Emerging Actors in Africa news round-up

China in Africa

NUJ Chairman In China For MDGs Confab
In a bid to build the capacity of journalists and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in developing countries on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Abuja Council, Mr. Jacob Edi, is in China for a two-week conference Read More

China favors Sudan’s unity but will respect referendum outcome: envoy
The Chinese special envoy to Africa Liu Guijing said his government would be “delighted” to see Sudan remain united following the 2011 referendum in the South but noted that Beijing will nonetheless respect choices made by Southerners Read More

China wants 'credible' Sudan referendum, Darfur solution
Beijing wants a "credible" referendum on south Sudan's independence, and for a political solution to the Darfur conflict, Chinese envoy Liu Guijin said. China "hopes that the referendum on the self-determination of southern Sudan will be transparent and credible, which is in the interests of Sudan and serves the stability of the region," Liu told reporters in Khartoum Read More

Nigeria says three refineries ready by 2014
Nigeria's state-run oil firm NNPC said on Tuesday three new refineries will be onstream by 2014, following a deal signed with China State Construction Engineering Corp (CSCEC) in May Read More

Zimbabwe, China strengthen economic cooperation
The eighth session of the Zimbabwe/ China joint permanent commission ended in Harare on Wednesday with a pledge by the two countries to widen and deepen economic cooperation. The two countries discussed ways of enhancing various cooperation projects already being implemented and new ones in the energy, agriculture, manufacturing, transport, tourism and water sectors Read More

China Cement Maker Signs S. Africa Deal
China continued its investment in Africa’s infrastructure—and in South Africa’s deep need for cement—when a Chinese cement maker formed a partnership to build a plant with two South African companies. Jidong Development Group, the largest cement producer in northern China, has signed a partnership with South Africa’s leading black-women-owned company, Women Investment Portfolio Holdings Limited (WIPHOLD), and with limestone mining firm Continental Cement. The deal is for construction of a new $218-million cement plant in Limpopo, the northernmost province of South Africa Read More

China to build $8bn oil refinery in Nigeria
It will be the first of three refineries under a deal signed in May between Nigeria's state oil company, NNPC, and the China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC). The refinery will be built in the Lekki free trade zone of Lagos, Nigeria's biggest city Read More

Chinese-built hospital risks collapse in Angola: state radio
Luanda's general hospital has evacuated 150 patients over worries that the four-year-old, Chinese-built structure could collapse, state radio reported. The patients were evacuated after the discovery of "deep cracks in the walls of the paediatrics and gynaecology wards", the report said.The eight-million-dollar hospital was built by the China Overseas Engineering Group Company (COVEC), through credit lines provided by Beijing, according to the private weekly O Pais Read More

Chinese firm begins tests on Isiolo gas pits
Kenya’s hopes of striking oil in Isiolo have been dashed with the Chinese firm prospecting in the region now shifting its activities to establishing whether the natural gas discovered there two months ago can be commercially exploited. The China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) is expected to bring in equipment this week that will help reopen the Boghal well in Merti division to ascertain the quantities and quality of the gas found there Read More

Mozambique requests US$130 million from China to rebuild road
The government of Mozambique has asked China for US$130 million for construction of the section of road linking Manjacaze to Maxixe in the provinces of Gaza and Inhambane, a source from the Ministry for Public Works and Housing said in Maputo Read More

China urged to explore investment opportunities in COMESA
The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Secretary-General Sindiso Ngwenya on 22 June, 2010 urged China to enter into joint ventures with Africa's largest regional trading and economic grouping to capitalise on the Customs Union that was launched in 2009. COMESA, boasting 19 Member States and a population of more than 400 million, is endowed with vast natural and human resources that make it a fertile investment destination, Ngwenya said. "With a combined population of 456 million and a combined Gross Domestic Product of USD 450 billion, this region is very rich in natural resources, rich in human resources and land for agriculture. He said China should take COMESA as its preferred investment destination and increase trade with Africa's largest trading and economic grouping Read More

China: the master stadium builder
With poor infrastructure posing an obstacle to continental sport, many African countries have turned to China for help in the last few decades. This co-operation is not without its pitfalls. Tamale Stadium, Northern Ghana, January 2008: In the midst of the African Cup of Nations (ACN), in a press room bustling with post-match conferences, three Chinese employees responsible for the stadium’s upkeep and apparently indifferent to the surrounding brouhaha, clean the floor, windows and even the microphone stands. Despite deep cultural divisions, Asians and Africans are gradually learning to get along, and sport is no exception Read More

