16 – 19 May 2022 Cairo Summit: European Investment Bank; Islamic Development Bank Day 2: EBRD
The European Investment Bank and Islamic Development Bank are co-hosting the 2022 Gender Summit of the Multilateral Development Banks Working Group on Gender.
The theme is “Building back better: advancing gender equality for a more resilient future”.
The three-day summit will focus on a different topic each day, namely the care economy, climate action and digitalisation.
The EBRD is organising Day 2 of the summit on 18 May with the theme “Gender equality and climate action nexus”. There will be a panel session entitled “Inequality and external shocks: creating opportunities and building resilience”, along with two further sessions: “Beyond barriers: women’s access to climate finance” and “Building back better: green skills and new employment opportunities” led by the Caribbean Development Bank and the African Development Bank, respectively.
The three-day event will take place in a hybrid format under the patronage of the Egyptian Ministry of International Cooperation, the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, and the National Council for Women, and paves the way for COP27 hosted by Egypt later this year.
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), will host a hearing on May 17 to examine discrimination based on race, national origin, and sex in construction and consider potential solutions to increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the sector.
The hearing, “Knocking Down Walls: Discrimination and Harassment in Construction,” will provide historical, statistical and experiential evidence of race- and sex-based harassment and discrimination that has limited opportunities for Black, Asian, Hispanic, Native American and female workers in construction. The hearing will also explore promising practices to prevent and address systemic discrimination so that historically marginalized workers can contribute to the $1.2 trillion federal effort to improve America’s infrastructure.
WHO:
Japlan “Jazz” Allen, Treasurer & Iron Worker, Chicago Women in Trades
Janel Bailey, Co-Executive Director of Organizing & Programs, Los Angeles Black Workers Center
James Bobseine, Trial Attorney, EEOC Buffalo Local Office
David Chincanchan, Policy Director, Workers Defense Project
Trevor Griffey, Lecturer of U.S. History, UC Irvine
Nicole Mason, President & CEO, Institute for Women’s Policy Research
Ken Simonson, Chief Economist, Associated General Contractors of America
Melissa Wells, Special Assistant to the President for Diversity and Inclusion, North America’s Building Trades Union
Chris Winters, Military & Tribal Liaison, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council # 5
The meeting will be held as a live-streamed videoconference, with an option for listen-only audio dial-in by telephone. More instructions will be posted on www.eeoc.gov 24 hours before the meeting.
The EEOC advances opportunity in the workplace by enforcing federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. More information about the EEOC’s work generally can be found at www.eeoc.gov. Stay connected with the latest EEOC news by subscribing to our email updates.
The U.S. net international investment position (IIP), the difference between U.S. residents’ foreign financial assets and liabilities, was –$16.07 trillion at the end of the third quarter of 2021, according to statistics released today by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). Assets totaled $34.45 trillion, and liabilities were $50.53 trillion. At the end of the second quarter, the net investment position was –$15.91 trillion.
The –$165.1 billion change in the net investment position from the second quarter to the third quarter came from net financial transactions of –$114.0 billion and net other changes in position, such as price and exchange-rate changes, of –$51.1 billion that mostly reflected the depreciation of major foreign currencies against the U.S. dollar that lowered the value of U.S. assets in dollar terms.
U.S. assets increased by $181.2 billion to a total of $34.45 trillion at the end of the third quarter, reflecting increases in portfolio investment and reserve assets. Portfolio investment assets increased by $194.3 billion to $16.16 trillion, driven by net U.S. purchases of foreign securities. Reserve assets increased by $105.0 billion to $695.1 billion, reflecting the allocation of $112.8 billion in new special drawing rights (SDRs) in August 2021 to the United States as its share of the $650 billion SDR allocation approved by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The SDR is an international reserve asset created by the IMF to supplement its member countries’ official reserves and can be exchanged between members for currencies such as the U.S. dollar, the euro, or the yen. The allocation in the third quarter was the largest in the history of the IMF.
U.S. liabilities increased by $346.3 billion to a total of $50.53 trillion at the end of the third quarter, mostly reflecting increases in other investment liabilities. Other investment liabilities increased by $294.8 billion to $7.77 trillion, reflecting increases in deposit liabilities and in SDR allocation liabilities that represent the U.S. long-term obligation to other IMF member countries holding SDRs. In an SDR allocation, the increase in U.S. liabilities offsets the increase in U.S. assets, so the allocation has no impact on the net international investment position.
