Category: Asean

BEIJING, June 30, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — CGTN has published an article exploring the values embodied by the July 1 Medal. Through the stories of this year’s recommended nominees, the article highlights how generations of the Communist Party of China (CPC) members have remained rooted among the people, dedicated themselves to public service, and carried forward the Party’s founding spirit.

When residents in Chongqing’s Guanyinqiao Subdistrict face a neighborhood dispute, many offer the same answer when asked whom to turn to: “Go to Lao Ma.”

“Lao Ma” is Ma Shanxiang, a 69-year-old Communist Party of China (CPC) member, who has spent more than three decades mediating conflicts in the community. His work has filled more than 280 notebooks, totaling over nine million Chinese characters, documenting thousands of stories of patience, understanding and reconciliation. Over the years, he has received more than 20,000 visits from residents and successfully mediated more than 2,500 disputes.

Ma is among the recommended nominees for the July 1 Medal, the CPC’s highest honor, ahead of a gathering marking the Party’s 105th founding anniversary on Wednesday (July 1). At the event, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, will confer the medal on model Party members and deliver an important speech.

One detail of the medal reflects the values it represents. Unlike China’s national medals, which are worn on metal chains, the July 1 Medal features a woven fabric ribbon – a design personally proposed by President Xi. Modest rather than ornate, it symbolizes that the Party’s highest honor belongs to those who come from the people, remain rooted among the people and devote themselves to serving them.

Rooted among the people

Xi has described July 1 Medal recipients as “everyday heroes” who “come from the people and are rooted among the people.”

The list of this year’s recommended nominees reflects that idea. Though they come from different professions, they share one defining quality: years – often decades – of quiet dedication in places where they are needed most.

Like Ma, Wu Yaqin, a community Party chief, has spent three decades in grassroots governance, resolving more than 1,000 community disputes. Rural doctor Uhas Sulayman has recorded more than 100,000 patient visits, saved thousands of critically ill patients and delivered more than 3,200 babies. Village Party secretary Li Liancheng led Xixinzhuang Village from poverty to national recognition as a model village. First-class Merit Hero Wang Yuchang quietly continued serving the people after leaving the military.

The same spirit also shines through scientific innovation. Petroleum refining expert Chen Junwu devoted his life to advancing China’s refining industry and was still reviewing carbon-emissions reports in his final days. Zhong Jue, the 89-year-old academician, has spent a lifetime helping China overcome key technological bottlenecks in aluminum manufacturing. Agricultural expert Zhao Yafu has spent more than 60 years promoting modern farming in hilly regions, helping farmers increase their incomes by more than 30 billion yuan ($4.2 billion).

Passing on the Party’s founding spirit

The July 1 Medal is not only a tribute to exemplary Party members, but also a way to inspire others to uphold the Party’s founding spirit.

Xi has called on Party members in the new era to carry forward the Party’s founding spirit, stay true to the Party’s original aspiration and founding mission, and fulfill their responsibilities with dedication.

Many recommended nominees have already turned personal commitment into a shared cause.

Uhas’s volunteer medical team continues to expand across China’s border regions. Wu has established a training platform for grassroots governance, mentoring nearly 30,000 community workers. Zhong, meanwhile, still works alongside younger researchers to tackle new technological challenges while mentoring students and supporting those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Ma believes his work is far from finished. After retiring, he was rehired to lead the “Lao Ma Studio,” a grassroots dispute mediation organization, nurturing a team of more than 80,000 volunteer mediators, affectionately known as the “Little Mas.”

Though nearing 70, he says the cause of people’s mediation is only beginning. Borrowing Xi’s analogy of a relay race, he sees his role today as not only running his own leg well, but helping the “Little Mas” carry the baton into the future.

When the July 1 Medals are conferred on Wednesday, the spotlight will fall on a group of “everyday heroes.” Their stories may begin in villages, neighborhoods or laboratories, but they all point to the same enduring values: staying close to the people and passing that spirit on to the next generation.

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2026-06-29/From-the-people-for-the-people-What-the-July-1-Medal-honors-1OnonFmsDdu/p.html

CGTN Digital 
[email protected]

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 9754591

LONDON, June 29, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Emerging Markets Global Advisory LLP (EMGA) announced the successful closure of a USD 15 million senior debt facility for Citizens Development Business Finance PLC (CDB), marking a significant milestone in strengthening Sri Lanka’s financial sector and supporting sustainable growth.

This transaction underscores EMGA’s continued commitment to Sri Lanka, while reinforcing CDB’s vision of expanding access to finance for SMEs and advancing its green portfolio. The facility was arranged in collaboration with Swedfund, Sweden’s development finance institution, which plays a pivotal role in promoting sustainable economic development across emerging markets.

