The QRNW Global Ranking of Transnational Universities 2027 has placed Swiss International University (SIU) in third position among all transnational universities worldwide. The recognition was awarded to the university because it operates extensive international programs while offering flexible academic options and worldwide educational access for all its students. The ranking reflects SIU’s continuous efforts to build an inclusive learning environment for students from diverse countries and backgrounds. […]
GUANGZHOU, CHINA – Media OutReach Newswire – 20 April 2026 – XTransfer, the World’s Leading B2B Cross-Border Trade Payment Platform, released its latest figures at the 139th China Import and Export Fair (Canton Fair). In the first quarter of this year, emerging markets across Asia, Africa, and Latin America accounted for 73% of XTransfer’s inbound cross-border payment collections, with 45% increase year-on-year. Collections from Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia increased 115%, 97%, and 18% year-on-year, respectively, highlighting growing demand among exporters for secure and efficient cross-border collection channels.
XTransfer at the 139th Canton Fair
According to statistics from the China General Administration of Customs, emerging markets in Asia, Africa, and Latin America have become a key driver of export growth. However, underdeveloped local financial infrastructure, incomplete cross-border payment systems, and shortages of foreign exchange mean buyers often struggle to access U.S. dollars. As a result, exporters in these markets frequently face low settlement efficiency, slow cash recovery, and risks such as account freezes.
To address these collection challenges, XTransfer has developed a comprehensive set of cross-border collection solutions. In 2025, payment collections from emerging markets in Asia, Africa, and Latin America rose 106% year-on-year. By region, collections increased 273% in Africa, 82% in Southeast Asia, and 94% in Latin America.
Over the same period, customs statistics show that in 2025, China’s total goods exports to Asia, Africa, and Latin America increased 14.6% year-on-year, with exports to Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America up 26.6%, 14%, and 8%, respectively. XTransfer’s significantly faster growth in collections compared with export growth suggests exporters are accelerating the shift from informal channels to secure, compliant collection methods, and that market recognition of high-quality cross-border payment services continues to rise.
Bill Deng, Founder and CEO of XTransfer, said emerging markets offer long-term opportunities for Chinese exporters, but many are held back by the “last mile” of collections. He added that XTransfer is committed to helping SMEs collect funds safely and quickly through secure, compliant, and efficient cross-border financial services comparable to those used by multinational companies.
Release of XTransfer PMI At the Canton Fair, XTransfer partnered with the Yicai Research Institute to publish the “China Small and Medium Enterprises (B2B) Merchandise Export Purchasing Manager Index” (XTransfer Export PMI), offering operational guidance and decision-making reference for small and micro export-oriented businesses.
This edition draws on a sample survey of XTransfer’s 800,000 SME users, selecting over 3,000 companies nationwide. It covers the full export process across export orders, pricing, procurement, logistics, staffing, and cash flow. The report shows that the March 2026 XTransfer PMI was 51.56%, indicating export conditions for SMEs are generally improving. Despite a complex external environment, SMEs have remained resilient and steadily strengthened their pricing power in international markets. Meanwhile, demand structures in emerging markets are reshaping, with export focus shifting toward intermediate goods and higher value-added products.
Resilience Amid Geopolitical Disruptions Customs data show that in the first quarter, China’s goods exports reached RMB 6.85 trillion, up 11.9% year-on-year, marking a strong start to the year and benefiting SMEs. The XTransfer PMI also shows expansion in the export order index (53.85) and the export price index (56.15). While seasonal factors like the Spring Festival affected the short term, the underlying “volume and price rising together” trend suggests SMEs are accelerating their shift from “low-price internal competition,” strengthening pricing power through technology upgrades and improved quality.
Geopolitical disruptions have also extended delivery times, pushing the logistics time PMI down to 37.50. In contrast, the sales collection (receivables) index rose to 68.59, showing a pattern of “goods moving slower, money returning faster”. This suggests overseas buyers remain strongly tied to China’s high-quality supply chain and are willing to raise prepayment ratios or shorten payment terms to secure capacity. One exhibitor, Mr Wang, said, “A Southeast Asian customer increased its deposit from 30% to 70% to lock in production, worried our capacity would be booked by others.“
Emerging Markets Demand Trends Toward “High-End” Upgrading The report highlights a shift toward higher-end demand in emerging markets. Africa’s export orders index (57.55) points to rising infrastructure-related demand; Latin America’s export orders index (56.47) and price index (57.81) signal opportunities in electromechanical and optical medical equipment; and Southeast Asia is absorbing components and semi-finished goods, calling for SMEs to move from finished-goods suppliers to supply-chain partners.