China Mobile Interested in Investing in Africa, Chairman Says
China Mobile Ltd., the world’s biggest phone carrier, is interested in investing in Africa, where it can boost services in rural areas, Chairman Wang Jianzhou said, reported Bloomberg. The company doesn’t have any acquisition targets in Africa yet and hasn’t identified a specific region on the continent where it would like to invest, said Wang.China Mobile is searching for investments and acquisitions to revive profit growth and expand its overseas operations Read More

China adds new voice to global lineup of English-language TV news channels
CNC World, launched last week, will be broadcast to the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, North America and Africa. Critics, however, are doubtful that it will be seen as more than a propaganda tool. In launching a "new source of information for global audiences," CNC apparently wants to be an English-language alternative to the dominant narratives of Western media, such as the BBC, CNN and certainly Fox. CNC will be broadcast in the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, North America and Africa Read More

A new generation of migrant workers are getting organised in a fight to improve low pay and poor conditions.
He Zongjun earns 1 mao (1p) for each of the 1000 vuvuzelas he moulds on a 12-hour night shift at the Jiying Plastic Products factory near Shanghai. His boss Wu Yijun stopped production of vuvuzelas in April but resumed last month to meet an unexpected surge in global orders for the popular droning trumpets being heard throughout the World Cup football matches in South Africa. “I don’t watch the World Cup. I need to sleep after working a whole night,” he told the Chinese government’s Xinhua news agency. The migrant worker from the southwestern province of Yunnan, one of China’s poorest regions, earns up to 3000 yuan (£300) a month, based on the piecework rate given by the agency. The long hours and tough conditions mean he earns up to three times the wages of many Chinese labourers Read More

Air Tanzania ditches Chinese firm and partners with Air Zimbabwe
Tanzania may sever ties with China’s Sonangol International Ltd over failure by the company to invest and take over 49 per cent shares in the ailing Air Tanzania Company Ltd (ATCL) as agreed four years ago. The inaction by the company has prompted the government to fund the airline to the tune of $540 million to rescue it from collapse Read More

China Shenhua may cooperate with South Africa's Sasol on CTL project
The China Shenhua Group, the largest coal producer in China, may work with South Africa's Sasol, the world's largest coal to liquids (CTL) producer, on a CTL project in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Northwest China. Rob Davies, South Africa's minister of trade and industry, is expected to sign a joint venture agreement for a CTL project during his current visit to China. Davies is quoted as saying the project would be located in Ningxia with a total investment of about 8 to 10 billion US dollars, and would be jointly established by Sasol and a Chinese company Read More

India in Africa
India to help Mozambique in coal, power sectors
India has offered Mozambique a grant of $40 million for improving technical capacity in coal mining and a $25 million line of credit for rural electrification, officials said. The agreements for the two loans were signed in Mozambique’s capital Maputo by External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna Read More

Indian Investment in Africa
In a speech last week at the London School of Economics, Dr. Amit Mitra, the Secretary General of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry discussed the growing role of Indian investment in Africa. Despite the relatively neglected role of India in Africa compared with that of China, India’s trade with the continent has grown ten-fold over 4 years to $39.5 billion in 2008-09 (over half of the US’s $77 billion). The turning point, he noted, came in 2008 with the India-Africa summit in Delhi, which led to a doubling of credit to Africa (to $5.4 billion over 5 years), a focus on African human capital development programs, and a duty free preferential tariff scheme for the 34 least developed countries in Africa (with 94% of all tariff lines opened) Read More

Indian Investment Might Reach a Billion Dollars
Indian investment in Mozambique, particularly in mineral resources, energy and processing of agricultural products, might reach a billion US dollars in 2010-2011, according to the optimistic projections of Mahomed Rafique, director of the Mozambican government's Investment Promotion Centre (CPI) Read More

Angola-India Trade volume to reach US$ 4 billion mark
The volume of business between Angola and India could reach US$ 4 billion this year, against the US$ 3 billion recorded in 2009, PANA reported quoting the Angolan News Agency (ANGOP). The Indian diplomat said his country exported to Angola such products as meat, vehicles, trains and tractor equipment, medicines, fabrics and fibres for the textile industry Read More