Commenting on the transaction, CDB’s MD/CEO Mahesh Nanayakkara stated, “This financing strengthens our ability to empower SMEs and accelerate our green initiatives, ensuring that CDB continues to play a leading role in shaping Sri Lanka’s sustainable financial future.”

Emphasising the strategic importance of the debt finance, Head of Investment Banking and Managing Director at EMGA Sajeev Chakkalakal said, “We are pleased to close this latest transaction and ensure CDB’s continued vision of supporting SMEs and its green portfolio in Sri Lanka, while simultaneously helping expand Swedfund’s ongoing operations in the region.”

Reflecting on the broader impact, Head of Operations and Managing Director at EMGA Jeremy Dobson noted: “Following several challenging years for Sri Lanka, EMGA has moved swiftly to capitalise on improving local conditions, strengthening CDB’s funding base and diversifying its sources of capital.”

Björn Areskog, Investment Director at Swedfund, said, “We invest to increase access to capital to support the ability of MSMEs to grow, create more local jobs, add tax revenues and increase affordable access to products and services.”

Citizens Development Business Finance PLC (CDB): A leading non-bank financial institution in Sri Lanka, listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange, recognised for its focus on sustainable finance, digital innovation, and SME empowerment.

Swedfund is Sweden’s development finance institution (DFI), wholly owned by the Swedish government, with a mandate to reduce poverty and promote sustainable economic development in emerging markets. Swedfund provides long-term financing in the form of equity, loans, and technical assistance, primarily targeting sectors such as financial institutions, energy, and sustainable enterprises. The organisation places strong emphasis on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards, aiming to create lasting development impact while supporting responsible and inclusive business growth.

Emerging Markets Global Advisory LLP (EMGA), with offices in London and New York, helps financial institutions and corporates seeking new debt or equity capital. EMGA’s multinational team combines decades of experience necessary to complete transactions on behalf of its clients within the world’s emerging markets and frontier economies, including Sri Lanka, which remains a key market. With a proven track record in capital formation and strategic advisory throughout diverse economic cycles, EMGA is solidifying its position as one of the pre-eminent niche investment banks focused on emerging and frontier markets.

For further information, please contact [email protected]

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 1001210003

The group behind Shop Circle launches Circeus as its holding company brand, backed by a new equity investment from the EBRD. Shop Circle continues as the group’s retail and commerce software division. The investment will accelerate the deployment of AI across the portfolio and fund the continued acquisition of the software businesses that power the everyday economy.

LONDON, June 29, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) —  Circeus, the AI-native holding company for mission-critical software, today announced its launch alongside an equity investment from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), with participation from other investors.

The launch introduces Circeus as the group’s holding company brand, reflecting the broader B2B software portfolio the group now operates with AI embedded throughout. The investment will help scale the group’s central AI engineering capability and support continued acquisitions.

The AI-native holding company

Circeus has completed 18 acquisitions over the last four years and serves more than 200,000 businesses worldwide. The group is scaling profitably and is adding more revenue this year than in the previous two years combined, with further acquisitions expected to complete over the coming months.

From strategy to results

Over the past three years, AI has moved from experimentation to scaled deployment across the portfolio. Today, this is visible in performance:

• Double-digit share of net new bookings driven by AI-enabled features
• Up to ~80% customer experience automation in several products
• 100%+ improvements in developer productivity through AI-assisted workflows

These outcomes are consistent across multiple businesses, demonstrating a repeatable model that improves product performance, operational efficiency and post-acquisition EBITDA, rather than isolated successes.

A compounding model, with AI as the operating system

Circeus grows through a repeatable model: selectively acquiring software businesses and connecting them to a central AI capability, with agents and skills built once and deployed across the portfolio. Post-acquisition, Circeus embeds AI into products, automates operations, and reuses infrastructure, data, and insights across the group.

Each improvement compounds, creating a structural advantage difficult for standalone software businesses to replicate. AI is not a layer added on top of each product; it is the operating system of the group, moving software from systems of record to systems of action, and turning tasks into outcomes.

A permanent home for founders

Founders who sell to Circeus get a permanent home for their business: brands, teams, and customer relationships are preserved, while the group brings AI engineering, growth expertise, and centralised back-office support.

What they said

“As AI evolves software from passive tools into systems that act and execute, the addressable market for technology is expanding several-fold. We are building the platform to capture this shift. We were not running a fundraising process, as we are profitable and well capitalised, but we chose to make space for EBRD given their institutional standing and to lean further into a market that presents several attractive opportunities,” said Luca Cartechini, Founder and CEO of Circeus.

“Across different businesses, we have proven that evolving a product into its AI-native form can drive a step-change in the market it can address. The hard part is doing this repeatedly, and that is what we have built: a central engineering capability that turns each transformation into a foundation for the next,” said Gian Maria Gramondi, Founder and COO of Circeus.

