The new trade corridor linking India and the Mideast to Europe is being hailed as a modern version of the Spice Route, the road of yore that connected East and West — and as a way to counter China’s modern Belt and Road Initiative. VOA’s Anita Powell reports from Washington on how the U.S. and allies are promoting the rail and maritime route.
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Italy is considering whether to leave the Belt and Road Initiative, Beijing’s multibillion-dollar global trade and infrastructure program, by the end of the year. The dilemma comes amid geopolitical pressures from Western allies and domestic disappointment that the program has not delivered the economic benefits that the country hoped for.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni spoke to reporters after meeting the Chinese delegation at last week’s G20 summit in New Delhi.

“There are European nations which in recent years haven’t been part of the Belt and Road but have been able to forge more favorable relations [with China] than we have sometimes managed,” Meloni said. “The issue is how to guarantee a partnership that is beneficial for both sides, leaving aside the decision that we will take on the BRI.”

BRI benefits?

Italy signed on to China’s BRI in 2019, the only member of the Group of 7 most advanced economies — including Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States — to do so. But Italy has not received the expected economic benefits, Filippo Boni, a lecturer in politics and international studies at the Open University in England, told VOA.

“From the Italian side, the idea was to both try and boost its exports but also to make a political move towards Brussels, as a signal that Italy was able to sign successful deals with third countries independently from the European Union,” Boni said, adding that Meloni is seeking to make a clear break with previous [Italian] governments by forging new relationships with China and the EU.

“There is a growing realization that the memorandum of understanding that was signed with China in March 2019 did not really bring the benefits that were expected,” he said. “Trade balance is still heavily tilted in China’s favor, and Italian exports to China did not pick up, did not see the increase that those who wanted [the BRI] were envisaging and hoping for.”

Geopolitics

There are also geopolitical reasons for Italy rethinking its membership in China’s BRI, said Luigi Scazzieri, a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform.

“There’s come to be a certain diplomatic stigma attached to it, partly because the whole of the West is rethinking its relationship with China,” Scazzieri told VOA. “And Italy being the only G7 country having signed up to the Belt and Road makes it, on the other hand, look like it’s trying to get closer to Beijing.”

Italy’s Western allies are reducing their reliance on some Chinese imports and restricting the sale of technologies such as advanced semiconductors to Beijing.

In recent years, Italy’s government has blocked the sale of some of its biggest companies to Chinese firms, such as the tire maker Pirelli, under its so-called Golden Power rules.

“It’s really a clear signal the government in Rome is sending to its partners in the European Union, and Washington most importantly, about Italy’s position on the international chess board,” Boni said.

China’s response

Questioned about Italy’s potential departure from the BRI this week, China’s Foreign Ministry insisted the program brings benefits to its members.

“The Belt and Road Initiative has attracted more than 150 countries and a wide range of partners in various fields over the past 10 years and has brought tangible benefits to the people of all countries,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters. “It is in the interests of all participating countries to further tap the potential of cooperation.”

Italy is choosing its language carefully and said it wants to boost trade with Beijing outside the BRI, Scazzieri said.

“The fear of Beijing reacting in a negative way has been precisely why Meloni has been quite careful about how to go about extracting Italy from BRI,” he said.

Italy already has a strategic partnership with China, an agreement Beijing has signed with many countries aimed at fostering economic and cultural ties. It’s likely Rome will seek to amend that document in the hope of replacing its BRI membership with a looser relationship.

“Given the centrality that ‘strategic partnerships’ have in China’s foreign policy — as of the end of last year, there were 110 strategic partnerships that China signed with countries globally — I think it might be a good way out of the Belt and Road Initiative for both countries to say, ‘We’re still engaged in bilateral cooperation,’ ” Boni said.
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All About America explores American culture, politics, trends, history, ideals and places of interest.

While the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically transformed the way Americans work, with millions of people now working a hybrid schedule, the office itself remains stuck in pre-pandemic times.

“The offices that we have have largely been designed as a place that people need to come. Many of them are cube farms that are really boring, unexciting, and nobody wants to be there,” says Aditya Sanghvi, head of real estate for management consulting firm McKinsey & Company. “The office has suddenly become a choice. It’s an option. And the office has to be better for someone than working from home and enduring the commute to come into the office.”

More Americans than ever have a hybrid schedule, splitting time between working from home and going into the office. A spring 2022 survey of 25,000 Americans by McKinsey & Company found that 58% of respondents were able to work from home at least one day a week. The U.S. Department of Labor reported that more than one-third of Americans, 34%, worked from home at least some of the time in 2022.

Despite these changes in how Americans work, the workplace has largely remained the same.

“If you’re going to be working in a cubicle, you might as well be working from home. You won’t have to engage in the commute, which is a productivity killer,” says Ryan Luby, an associate partner at McKinsey & Company who co-authored the report. “And then when you get to the office, if you’re not engaging with anyone else, you might as well not be there.”

Enter the U.S. federal government. Even though the government is often perceived as an unwieldy bureaucracy where little changes, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), the agency that oversees federal buildings, is among those taking the lead to determine what the office of the future will look like.

“What we’re trying to do is create a workplace and an environment that allows you to be as productive as you can be without getting in the way. And that means a variety of spaces for a variety of the people that work for us,” says Chuck Hardy, GSA’s chief architect.