Releases of New Statistics
With this release of the U.S. IIP Accounts, BEA is introducing two new IIP tables—tables 2.2 and 4.1. IIP table 2.2 features annual statistics on direct investment positions in U.S. resident special purpose entities (SPEs), which are U.S. legal entities with little or no employment or physical presence. The increased prevalence of SPEs heightens the need for separate statistics on their activities for analysis and for improved interpretability of macroeconomic statistics. IIP table 4.1 features quarter-end position statistics on U.S. debt positions by currency, sector, and maturity for U.S. assets and liabilities. These statistics will be valuable for assessing U.S. exposure to foreign currency risks and for helping to identify potential future financial crises. The new tables fulfill commitments to the IMF Task Force on Special Purpose Entities and the G–20 Data Gaps Initiative to release these statistics by yearend 2021. For more information, see “New Statistics on U.S. Resident Special Purpose Entities in the International Investment Position Accounts” and “New Statistics on U.S. Debt Positions in the International Investment Position Accounts.”
Accelerating Release of Annual IIP Statistics
BEA will accelerate the publication of the annual IIP table 1.3 usually released in June each year to March each year. Table 1.3 provides details for the annual change in the IIP, such as financial transactions, price changes, exchange-rate changes, and other changes in volume and valuation. For the upcoming IIP release on March 29, 2022, BEA will include table 1.3 for 2021, which will also be available in BEA’s Interactive Data Application. The table will subsequently be updated as part of the annual update in June each year.
LOS ANGELES, CA, Dec 19 – Today, The 3rd Asian Film Festival Golden Diamond Awards ceremony was held in Los Angeles. The event’s red carpet scene was spectacular and the award stage was full of stars. Academy Award winning directors, Hollywood stars, producers, investors and Asian Film Festival ‘s filmmakers are once again gathering together to celebrate.
Holmes Stoner, Chairman of the Asian Film Festival; Leith Enron, Co-Chairwoman of the Asian Film Festival; Inge Sawerthal, President of the American Chamber of International Commerce; Richard Anderson, Oscar winner and Emmy Winner and Mariana Tse, former US Assistant Secretary of Education, As well as Asian Film Festival judges representatives Amber Martinez and Francesca Gioia Drommi and other awards guests on stage at Golden Diamond Awards ceremony to award Best Future, Best Documentary, Best Animation winners, As well as the Best New Director, Best New Actress, Best Child Actor and Best Child Actress award were presented with a Golden Diamond Awards trophy and certificate.
Chinese feature film “Run. Shunzi” Leading actress Xu Yuan won the golden Diamond Award for Best Actress. Xu won much attention for her performance as Zhang Shunzi, the heroine of the movie, which depicts a young amateur athlete who becomes a professional athlete and continues to make miracles.
Jason Quin, The executive chairman of the Asian Film Festival Los Angeles delivered a speech via video on the ceremony today, He announced that the 4th Asian Film Festival was launched at the same time and will be open for application soon.
Following is the full list of the 3rd Golden Diamond Awards winners:
Best Feature: “Winter in LA”, USA Best Foreign Language Film: “Four Ever Young”, China Best Documentary: “Song of Little Saigon”, USA Best Animation: “Nai Nai”, USA Best Short Film: “Hell in a Handbasket”, Canada Best Documentary Short: “Believer”, China Best Student Short: ” Magician: Game of Detective”, China Best Director: “The Road to Eden”, Kyrgyzstan Best First Director: “Take it Easy”, USA, Suja Raghuram Manoj Best Director Student: ” One Afternoon”, China, Yumin Zhang Best Script: “Like Rainbow”, Iran, Behrad Sahebgharani Best Cinematography: ”Path To The Sky”, Sammy Su, Canada Best Production Design: “Bloody Romeo”, Canada, Alina Lapteva Best Music: “A Paper Plane Ride Home”, USA, Georgia Conrad Best Actor: “The Road to Eden”, Kyrgyzstan, Bakyt Mukul Best Actress: “Run! Shunzi”, China, Yuan Xu Best New Actress: “An Hero”, USA, Tyler Li Stoner Best Child Actor: “Snails”, USA, Aiden Lu Best Child Actress: “Where the Light Ends”, China, Zili Zhang
Expenditures by foreign direct investors to acquire, establish, or expand U.S. businesses totaled $120.7 billion (preliminary) in 2020. Expenditures were down 45.4 percent from $221.2 billion (revised) in 2019 and below the annual average of $314.4 billion for 2014-2019. As in previous years, acquisitions of existing businesses accounted for a large majority of total expenditures.
In 2020, expenditures for acquisitions were $116.3 billion, expenditures to establish new U.S. businesses were $1.9 billion, and expenditures to expand existing foreign-owned businesses were $2.4 billion. Planned total expenditures, which include both first-year and planned future expenditures, were $135.8 billion.
Expenditures by industry, country, and state in 2020
By industry, expenditures for new direct investment were largest in manufacturing, at $63.3 billion, accounting for 52.4 percent of total expenditures. Within manufacturing, expenditures were largest in chemical manufacturing ($26.9 billion) and computers and electronic products ($14.8 billion). There were also notable expenditures in information ($17.4 billion), primarily telecommunications.
