Uzbek president highlights issues of developing countries

Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev on Tuesday highlighted issues of developing countries during an address via videoconferencing at the Voice of Global South Summit, a virtual summit hosted by India involving countries of Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Oceania.

"In accordance with the agenda, issues of human-centered sustainable development were discussed, views and concrete proposals were exchanged on deepening mutually beneficial cooperation in order to promote the interests and solve pressing problems of developing countries, including in the areas of economy, ecology, energy and food security, health care, human resource development, innovation, tourism and other areas," a statement by the Uzbek presidency read.

The statement said Mirziyoyev assessed current trends in the development of the international situation and shared his vision of the priority tasks faced by developing countries.

Industrial production in the euro area grew 1% compared to a month earlier in November 2022, better market forecast of a 0.5% increase.

November figure improved from a downwardly revised 1.9% decrease in October.

Capital goods led the increase in November, up 1% month-on-month. It was followed by intermediate goods by 0.8% and durable goods by 0.4%.

On the other hand, energy production and non-durables dropped 0.9% and 1.3%, respectively. In the EU, industrial production climbed 0.9% in November, rebounding from a 1.9% drop in October.

The highest monthly rises were seen in Ireland (6.4%), Luxembourg (5%) and Malta (4.6%) while the largest decreases were in Estonia (3.7%), Sweden (3.3%) and Croatia (1.9%).

On annual basis, industrial output hiked by 2% in both the eurozone and the EU. Malaysia, the world's second largest palm oil producer, reported lower palm oil stocks last December, official data showed.

According to the Malaysian Palm Oil Board, Malaysia's palm oil stocks fell 4.09 percent to 2.19 million tons in December 2022 from a month earlier.

Meanwhile, crude palm oil production in the country slipped 3.68 percent month on month to 1.62 million tonnes. Palm oil exports, on the other hand, dropped by 3.48 percent month on month to 1.47 million tons.

Palm oil imports, however, grew 0.14 percent month on month to 47,114 tons.

Earlier, Asian markets resumed their strong start to the year Monday, tracking a surge on Wall Street fuelled by optimism over China's reopening and hopes the Federal Reserve will slow its pace of interest rate hikes.

All three main indexes in New York soared more than two percent Friday after a closely watched report showed a forecast-busting rise in new jobs but a slowdown in wages growth.

That came as separate figures showed a shock contraction in the crucial services sectorthe first since spring 2020 at the height of the pandemic.