As industrialisation accelerates in emerging markets, demand for high-quality intermediate goods, complete electromechanical equipment, and technical services is rising. SMEs are moving from “low-end capacity exports” to “exports of technology and supply chain support”.
The composite PMI for the “New Three” (new energy vehicles, photovoltaics, and lithium batteries) was 54.59. The “New Three” sectors continue to hold growth potential, and enterprises need to enhance profit margins by delivering differentiated value. Hashtag: #XTransfer #PMI #Crossborder #Payment #SMEs
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
Scientists have developed a soil-powered fuel cell that uses naturally occurring microbes to generate enough electricity for low-power underground sensors, opening a possible route to battery-free monitoring systems in agriculture, wetlands and other outdoor settings. The device, created by a team led by Northwestern University, is designed to run sensors that track soil moisture or register touch while operating in both dry and waterlogged ground. The underlying […]
OVHcloud has added Quandela’s Belenos quantum computer to its cloud platform, giving customers on-demand access to a second physical quantum machine as Europe pushes to turn research strength into commercial computing capacity. The announcement, made on April 17 at the Quantum Defence Summit, expands OVHcloud’s Quantum Platform less than six months after the French cloud group launched it as a European Quantum-as-a-Service offering. Belenos is a 12-qubit […]
Asteroid, a little-known meme coin tied to a Shiba Inu character called “Asteroid”, surged after a social media chain involving broadcaster Glenn Beck and Elon Musk drew intense attention to the story of Liv Perrotto, a 15-year-old from Pennsylvania whose design had been linked to SpaceX symbolism. Crypto trackers and market sites showed the token posting a violent jump before giving back part of the move, underlining […]
Arabian Post Staff -Dubai UAE officials used the World Bank Group and IMF Spring Meetings in Washington to press a broader case for stronger multilateral coordination, flexible fiscal policy and wider financial partnerships, as the gatherings unfolded against a darker global backdrop of slower growth, energy-market strain and rising uncertainty. The delegation, led by Mohamed bin Hadi Al Hussaini, Minister of State for Financial Affairs, said the […]
Bitcoin held above $74,000 through the latest stretch of trading, finding support from a softer-than-feared U. S. inflation reading while still facing a macro backdrop that remains far from comfortable for risk assets. The token’s ability to stay near that level has drawn attention because it came as March consumer prices in the United States rose 3.3% from a year earlier, a pace that was below some […]
Iranian authorities have arrested four people, including two foreign nationals, over the alleged import of SpaceX Starlink terminals, sharpening a crackdown on one of the few remaining channels for uncensored internet access inside the country. Iranian state-linked reporting, carried by Reuters on Sunday, said the arrests were made in the north-west and linked by officials to an alleged espionage network tied to the United States and Israel. […]
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has cast Amaravati’s quantum push as a test of whether the country can build strategic technology capacity at home rather than remain tied to foreign platforms, using the launch of two indigenous open-access facilities to argue that partnership with global companies need not mean dependence. The remarks came days after the state unveiled Amaravati 1S and Amaravati 1Q on World Quantum Day, presenting the project as both a technology milestone and a political statement about capability.
Speaking in Amaravati, Naidu pushed back on questions over reliance on companies such as IBM, saying the starting point mattered less than whether domestic institutions could absorb, adapt and eventually build. He described the new facility as proof that companies and researchers in the country are capable of producing quantum systems, while acknowledging that the path to scale will involve collaboration. That framing is central to the state government’s pitch: use foreign alliances where useful, but ensure design, testing, skills and manufacturing depth are developed locally.
The immediate trigger for that argument was the April 14 launch of the Amaravati Quantum Reference Facility, or AQRF, spread across SRM University-AP in Amaravati and Medha Towers in Gannavaram. Andhra Pradesh has described the systems as the country’s first indigenously built, open-access quantum computer test beds, intended to let researchers, startups and industry users test hardware under operating conditions rather than rely only on closed imported machines. Officials say the site is designed to validate processors, cryogenic systems, amplifiers and control electronics, with access for hands-on study and benchmarking.