By country of ultimate beneficial owner (UBO), the largest investing country was Germany, with expenditures of $20.5 billion. Canada ($15.2 billion) was the second largest country, followed by Switzerland ($13.8 billion). By region, Europe contributed two-thirds of new investment in 2020.
By U.S. state, Texas received the largest investment, with expenditures of $18.6 billion, followed by California ($17.8 billion) and New Jersey ($14.1 billion).
Greenfield expenditures
Greenfield investment expenditures—expenditures to either establish a new U.S. business or to expand an existing foreign-owned U.S. business—were $4.4 billion in 2020. Total planned expenditures until completion for greenfield investment initiated in 2020, which include both first-year and future expenditures, were $19.5 billion.
By U.S. industry, greenfield expenditures in 2020 were largest in manufacturing ($1.3 billion) and utilities ($1.1 billion). By region of UBO, Europe ($2.2 billion) and Asia and Pacific ($1.7 billion) had the largest expenditures. By U.S. state, Texas received the highest level of greenfield investment ($1.0 billion).
Employment by newly acquired, established, or expanded foreign-owned businesses
In 2020, employment at newly acquired, established, or expanded foreign-owned businesses in the United States was 197,500 employees. Current employment of acquired enterprises was 194,000. Total planned employment, which includes the current employment of acquired enterprises, the planned employment of newly established business enterprises when fully operational, and the planned employment associated with expansions, was 206,500.
By industry, retail trade accounted for the largest number of employees (between 50,000 and 100,000)1followed by manufacturing (30,900), primarily chemical manufacturing. By country of UBO, Canada accounted for the largest number of employees (112,400), followed by the United Kingdom (10,100) and the United Kingdom Islands in the Caribbean, which include the British Virgin Islands and Cayman Islands (7,400).
By U.S. state, Texas had the largest employment (between 50,000 and 100,000), followed by California (21,000) and Arizona (9,300). Employment for an acquired entity that operated in multiple states is attributed to the state in which it had the greatest number of employees.
On June 14-16, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo will travel to Brussels, Belgium to join President Biden, Secretary Blinken, Ambassador Tai and EU government leaders at the U.S.-EU Summit. In addition to supporting President Biden’s mission at the U.S.-EU Summit, Secretary Raimondo will meet with European Union government leaders and industry leaders to discuss strengthening the transatlantic partnership and economic and digital cooperation. This marks her first official international trip as Secretary.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina M. Raimondo held an introductory call today with the Minister of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China, Wang Wentao. Secretary Raimondo discussed the Biden-Harris Administration’s focus on economic policies benefiting American workers and expressed U.S. concerns, including China’s unfair and market-distorting industrial policies, the need to level the playing field for U.S. companies in China, and the importance of protecting U.S. technology from unauthorized users. Secretary Raimondo noted that she looks forward to future discussions with Minister Wang on these issues.
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo today announced that President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. will provide prerecorded remarks at the 2021 SelectUSA Investment Summit, to be held virtually June 7-11. President Biden will join Cabinet Secretaries, Governors, CEOs, and other public and private sector leaders eager to strike global business investment deals for the United States and share insights on the latest innovations and trends in an effort to support and create jobs.
“Since taking office, President Biden has made our economic recovery a top priority – and growing U.S. trade and foreign direct investment are an important component of that,” said Secretary Raimondo. “I am proud to stand alongside him in making a powerful case to the world that the U.S. is the best place for any nation to do business.”
In addition to President Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg will now participate in the SelectUSA Investment Summit. They join Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Small Business Administration Administrator Isabel Guzman, Governors, top CEOs, and small business leaders for the highest-profile event dedicated to promoting foreign direct investment in the United States.
For nine years in a row, the United States has been ranked by A.T. Kearney as the top place for foreign business investment. Many important investment deals are conducted at the SelectUSA Investment Summit, and since inception it has generated more than $48.4 billion in foreign direct investment, supporting more than 45,000 jobs in the United States.
The Investment Summit provides opportunities to spotlight America’s innovative climate, diversity of resources and robust workforce which can contribute to global success for foreign investors. The event will promote four pillars to increase American competitiveness: 1) Revitalizing U.S. manufacturing and developing advanced industries; 2) Building a 21st century workforce; 3) Maintaining leadership in global innovation; and 4) Promoting America, at home and abroad. Biden-Harris Administration priorities will also be discussed, such as the American Jobs Plan, the American Rescue Plan implementation, other COVID-19 economic recovery efforts, job creation, building back better and more inclusivity.
Housed within the U.S. Department of Commerce, SelectUSA promotes and facilitates business investment into the United States by coordinating related federal government agencies to serve as a single point of contact for investors. SelectUSA assists U.S. economic development organizations to compete globally for investment by providing information, a platform for international marketing, and high-level advocacy. SelectUSA also helps investors find the information they need to make decisions; connect to the right people at the local level; navigate the federal regulatory system; and find solutions to issues related to the federal government.