Hardy is overseeing GSA’s Workplace Innovation Lab, a 25,000-square-foot space, located inside the organization’s Washington headquarters, where federal workers can try out the latest in workplace furnishings and technology, supplied by private vendors. During the yearlong experiment, federal workers from across the government can sign up to work in the lab, testing out the different layouts and latest innovations. In return, they are asked to provide feedback on their experience.

“The office should be a magnet not a mandate. We’re looking to have an office that brings people back to it purposefully,” Hardy says. “It’s not a one-size-fits-all. And in certain agencies and certain offices, it can be multiple solutions. And so, we’re looking at what is that mix of a solution?”

Some spaces in the lab feature comfortable chairs and sofas. Others look more like traditional workspaces. Almost everything can be moved around. The air quality is monitored, and sustainable technology solutions are being tested. Hardy says the office of the future also needs to have advanced acoustics and technology.

Sanghvi foresees more seamless meeting spaces.

“There needs to be immersive conference rooms where it almost feels like there’s no difference between whether or not someone’s sitting with you in the office or somebody’s by video,” he says. “And I assume over the next 10 years, we’ll get a great evolution in that.”

The office needs to change because the role of the workplace has changed, according to Luby.

“The office should be a place where you’re doing group work, where you’re doing community-oriented collaborative activities,” Luby says. “That space should be suited for collaboration, community gathering and facilitating those moments that matter. It’s going to be much more group oriented. It’s going to be a more flexible space, more modular.”

The office of the future might even help workers with their errands.

“One of the reasons that a lot of people work from home is that they have to pick up the kids or do dry cleaning. They have to take care of the dog,” Sanghvi says. “And so, what if there were pet care in the building? What if there was child care in the building?”

Sanghvi believes landlords have to take a more active role in transforming workspaces for the new post-pandemic reality.

“We all trust our hotels to help us with services when we stay in a hotel,” he says. “Many retailers trust the shopping mall owners with doing marketing on behalf of everyone and driving traffic. So, it’s just a different motion for offices, but it’s pretty well-established elsewhere.”

Office planners of the future will likely try to address three main criteria, according to Hardy at the GSA.

“It has to be quality, has to be serving a purpose, but it still has to be beautiful,” he says. “And so, that’s what we’re looking for here — you don’t want to go into a building that looks like you’re in a basement. … You’re seeing office settings that have similarities to a living room setting or have similarities to a den. You’re seeing furniture that’s a little more comfortable.”

Which means the office of the future could feel a little bit more like home.
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The COVID-19 pandemic changed the way Americans work. With millions of people now working from home at least part of the time, experts say offices must evolve to meet their needs. The U.S. General Services Administration, the agency that oversees federal buildings, is trying to determine what that means. VOA’s Dora Mekouar visited its Workplace Innovation Lab to learn more. Camera: Adam Greenbaum.
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Заборона на імпорт порушує Угоду про асоціацію між Україною та ЄС, а також принципи і норми Єдиного ринку ЄС, вважають в МЗС
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27 липня НБУ вже знижував облікову ставку з 25% до 22%
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U.S. consumer prices jumped by the most in more than a year in August, mostly riding higher on an increase in gasoline prices, the government said Wednesday. However, analysts say underlying price pressures were tame enough that the country’s central bank may not see the need to increase its benchmark interest rate at next week’s meeting.

The country’s consumer price index edged higher last month by 3.7% on an annualized basis, after a 3.2% increase in July, the Labor Department said. Prices were up six-tenths of a percentage point in August over July after increasing by 0.2% for two straight months.

Even with the higher prices, analysts said policymakers at the central bank, the Federal Reserve, could refrain from increasing their benchmark interest borrowing rate at next week’s meeting as they wait for further evidence of the country’s inflation track.

The Fed has raised the rate 11 times in the last year and a half to curb borrowing and spending to tame inflation, which reached a recent peak of 9.1% in June 2022. The Fed’s key borrowing rate courses through the U.S. economy, helping establish interest rates for business and consumer loans.

Greg McBride, the chief financial analyst at Bankrate.com, said in a statement, “The Federal Reserve is poised to hold interest rates steady at their meeting next week but there are still some concerns within this [consumer price] report — gasoline prices, motor vehicle insurance, maintenance and repair — that the Fed won’t dispel the idea of an additional interest rate hike before year-end.”

The key culprit in the August inflation increase was the rising price of gasoline for motorists at service stations, where prices peaked at nearly $4 a gallon (3.8 liters) in the third week of the month.

U.S. President Joe Biden, campaigning for reelection in 2024, took note of the economic trends in a statement, “Overall inflation has also fallen substantially over the last year, but I know last month’s increase in gas prices put a strain on family budgets.”

In national polling, Americans who are particularly conscious of their household expenses have given Biden poor marks for his handling of the economy. Biden in turn noted in his statement, “Unemployment has remained below 4% for 19 months in a row, the share of working-age Americans with a job is the highest in 20 years, and real wages are higher now than they were before the pandemic.”

The Federal Reserve attempts to adopt policies that keep the increase in U.S. consumer prices at an annualized rate of 2%.

With the rate currently higher than that, U.S. economic fortunes are certain to be a key factor in next year’s presidential contest, with Biden’s Republican opponents blaming him for higher inflation because of increased government spending that he supported. Biden said the money for infrastructure repairs helped create thousands of new jobs and was needed to fix deteriorating roads and bridges.
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