That matters because quantum computing remains a field in which much of the world’s high-end hardware is controlled by a small number of companies and laboratories. Andhra Pradesh officials and syndicated reports on the launch said about 85 per cent of the facility’s components were manufactured domestically, a claim being used to support the government’s assertion that a “sovereign hardware ecosystem” is now possible. The systems were developed with support from institutions including the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, the Indian Institute of Science and the Defence Research and Development Organisation, alongside younger firms working on hardware integration.
Yet the sovereignty message sits alongside a second reality: Amaravati’s longer-term quantum ambitions still rely on international corporate participation. IBM, Tata Consultancy Services and the Andhra Pradesh government announced in May 2025 that the planned Quantum Valley Tech Park in Amaravati would seek to host an IBM Quantum System Two with a 156-qubit Heron processor, subject to export licences and final agreements, while TCS would work on algorithms and applications. Naidu himself described that project at the time as part of the National Quantum Mission and a route to job creation and industrial use cases.
That leaves Andhra Pradesh trying to strike a careful balance. On one hand, the state wants the credibility, tooling and developer ecosystem that come with IBM and TCS. On the other, Naidu is signalling that strategic depth cannot rest on access alone. His comparison with the telecom sector was meant to make that case: the country did not master mobile and network technologies overnight, but built capability over time through policy support, local firms and institutional confidence. In quantum, he appears to be arguing for the same sequence — collaborate first where necessary, but move steadily towards domestic competence.
The wider national backdrop supports that ambition. The National Quantum Mission, approved in April 2023 with an outlay of Rs 6,003.65 crore running through 2030-31, is meant to seed research, industrial development and applications across computing, communications, sensing and materials. The Department of Science and Technology says the mission aims to develop intermediate-scale quantum computers in the 50 to 1,000 physical qubit range and has already set up four thematic hubs led by IISc Bengaluru, IIT Madras, IIT Bombay and IIT Delhi. Amaravati’s project is therefore not operating in isolation; it is seeking to attach itself to a national push that is still in its build-out phase.
A rumour that distance learning in the UAE would continue beyond April 17 has been formally denied, with education authorities making clear that no decision had been issued to extend the current remote-learning period to May 1 and urging families to rely only on official channels for updates. Existing schedules, as communicated by the authorities, remained unchanged at the time of the clarification. The clarification matters because […]
A 5.9-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of North Nias in western Indonesia early on Sunday, shaking parts of North Sumatra but triggering no tsunami warning, according to Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency, known as BMKG. The agency said the quake hit at 3.06am WIB at a depth of 10 kilometres, with its epicentre in the sea about 48 kilometres south-west of North Nias. BMKG said […]
Quantum computing has taken a meaningful step from theory towards application after researchers showed that a hybrid system combining quantum hardware with artificial intelligence can improve predictions of chaotic physical systems, a class of problems that has long frustrated scientists because small errors grow quickly over time. The work, led by University College London and published in Science Advances on April 17, found that the method delivered […]
Hackers exploited a cross-chain bridge tied to liquid restaking protocol Kelp DAO on Saturday, draining about $290 million in rsETH and sending shockwaves through decentralised finance markets as the losses spread into lending platforms and renewed questions over the security of multichain infrastructure. Bloomberg reported the theft at nearly $300 million, while market and on-chain reports put the value at roughly $292 million to $294 million. […]
Lenskart has raised $220 million from investors including Temasek and Falcon Edge Capital, a deal that marked one of the standout funding rounds in a year when technology companies were drawing heavy global capital and pushing valuations sharply higher. The eyewear retailer was valued at about $2.5 billion in that transaction, according to multiple reports at the time, extending a run in which consumer internet businesses were moving from niche start-up status into large-scale retail platforms with national reach.
The deal did not arrive in isolation. It came only weeks after KKR invested $95 million, taking the wider financing linked to that phase of fundraising to about $315 million. Lenskart said the fresh capital would support expansion of its online business and physical store network, reinforcing its strategy of building an omni-channel model rather than relying solely on digital sales. That approach helped distinguish it from many internet-first companies that were still testing how to translate app traffic into durable consumer brands.