India commits USD 6.7 mn to African bank
India has agreed to donate USD 6.7 million to the African Development Bank (AfDB) to conduct studies on the development projects in the continent. "India has committed a support of USD 6.7 million to the African Development Bank for the study of development projects in Africa," a senior finance ministry official told PTI. The funding support will take effect from January 1, 2011 and will extend over a period of three years Read More

Mauritius PM hails India’s cooperation against high-sea pirates, terrorism
Hailing India’s gesture to provide an off shore Patrol vessel to Mauritius, Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam appreciated India’s cooperation to his country in its fight against high-sea pirates and terrorism. Following his meet with the visiting Indian External Affairs Minister S. M. Krishna at Clarisse House in Port Louis, Mauritian Prime Minister Ramgoolam told media persons that Mauritius being a small country needed some assistance to deal with the problem Read More

Krishna in Mozambique; boosting trade high on agenda
External Affairs Minister SM Krishna arrived in Mozambique on a two-day visit during which he is expected to give a push to bilateral relations, mainly focusing on trade and energy sectors. Krishna is the first External Affairs Minister to visit this mineral-rich African nation in over a decade. India is expected to sign an agreement to extend a line of credit of $25 million to Mozambique during talks Krishna will have with the country's leaders Read More

Brazil in Africa
Zambia: Two Brazilian firms pledge US$600 million investment
Two Brazilian firms have pledged to setup businesses in Zambia in August this year with an initial combined total investment of US$600 million. The two companies Uami and Valley will venture into the mining and the energy sectors respectively. Valley which deals in energy will invest us$400 million, while Uami will invest us$200 million in its mining operations Uami has further targeted to produce over 50 Tonnes of Copper and create 1,500 jobs in its initial stages. Marcopola the Brazilian manufacturers of luxury coaches has also announced its intentions to set up a plant to maintain the Zambian fleet of buses among others. This was disclosed during a business forum held at the Pamodzi hotel. Meanwhile Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula De silva says he has great conviction that African countries are capable of competing with the other regions in the world in terms of economic trade Read More

Lula da Silva to visit Cape Verde in July
The first edition of the ECOWAS/Brazil Summit will take place on the island of Sal in the month of July, and will feature the presence of Brazilian President Luís Inácio Lula da Silva, in addition to heads of state and government from the 15 member countries of the Economic Community of West African States. This summit between the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and Brazil was announced on February 19 by Minister of Foreign Affairs José Brito, who said the meeting was the brainchild of Cape Verde.At the time, the cabinet minister stressed the idea that the summit was aimed at “paying homage” to the Brazilian president and expanding commercial relations between South American and West African countries Read More

Brazilian President to Visit Equatorial Guinea
The President of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, begins his visit to Equatorial Guinea on July 5 as part of an African tour that will take place between July 4 to 12. Trade between the Republic of Equatorial Guinea and Brazil has increased in recent years. In June 2009, Brazil's Minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, Miguel Jorge, also visited Equatorial Guinea accompanied by a large delegation of businessmen from his country. So far this year, Equatorial Guinea has signed several contracts with Brazilian companies across various sectors, including infrastructure and construction projects, education and sports Read More

President of Brazil Concludes Visit to Equatorial Guinea
President of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva wrapped up a state visit to Equatorial Guinea (Republica de Guinea Ecuatorial), which included the signing of multiple cooperation agreements, economic meetings, and festivities Read More

Lula: Secretary General of Africa
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Brazil's president, might as well have a sign on his office door that reads: "Secretary General of Africa." This week Lula is on this ninth trip to the African continent in the past eight years as president. He has made official visits to 25 of the 53 African countries; an astonishing feat by a head of state by anyone's calculations. This week Lula is in the middle of a trip that will take him through six African countries. On Saturday he was in Cape Verde, on Monday in Equatorial Guinea, on Tuesday in Kenya and Tanzania, today and tomorrow he is in Zambia and then he finishes with several days in South Africa Read More

Brazil leader offers $240m debt waiver
Visiting Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva yesterday offered to write off a more than $240 million (about Sh336 billion) debt Tanzania owes his country. Speaking in Dar es Salaam, the Brazilian leader said his country was ready to discuss the modalities of relieving Tanzania of the burden Read More