“With more than $220m of total capital raised to date, we have substantial firepower to deploy in a highly attractive acquisition environment, with several deals expected to complete over the coming months. Deal after deal, we are proving a repeatable operating model that drives EBITDA uplift and strong returns across the assets we acquire and operate,” said Robin Hardt, CFO of Circeus.

“We are backing a team bringing AI to the essential software that businesses across our regions rely on every day, and Circeus’s compounding model aligns closely with EBRD’s long-term mandate. The market for bringing AI to the real economy is enormous, and we look forward to supporting Circeus, alongside a strong group of investors, across the journey,” said Bruno Lusic, Investor at EBRD.

EBRD’s long-term perspective aligns with Circeus’s approach to building compounding platforms over decades, not quarters. The investment brings the group’s total equity raised to more than $120m and total capital raised to more than $220m, with backing from NFX, QED Investors, Nextalia, 645 Ventures, 3VC, Endeavor Catalyst, CDP Venture Capital, alongside a $100m+ credit facility from i80 Group.

Looking ahead

Despite the pace of AI innovation, adoption across the real economy remains early. Only around one in five enterprises in Europe and the US currently report using AI. [1]

Circeus exists to help close the AI adoption gap by embedding frontier capabilities into the mission-critical software that businesses depend on. The everyday economy runs on software that moves goods, powers commerce and supports specialist industries. Circeus believes AI compounds most where domain knowledge runs deepest, making vertical software, with its proprietary workflows and data, central to the group’s portfolio.

The next generation of platforms will execute work, not just provide tools, and that shift is already underway.

About Circeus

Circeus is the AI-native holding company for mission-critical software. The group acquires and evolves vertical software businesses that power the everyday economy, embedding AI through its central engineering team to move software from systems of record to systems of action. Circeus operates from London, Milan and Sarajevo. Shop Circle, its commerce software division, serves retailers, wholesalers and brands worldwide.

About EBRD

The EBRD is one of the world’s leading multilateral development banks, with a portfolio of approximately €62 billion and more than €220 billion invested since 1991 across over 7,800 projects. The Bank also has dedicated equity capabilities, supporting private-sector growth, innovation and sustainable development across its regions.

Notes to editors

[1] Sources: Eurostat, “20% of EU enterprises use AI technologies”: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/w/ddn-20251211-2;
US Census Bureau, “AI Use at U.S. Businesses”: https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2026/05/ai-use-businesses.html.

Both reports indicate business AI usage of approximately 20% in the EU and 17–20% in the US.

Media enquiries

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GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 1001209874

MeeC Project Recognised for Delivering Up to 65% Energy Savings in Deutsche Telekom’s 5G Core Network

BONN, Germany, June 26, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Mavenir, the software company building cloud-native, AI-by-design mobile networks, today announced it has won the Deutsche Telekom Partner of the Year Award for Best Network Innovation. The award was presented at the Telekom Campus Fair 2026 by Deutsche Telekom’s senior leadership.

This recognition underscores Mavenir’s pivotal role in the Most Energy Efficient Core (MeeC) initiative, a flagship collaboration with Deutsche Telekom built on its Horizontal TelCo Cloud – the company’s own cloud architecture and a blueprint for the telecommunications industry. MeeC has redefined energy efficiency in 5G Core networks, delivering up to 65% reduction in energy consumption during low-traffic periods while maintaining uncompromised performance and service quality.

Launched in 2025, MeeC applies advanced AI-driven traffic analysis and predictive workload optimisation to identify and eliminate energy waste across 5G Core functions – without compromising network performance or service quality. The project demonstrated that significant energy reductions are achievable at commercial scale in live network environments.

Pardeep Kohli, Chief Executive Officer at Mavenir, said: “Winning Deutsche Telekom’s Partner Award is a tremendous honour for the entire Mavenir team. MeeC is a compelling demonstration of what becomes possible when cloud-native architecture, AI-driven automation, and genuine partnership combine. Sustainable networks are not a future ambition – they are an operational reality, and we are proud to have helped Deutsche Telekom prove that at scale.”

The Telekom Partner Awards celebrate the outstanding contributions from Deutsche Telekom partners in the fields of network technology, operations, and sustainability. The award was also jointly presented to AMD in recognition of their contribution to the MeeC initiative.

