The engine that transforms the lives of millions of Chinese citizens like Li Liguan is China Development Bank (CDB). The bank channels capital to key sectors and projects in the world's fastest growing economy -- an essential role in any development state.

Despite a somewhat gloomy prognosis for the near future, emerging and other developing countries still have a great potential to "switch over," and in the mid-term, consolidate their position as the new engines of global economic growth.

Is there a way other regions can reap the benefits of integration, in the absence of supranational governance?

Greece's financial mismanagement risks igniting the biggest financial crisis since the Dubai crisis, or even the collapse of New York's Lehman Brothers bank in 2008.

Gordon Brown's meeting with Barack Obama this week is being portrayed by British officials as a make-or-break opportunity to ­persuade the new US adm...