Trump to embark on tour of Asian countries in November

The White House has announced that Donald Trump will embark on a five-nation tour of Asian countries as he seeks to reassure America’s allies in the region of his administration’s continuing support for them in the face of North Korea’s growing nuclear ambitions.

The president will travel to Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines from November 3-14, and Mr Trump also stop over in Hawaii for the first time as president.

“The president's engagements will strengthen the international resolve to confront the North Korean threat and ensure the complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.,” the White House said in a statement.

Trump will also use the trip to further his trade agenda at two major economic gatherings in the region: the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit.

“[The president] will discuss the importance of a free and open Indo-Pacific region to America's prosperity and security. He will also emphasize the importance of fair and reciprocal economic ties with America's trade partners,” the statement continued.

Trump has taken a more protectionist stance on trade than his predecessor, Barack Obama. He has threatened to impose major tariffs against China and pulled the U.S. out of the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement.

There was movement elsewhere in the months-old nuclear missile crisis, as the Russian Foreign ministry said on Friday that Moscow was prepared to work with Pyongyang to try to find a peaceful resolution.

The comments came in a statement issued by the ministry after a meeting between Russian diplomat Oleg Burmistrov and Choe Son-hui, director-general of the North American department of North Korea’s foreign ministry.

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Security experts examine implications of a North Korea conflict

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Choe also met with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov, the ministry said.

“The Russian side confirmed its readiness to combine efforts in the interests of finding ways to solve the problems in the region by peaceful, political and diplomatic means,” it said.

'Young girls thinking of big ideas'

Words come easy for aspiring writer Afra Al Muhairb. The business side of books, on the other hand, is entirely foreign to the 16-year-old Emirati. So, she followed her father’s advice and enroled in the Abu Dhabi Education Council’s summer entrepreneurship course at Abu Dhabi University hoping to pick up a few new skills.

“Most of us have this dream of opening a business,” said Afra, referring to her peers are “young girls thinking of big ideas.”

In the three-week class, pupils are challenged to come up with a business and develop an operational and marketing plan to support their idea. But, the learning goes far beyond sales and branding, said teacher Sonia Elhaj.

“It’s not only about starting up a business, it’s all the meta skills that goes with it -- building self confidence, communication,” said Ms Elhaj. “It’s a way to coach them and to harness ideas and to allow them to be creative. They are really hungry to do this and be heard. They are so happy to be actually doing something, to be engaged in creating something new, not only sitting and listening and getting new information and new knowledge. Now they are applying that knowledge.”

Afra’s team decided to focus their business idea on a restaurant modelled after the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Each level would have a different international cuisine and all the meat would be halal. The pupils thought of this after discussing a common problem they face when travelling abroad.

“Sometimes we find the struggle of finding halal food, so we just eat fish and cheese, so it’s hard for us to spend 20 days with fish and cheese,” said Afra. “So we made this tower so every person who comes – from Africa, from America – they will find the right food to eat.”

rpennington@thenational.ae

COMPANY PROFILE

Name: Kumulus Water

Started: 2021

Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid

Based: Tunisia

Sector: Water technology

Number of staff: 22

Investment raised: $4 million

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Trump to embark on tour of Asian countries in November

The president will visit US allies in the region, including South Korea, Japan and China

'Young girls thinking of big ideas'

COMPANY PROFILE

Analysis