Information to the Editor:

Most energy efficient Core: Mobile World Congress presentation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mw2g-CSSAtI

About MeeC (Most Energy Efficient Core)
MeeC is a Deutsche Telekom innovation program focused on transforming 5G Core efficiency through intelligent automation. Key achievements include:

• Up to 65% energy savings versus baseline operations
• AI-powered traffic prediction and real-time scaling
• Dynamic workload consolidation across cloud-native functions
• Zero-touch automation enabling continuous optimisation
• Proven deployment in a live Tier-1 production network

About Mavenir
Mavenir is enabling intelligent, automated, programmable networks through the development of telco-first, cloud-native, AI-by-design software solutions for mobile operators. The company’s deep telco domain expertise has been proven through deployments with 300+ operators globally in over 120 countries, which together serve more than 50% of the world’s subscribers. Mavenir combines its deep telco experience with the cloud and IT expertise and data science skillsets essential to solving real customer challenges. Its proven software solutions are AI by design, delivering the AI-native future and operators’ evolution to TechCos. For more information, please visit www.mavenir.com

Mavenir PR Contacts:

Emmanuela Spiteri
[email protected]

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c7cc50fe-62ad-4a40-b285-74324d5d708e

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 9753159

BEIJING, June 24, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Following Chinese President Xi Jinping’s inspection tour in Dezhou, east China’s Shandong Province, CGTN published an article exploring how China is turning bumper harvests into lasting prosperity for farmers. The article highlights the country’s efforts to strengthen food security, advance rural revitalization and ensure the benefits of development reach local communities.

A few taps on a smartphone, and the wheat is sold.

This summer, Wang Xiugang, a farmer in Xiajin County of Dezhou City, east China’s Shandong Province, no longer had to spend hours waiting in line at a grain collection station. Through a mobile app, he could book a delivery time, check the prices, track quality inspection results and complete the entire selling process – from weighing to payment – in about 30 minutes.

The shift from queuing in person to selling grain at one’s fingertips offers a glimpse into China’s steadily advancing agricultural modernization.

For Chinese President Xi Jinping, agriculture, rural areas and farmers have long remained a top priority in governance. During an inspection tour in Dezhou on Wednesday, Xi stressed that agricultural and rural modernization is vital to China’s broader modernization drive and called for concrete measures to strengthen the sector.

Securing the nation’s rice bowl

“Ensuring a stable supply of grain and other important agricultural products is the top priority of agricultural production,” Xi said while visiting farmland in Dezhou.

His remarks carry particular significance in a city often described as one of China’s key grain baskets. Although it occupies just over 10,000 square kilometers, Dezhou contributes more than one kilogram out of every 100 kilograms of grain produced nationwide.

In recent years, Dezhou has become a testing ground for boosting agricultural productivity. Launched in 2021 by Dezhou City to advance national food security, the “Dunbanliang” initiative is a high-yield agricultural program that aims to produce over 1.5 metric tonnes of grain per Chinese mu (approximately 0.0667 hectares). Two years later, Dezhou built the country’s first one-million-mu “Dunbanliang” demonstration zone.

The gains have been driven by high-standard farmland, upgraded irrigation systems, improved seed varieties and integrated water-and-fertilizer technologies. By 2025, farmland meeting the “Dunbanliang” benchmark had expanded to 1.58 million mu in Dezhou.

The effort is part of a broader national push. More than 90% of China’s summer grain harvest has been completed this year, with another bumper harvest largely secured.

Turning harvests into better lives

Yet producing more grain is only part of the story.

For many farmers, challenges begin after the harvest. Limited drying space, storage losses and fluctuating market prices can all eat into earnings.

In Wucheng County, also in Dezhou, local authorities have introduced a “grain bank” model to address these concerns. Farmers can store grain, have it professionally dried and choose when to sell, helping reduce losses and improve returns.

The initiative underscores a broader vision behind China’s drive for agricultural and rural modernization. The goal is not merely to boost agricultural output, but to advance rural revitalization and ensure farmers reap the fruits of modernization.

That goal was evident during Xi’s tour.

At the home of villager Yu Xinhu in Xiyujia Village, Xi sat down with the family and asked about their daily lives, their jobs and income, the health of elderly family members, and the children’s education. The questions highlighted a key measure of rural development: whether farmers are seeing tangible improvements in their lives.

In Xiyujia Village, those improvements are becoming increasingly visible. Through integrated development of e-commerce, tourism and cultural industries, it has helped more than 3,000 nearby residents share development opportunities. A livestreaming center generates about one million yuan in annual collective village income, while educational tourism programs attract more than 20,000 visitors each year.

As Xi told villagers before leaving, the ultimate goal of modernization is to meet people’s aspirations for a better life. The ultimate success of a bumper harvest lies not only in the grain it produces, but in the prosperity and opportunities it brings to those who grow it.

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2026-06-24/How-China-turns-bumper-harvests-into-lasting-prosperity-for-farmers-1Of7MKxNpeM/p.html

CGTN Digital 
[email protected]

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 9752405