Founded in 2010, Lenskart entered physical retail in 2013 and built its business around prescription eyeglasses, contact lenses and sunglasses, using technology tools such as virtual try-on features and a tightly managed supply chain to bring down delivery times and widen consumer choice. The 2021 fundraising gave investors another signal that eye care and vision products could support a scaled consumer business in a market where organised retail had long remained fragmented. It also underlined growing confidence that health-linked discretionary categories could attract repeat spending even outside the big metropolitan centres.
At the time, the broader market backdrop was unusually supportive. India’s start-up sector went through a record funding cycle in 2021, with Reuters later reporting that start-ups in the country raised about $35 billion that year before the market turned more difficult in 2022. Lenskart’s round therefore became part of a larger story: global investors were competing for exposure to domestic consumption, digital adoption and a new generation of companies that blended software, logistics and offline distribution. That enthusiasm also produced a wave of unicorns, richer private valuations and a heavier pipeline for later public listings.
What makes the Lenskart story more durable than a single boom-year headline is what followed. The company continued to attract capital after the 2021 round, raising another $200 million in 2024 from Temasek and Fidelity in a deal that valued it at about $5 billion, according to reports. That step-up suggested investors still saw room for growth despite the post-2021 funding reset that hit many privately held technology firms. It also showed that consumer-facing businesses with large store networks, repeat demand and clearer revenue visibility were being treated differently from cash-burning platforms built around discount-led expansion.
By 2025, Lenskart had moved into the next phase of that journey, filing for an initial public offering and seeking a valuation of nearly $8 billion at the top end of its price band. Reuters reported that the company had 2,067 stores across the country and another 656 overseas, reflecting a business that had grown well beyond its original online-only identity. That proposed public market debut placed Lenskart among a wider group of venture-backed companies testing whether private-market optimism could translate into sustained investor demand on the stock exchange.
Operationally, the business has also shown signs of maturing. Reuters reported in November 2025 that Lenskart had turned profitable in financial year 2025 and posted a 23% rise in revenue to 66.53 billion rupees. Another Reuters report in February 2026 said about 80% of its revenue came from prescription eyeglasses, while international revenue from Southeast Asia, Japan and the Middle East was rising strongly. Those figures matter because they suggest the company’s scale is now being supported not only by funding rounds and valuation jumps, but by a more established earnings and expansion profile.
Dubai Chambers has stepped up its push to build stronger commercial ties with the Philippines, holding meetings in Manila with influential business groups and leading companies as it seeks to turn rising trade flows into broader investment and sector partnerships. The talks came days after Dubai International Chamber opened its representative office in the Philippine capital, underlining a coordinated effort to deepen its presence in a market that Dubai sees as strategically important for trade, services and expansion across Asia.
At the centre of the Manila discussions was Mohammad Ali Rashed Lootah, President and Chief Executive of Dubai Chambers, who met Ferdinand A. Ferrer, president of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Donald Lim, president of the Management Association of the Philippines. According to Dubai Chambers, the conversations focused on trade facilitation, investment promotion and business partnerships, with particular attention to artificial intelligence, digital transformation and smart cities. Separate talks were also held with leading Filipino companies, where Dubai’s advantages were presented in areas including the digital economy, real estate investment and retail.
The Manila visit was not an isolated diplomatic stop. It followed the formal launch of Dubai International Chamber’s office in Manila on April 14, part of Dubai’s wider effort to build a larger global commercial footprint. Dubai Chambers says the office will serve both sides of the relationship: helping Filipino companies study opportunities in Dubai and use the emirate as a platform for expansion, while also supporting Dubai-based companies looking to enter the Philippine market through local intelligence, commercial introductions and help with market entry.
The commercial backdrop helps explain the urgency. Non-oil trade between Dubai and the Philippines reached AED3.58 billion in 2025, a 17 per cent increase from 2024, according to Dubai Chambers. By the end of December 2025, 2,592 Filipino companies were registered as active members of Dubai Chamber of Commerce, up 23.3 per cent year on year, while 856 new Filipino companies joined during 2025. Those figures point to a relationship that is moving beyond labour and remittance links into a more formalised business corridor involving services, trade intermediation, investment and corporate expansion.
That momentum has been building for some time. In May 2025, Dubai Chamber of Commerce organised a trade mission to the Philippines involving representatives from 17 Dubai-based private-sector companies. The mission produced 180 bilateral business meetings and included a Manila forum, “Doing Business with the Philippines”, attended by 314 participants. During that forum, Dubai Chambers signed a memorandum of understanding with the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry to strengthen cooperation and explore new avenues for trade and investment. January 2026 brought another symbolic marker when First Lady Louise Araneta-Marcos visited Dubai Chambers headquarters, adding political visibility to what has become a more structured economic relationship.
