referendum, with nearly 79 per cent in favour, with full results in from all but one of Switzerland's 26 cantons.

Voter participation in the referendums stood at around 42 per cent.

Recent opinion polls had indicated strong but slipping support for the climate bill, amid an anxiety-infused campaign around electricity shortages and economic ruin driven by the populist right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP).

Supporters insisted the law was needed to ensure energy security and independence, and to help address the ravages of climate change, highlighted by the dramatic melting of glaciers in the Swiss Alps, which lost a third of their ice volume between 2001 and 2022.

Leading Swiss glaciologist Matthias Huss, who has been closely following the glaciers' decline, hailed in a tweet the "strong signal" sent by Sunday's vote, and said he was "very happy the arguments of climate science were heard". 

Socialist Party parliamentarian Valerie Piller Carrard celebrated the vote as "an important step for future generations".

Climate-friendly alternatives 

Energy has long been a tricky issue in Switzerland, which imports around three quarters of its energy, with all the oil and natural gas consumed coming from abroad.

Concerns around Switzerland's reliance on external sources have been swelling since Russia's invasion of Ukraine threw into doubt Swiss access to much of the foreign energy it uses.

Climate activists had initially wanted to push for a total ban on all oil and gas consumption in Switzerland by 2050.

But the government baulked at the so-called Glacier Initiative, drawing up a counter-proposal that scrapped the idea of a ban but included other elements.

The text promises financial support of two billion Swiss francs ($2.2 billion) over a decade to promote the replacement of gas or oil heating systems with climate-friendly alternatives, as well as aid to push businesses towards green innovation. 

Nearly all of Switzerland's major parties supported the bill, except the SVP — the country's largest party — which triggered the referendum against what it dismissed as the "electricity-wasting law".

It warned the bill's goal of achieving climate neutrality in just over a quarter-century would effectively mean a fossil fuel ban, which it claims would threaten energy access and send household electricity bills soaring.

The SVP voiced disappointment Sunday, with campaign chief Michael Graber insisting to 20 Minutes that "the bill for adopting this law will be presented much later". 

His colleague Kevin Grangier said the result should not be seen as a failure for the SVP, "but rather as a failure for the (Swiss) pocketbook". 

The SVP, which just two years ago managed to block a similar law that would have curbed greenhouse gas emissions, also highlighted that backing for the new climate bill was uneven.

There appeared to be far less support in rural regions — seven of the 26 cantons voted against the law — amid concerns over wind turbines littering landscapes and the impact of dwindling access to fossil fuels on mobility.

Support meanwhile was particularly strong in urban areas like Geneva, where nearly 75 per cent of voters backed the law.

Corporate tax hike 

The backing was far more uniform in the second referendum on hiking the tax rate for large businesses.

A vast majority of voters and all cantons supported amending the constitution so Switzerland can join the international agreement, led by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), according to the near-final results

The plan is to impose the new rate on all Swiss-based companies with a turnover above 750 million euros.

Until now, many cantons have imposed some of the lowest corporate tax rates in the world, in what they often said was needed to attract businesses in the face of high wages and location costs.

The Swiss government estimates that revenues from the supplementary tax would amount to between 1.0 and 2.5 billion Swiss francs in the first year alone.

NEW YORK — US chip giant Intel will invest up to $4.6 billion to build a new site in Poland, creating around 2,000 jobs, the company said on Friday.

Its new facility, to be located in the southern Polish city of Wroclaw, "will help meet critical demand for assembly and test capacity that Intel anticipates by 2027", Intel said in a statement.

The investment in Poland is aimed at helping the European Union develop a more resilient semiconductor supply chain and reducing dependence on Asia, the statement added.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki hailed the announcement as an element of "cementing and consolidating transatlantic cooperation" with the US.

"From now on, from this investment by Intel, Poland will be a key part of the not-so-extensive supply system of these most advanced technologies," Morawiecki told reporters in Wroclaw.

Intel is one of the world's leading semiconductor firms, making a wide range of products, including the latest-generation chips.