Kenya, Brazil trade pact to boost economic ties
Brazil, the world's eighth largest economy has signed six bilateral agreement with Kenya to boost trade, investments and economic ties between the two countries.President Kibaki and his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva witnessed the signing of the agreement that seeks to explore investment opportunities in agriculture, manufacturing, energy, ICT, exploration of natural resources and housing.The agreements also included a pact on cooperation in energy, education and performance of remunerated services activities by dependants of diplomatic, consular, military, administrative and technical staff Read More

Brazil's Lula pays tribute to Africa's historic
Lula has made Africa a priority in his foreign policy. Brazil is committed to help Africa build a future of stability and development, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has said. On his last African tour as president, he said Brazil could never repay its historic debt to the continent. His successor would have a moral duty to increase trade and investment, he told West African leaders in Cape Verde. Read More

In other Emerging News....
The Russians are coming to Africa
The Russians, who for the last two decades had forgotten that the world has a continent called Africa, are now waking up to join the vibrant club of opportunity grabbers on the continent led by the Chinese. The neglect of Africa by post-Soviet Russia was an inherent result of a strategic policy designed to extend Moscow’s sphere of influence in Africa during the Cold War. That policy took advantage of the freedom struggles in Africa to bring weapons and economic aid but without building a solid foundation for long-term cooperation Read More

‘Nothing new’ in Nedbank takeover talk
JUST when Nedbank thought it had heard the last of unwanted suitors keen to prise it away from majority shareholder Old Mutual , it was forced yesterday to respond to reports that yet another was making a bid for it. Sky News yesterday reported that HSBC — Europe’s largest bank — was evaluating a bid for Nedbank, the smallest of SA’s big four banks by market capitalisation. The latest speculation came after a recent report that Standard Chartered Bank , which derives up to 90% of its annual profit from emerging markets, was also keen to buy Nedbank as part of plans to expand in Africa, where it operates in several countries. Read More

On top of the world: Why Brazil is booming
Not everything in Brazil is beautiful. Not the slums, or favelas, which ring cities like this one or Rio de Janeiro, or last Saturday's national glee when Argentina – neighbour and perennial rival – crashed out of the World Cup one day after the Brazilian squad's humiliating Dutch demise. ("Que desgraca!" squealed an old man when the stricken face of Diego Maradona filled the TVs in a bar on Sao Paulo's Teodoro Street.)Yet you cannot spend a day in Brazil without sensing the economic miracles happening here – first quarter growth touched 9 per cent and the helicopter pads atop the skyscrapers of Sao Paulo are buzzing with air traffic again – or hearing of the achievements of its President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, recently named the world's most influential leader by Time Magazine, in raising the country's profile on the world stage and lifting much of the population out of poverty. The somewhat lefty party-goers were not actually thinking of Lula and Brazil as they sang about daddy and his baby, but they could have been. Read More

Davies uses World Cup to lure Chinese investors
As President Jacob Zuma urged fund managers this week not only to invest in South Africa but look to an integrating southern African region and a continent that plans a free trade area from Cape to Cairo, his Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies was in Shanghai wooing Chinese investment in South Africa. Davies, who has become a bit of a hawk compared to his predecessors favouring protectionist measures, particularly on Chinese textile imports, urged Chinese companies to invest in South Africa's mining beneficiation, capital equipment and metals sectors. Davies delivered the keynote address at the China-South Africa business seminar that took place at the Portman Carlton Hotel Read More

Free-trade agreement with China not on cards
SA WILL not pursue a conventional free-trade agreement with China as this is not in the interests of the country, Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies says. If it were to make a conventional free-trade agreement with China, SA would not be able to compete with that nation’s economies of scale. In an interview with Business Day from China yesterday, Mr Davies said SA was not at a developmental stage to initiate discussions on a free- trade deal with one of the fastest- growing economies in the world Read More

Blogs, Opinion, Papers
The BRIC bloc
In his 2003 study Dreaming with BRICs: The Path to 2050, the Goldman Sachs economist Jim O'Neill estimated that within four more decades the economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China would equal in size those of the G6 (US, Germany, Japan, UK, France and Italy). That shift seems well underway: In 2000 the BRIC countries accounted for a sixth of the world economy; they now account for a quarter (in equivalent buying power). While the US, Europe and Japan are in the doldrums, the BRICs go on growing. A third of world growth in the last decade has taken place in these countries. So far, so good for the BRICs, but where next? Obviously these trends are extrapolations, based on scenarios which may or may not come true, and forecasting exercises also contain arbitrary elements that ring less true when fully under the microscope. Russia, for instance, is not an emerging power, but a power in decline. In fact her problems bear comparisons with other European powers: she had an empire but lost it; her demography is in sharp regression; her neighbours are culturally distinct, and distrust her; and her economy is uncompetitive (though with plenty of raw materials) Read More