For Dubai, the Manila initiative fits a larger policy design. The chamber says the office forms part of the “Dubai Global” initiative, which aims to establish 50 representative offices worldwide by 2030 and support expansion into 30 priority markets. That strategy is designed to attract foreign direct investment into Dubai while helping companies based there expand overseas. The Philippines, with its large consumer market, growing digital economy and active private-sector institutions, offers Dubai an opening not only into Southeast Asia but also into sectors where urban development, technology adoption and service-led growth are accelerating.
For the Philippines, the significance lies in access. Dubai positions itself as a gateway market linking Asia, the Gulf, Africa and Europe, and Filipino businesses looking for a wider regional or global footprint may see value in that proposition. The chamber has framed Manila’s new office as a bridge that can lower information barriers, connect firms with partners and convert general goodwill into bankable deals. Sectors identified during the talks suggest where both sides believe there is room to move fastest: AI and digital transformation for future-oriented growth, smart cities for infrastructure and urban services, and real estate and retail for more immediate commercial activity.
Greenlogue/AP Dahbashi Engineering has moved its headquarters in Dubai Industrial City onto on-grid solar power, marking a sustainability push by a company better known in the Gulf for heavy machinery spare parts, service operations and industrial battery solutions. The company said the installation is expected to meet about half of the site’s annual electricity demand and cut operating costs by roughly 30 per cent under Dubai’s Shams […]
Light showers, dusty winds and rougher sea conditions are set to affect parts of the UAE over the coming days, with the National Centre of Meteorology forecasting a shift from fair skies on Sunday to cloudier, more unsettled weather from Monday night through midweek. Coastal areas, islands and some eastern parts are expected to face the highest chance of rainfall, while winds could reach 40kph and […]
Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Prestige One Developments has begun handing over Vista, a 140-home residential project in Dubai Sports City, marking a delivery milestone for the developer as it expands construction activity across the emirate. The handover comes as Prestige One says it has more than 20 active developments under way and about 2,500 residential units under construction, underscoring how mid-sized developers are trying to convert off-plan […]
Dubai’s commercial property market opened 2026 with fewer deals but a sharply higher value profile, as investors paid more for offices, warehouses and retail assets in a market increasingly defined by scarcity, asset quality and longer-term positioning. CRC, the commercial arm of Betterhomes, said 3,619 commercial units changed hands in the first quarter, down 3% from a year earlier, while total sales value rose 30% to AED37.9 […]
Arabian Post Staff -Dubai Fresh instability swept across the Middle East on Saturday after Iran reimposed restrictions on vessel traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and Israeli forces struck targets in Lebanon, denting market optimism that a broader easing of tensions was close at hand. The renewed disruption came less than a day after signs of limited progress had lifted hopes for safer shipping through the narrow […]
North Korea fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles into waters off its east coast early on Sunday, prompting swift condemnation from Seoul, Tokyo and Washington and extending a run of weapons activity that is deepening security concerns across North-East Asia. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missiles were detected from the Sinpo area at about 6:10 a. m. local time and were launched towards the East […]
StarLink opened its 2026 roadshow in Riyadh on 19 April, pitching a vision of cyber defence in which autonomous systems are used not only to detect threats but to counter AI-enabled attacks at machine speed, as companies across the Middle East weigh how far they can trust software agents with critical security decisions. The event series, branded “The Silent War of AI vs AI”, is scheduled to […]
Medical robots are moving from specialist showcases into mainstream care, changing how operations are performed, how scans are read and how hospitals manage overstretched staff. The shift is being driven by better imaging, faster computing, advances in minimally invasive surgery and growing pressure on health systems to cut delays, improve precision and reduce administrative burden. At the same time, regulators and clinicians are warning that the rush […]
Dubai will resume private school bus services from Monday, April 20, after education and emergency authorities cleared a return to operations under tightened safety procedures aimed at protecting pupils as campuses reopen. The move aligns Dubai with a nationwide decision to restart school transport across public and private institutions after a period of distance learning and transport disruption. The decision for Dubai’s private education sector was announced […]
