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Andrew McEvoy makes no apologies — he is passionate about Australia. “It’s a magnificent country. A country which has been taken for granted by many Australians,” the country’s tourism chief says.

“But all that is changing now. Australians have woken up to the fact that there is a lot to see and do right here … at home.”

At 48, some would say he has one of the best jobs in Australia.

George Quek is a hard man to pin down, given his jam-packed schedule of meetings and traveling. Weeks and several postponed meetings later, China Daily Asia Weekly finally sits down with the man behind one of the biggest food and beverage (F&B) empires in Singapore.

Despite his hectic schedule, Quek has a Zen-like aura, not unlike the art masters he admires. Running his business empire takes up most of his time these days.

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Two years ago the waters off the East African coast were the most dangerous in the world for commercial shipping.

Super tankers, bulk carriers and container ships were regularly attacked by heavily armed modern-day pirates operating from ports along the war-torn coast of Somalia.

The typical ship-hijacking scenario is that cargo and crew are held captive as the pirates negotiate ransoms with insurers and shipowners that run up to extortionate amounts. The cost to the shipping industry runs into the billions of dollars annually.

Barry O’Farrell looks out his office window in Sydney’s parliament house and reflects on the question whether Australia has been clumsy in its engagement with Asia.

The premier of Australia’s most populous state, New South Wales (NSW), turns and says: “The late Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi once said Australia had to decide whether it was part of Asia or not.

“Yes, I think we have been flat-footed in our approach to Asia but that has changed, especially with the emergence of China.

As the head of the Smart Middle East Forum and chair of the Leadership Empowerment Society, Eli Avidar’s usual schedule is never less than busy. But now, it borders on the hectic as the 48-year-old, who is also managing director of the Israel Diamond Institute Group of Companies (IDI), a non-profit, public interest company in Tel Aviv representing all organizations and institutions involved in Israel’s diamond industry, gets ready for a special event.

The growth of global commodities markets might slow down in 2013 in many major economies because of policy uncertainties, some analysts predict, while others foresee signs that the world economy as a whole is gradually regaining strength.

“A recovering Chinese manufacturing sector, coupled with favorable eurozone headlines and a general improvement in risk sentiments, clearly benefited growth-related commodities like crude oil,” says Barnabas Gan, analyst at Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC), in his commodity outlook report.

Most major cities in Asia have a Chinatown abuzz with activity.

It may be one street distinguished by a Chinese archway or several blocks but the hustle and bustle and the smells from restaurants and vegetable and produce stores will be the same whether the Chinatown is in Yokohama, Manila or Sydney.

Excepting Manila’s Binondo, most Chinatowns were products of Japanese and European colonialism in the 19th and early 20th centuries coupled with gold rushes in California and Australia.

When Shimeng Zhang graduated from the United International College in Zhuhai in China’s Guangdong province just over a year ago, she was eager to continue her studies in journalism overseas.

“The three countries I looked at were Britain, the US and Australia,” says the 23-year-old, who is now in her second semester of a journalism degree at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS).

Private equity in Asia is starting to feel the European chill, resulting in a more selective and cautious deal environment throughout the region.

Data compiled by the Hong Kong-based Centre for Asia Private Equity Research show private equity fundraising in the region fell 21 percent in the first six months to the year to $21.6 billion, compared to the same period last year.

The ancient port city of Ningbo, rising from the Yangtze River Delta and gazing down on fleets of stately ships sailing by with their precious cargo of coal, grain and oil, did not know that it had an alter ego.

Last year, when Utpal Sharma, dean, faculty of planning and public policy at the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT) in India’s Gujarat state, visited the 2,300-year-old Chinese city, he realized how similar it was to India’s Kandla, one of the major ports in western India with a key role in driving international trade.

Tourism New Zealand’s chief executive Kevin Bowler loves a challenge.

Two years ago when he was offered the job, he did not think twice about accepting.

“For me the challenge is how best we position New Zealand as a tourist destination,” Bowler tells China Daily Asia Weekly.

Australia still provides the bulk of New Zealand’s visitors — about 1.2 million a year — but tourism numbers are also booming with visitor arrivals from China up 19 percent and rising.