China’s Outward Direct Investment in Africa
This paper examines the empirical determinants of China’s Outward Direct Investment (ODI) in Africa. Using two data sets, a unique China’s approved ODI and a new ODI data set in OECD-IMF standard, we identify some conventional determinants and discover some interesting results of China’s ODI activities in Africa. China’s ODI seeks the African market, invests more when the local currency is relatively cheap, and prefers to go to countries with better economic conditions. In contrast to conventional wisdom, more corruption seems to draw increased ODI from China. China’s ODI targets African energy by implementing two discrete, yet ordered steps: First, it assesses and selects which country to invest in – at this stage, energy outputs in a country does not affect the probability of receiving China’s ODI. In the second step, China decides the volume of its ODI in the selected countries – it invests more in selected oil producing African countries with more energy outputs. Apparently, China’s “going global” policy has implications for its ODI activity in oil producing African countries Paper Available Here.

Towards a Broader View of the Politics of Global Land Grabbing
The spectre of a global land grab by foreign transnationals has captured media attention, but perhaps the bigger danger lies in the response by institutions like the World Bank. Their blindness to the international agro-industrial pressures on rural communities as well as the complex political social dynamics in rural areas are likely to entrench dispossession rather than prevent it. Paper Available Here and Here

Export Dependence and Sustainability of Growth in China and the East Asian Production Network
The South Centre has published a research paper by its Special Economic Advisor and Chief Economist Yilmaz Akyuz, addressing export dependence and their contribution to growth in China and its supplier developing economies in East Asia, in the context of re-examining their growth strategies in light of the global economic crisis and medium term global growth prospects.The paper shows empirical evidence which suggests that in recent years the average import content of Chinese exports has been between 40 and 50 per cent. In spite of this, about one-third of growth of income in China is estimated to have been due to exports because of their rapid growth reaching 25 per cent per annum. This figure goes up to 50 per cent if spillovers to domestic consumption and investment are accounted for. The sharp contraction of exports in 2009 resulted in a swing of almost 6 percentage points from 2002-07 in their contribution to growth and this could only be partly offset by a massive intervention package Read More

Africa increases trade with China, others
A major impediment to economic development in Africa and other former colonial territories in the world has been the legacy of imperialism and its stronghold on the productive forces within these states. The phenomenon of neocolonialism has hampered so-called Third World countries from exercising their independence irrespective of the political and class character of the leadership within the developing nations Read More

China-Africa Cooperation Pushing Africa's Economic Development
Against the backdrop of China-Africa friendly cooperation, China's assistance to African countries totaled RMB 76 billion by September 2009, and issued RMB 46 billion of loans by 2008. China has assisted African countries to complete over 900 projects including textile factories, hydro power plants, stadiums, hospitals and schools, half of which being related to local people's wellbeing. When Western countries focus on "capacity building" and other "software projects", China pays more attention to investing in "hardware projects" such as roads, bridges, and other infrastructure, which deliver tangible benefits to the locals. The Export-Import Bank of China (China Eximbank), founded in 1994, plays an important role in offering loan support to these infrastructure projects Read More

Podcasts and Videos
Africa/ China: Sino-African Soccer and Other Relations
Unlike most reports that focus on the merchant class and blue-collar jobs, this report focuses more on the student class and white-collar workers and their movement and negotiations through a more middle class China Watch Here

Africa/China: Two Way Immigration and Stereotypes
AlJazeera's cameras return to "Chocolate City" to report China, with the influx of new African immigrants, has set the wheels rolling on a new immigration law Watch Here

Africa/ China: The Chinese Expansionist Defense
AlJazeera also looks at what China has to say for herself concerning CIF's $7 billion deal to invest in Guinea's bauxite mines, in the shadow of a junta that opened fire on demonstrators late last month, killing up to 157, and raped women in public. China's defense? "All the Western companies are still here doing business; why is no one asking them to leave?" Watch Here

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS

* Sanusha Naidu is research director of Fahamu’s Emerging powers in Africa programme.
* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at Pambazuka News.