The EU aims to reclaim 20 per cent of global semiconductor manufacturing capacity by 2030 — twice its current production — and has invested billions in Intel's chip facilities in Germany and Ireland.

Intel has said its European sites will help with cost efficiency in the EU's supply chain, and that it plans to produce 80 billion euros worth of chips in Europe over ten years.

Intel has said construction of its plant in Germany, scheduled to start in the first half of 2023, has yet to begin, due in part to inflation. 

Germany's Ministry of Economic Affairs has said it is looking to support construction with additional public aid.

The announcement of Intel's new Poland site follows a difficult first quarter of 2023 for the firm.

In April, it announced a massive fall in sales for the January-March period because of a steep drop in demand for semiconductors, especially those used in PCs.

The company was also affected by falling demand for chips that power data centers, and is struggling to compete with Nvidia for the semiconductors that undergird ChatGPT-style generative AI, a major new chip-hungry sector.

The chip industry is well-known for its volatility, with demand and supply see-sawing with the dips and rises in the world economy.

Its central role in the global supply chain became clear during the height of the Covid pandemic.

Lockdowns and health restrictions diminished production in Asia, leaving surging demand for chips unmet just as everyone turned online for work, shopping and entertainment.

Semiconductors have also become a political pawn between the US and China, with Washington urging its allies to stop supplying China with cutting-edge chips.

JAKARTA — TikTok's chief executive said on Thursday the company would pour billions of dollars into Southeast Asia in the coming years, as a report showed its nascent venture into online shopping is paying off.

The popular video-sharing app's e-commerce affiliate has gained a substantial market share in the region just a year after its launch.

"We're going to invest billions of dollars in Indonesia and southeast Asia over the next few years," Shou Zi Chew told a forum in Indonesian capital Jakarta.

"From a humble team of about 100 people, we now have nearly 8,000 employees in southeast Asia."

Chew said 125 million Indonesians comprised the majority of the app's 325 million Southeast Asian users every month and more than 2 million sell their wares on TikTok Shop in Indonesia, the region's biggest economy and most populous nation.

Users sell a range of tech, fashion, homemade products and other goods on the platform.

Chew's comments came as Singapore-based consultancy Momentum Works released a report on Thursday detailing how TikTok Shop capitalised on legions of users to expand its business in 2022 after testing the waters in Indonesia a year earlier.

While it lagged older rivals Shopee and Lazada, TikTok Shop posted the fastest growth rate, expanding its gross merchandise value (GMV) — the total value of goods sold, including cancelled, returned and refunded orders — sevenfold to $4.4 billion last year from just $600,000 in 2021.

"You can think of it as TikTok already having a captive audience coming onboard for entertainment trying different means to convert them and their attention into purchase and GMV," Weihan Chen, head of insights at Momentum Works, told AFP.

From Indonesia, TikTok Shop "aggressively expanded into five additional Southeast Asian markets, many of which boasted large populations of TikTok users" and invested to improve its e-commerce capabilities, Chen added.

TikTok is owned by Chinese technology giant ByteDance.

'Game changer' 

Overall, the GMV of the region's nine top e-commerce platforms was valued at almost $100 billion in 2022, up 14 per cent on-year, led by Singapore-based Shopee and Lazada, a subsidiary of China's Alibaba Group.

Shopee, a unit of Singapore's Sea Ltd, accounted for $47.9 billion of that, a 13 per cent increase, the report said.

Lazada was at a distant second with $20.1 billion, down from $21 billion in 2021.

Indonesia remains Southeast Asia's largest e-commerce market, accounting for 52 per cent of the region's total GMV.

The return of offline shopping after COVID-19 restrictions were lifted led to a moderation in e-commerce sales, but it is expected to continue growing, the report said.

It noted that the region may benefit from Chinese brands and manufacturing firms expanding into other countries as they reduce reliance on the US market and escape rising competition at home.

"That might be a real game changer for Southeast Asia's e-commerce landscape, which has for a long time suffered from a lack of variety of goods," it said.