Emerging Powers in Africa News Round-up

General News

Will Japan follow in India and China’s footsteps?
Nippon Telegraph and Telephone has announced its decision to buy South Africa’s Dimension Data for $3.24bn. The deal is good news for both parties. Japan will gain greater access to Southern African economies, many of which are benefiting hugely from telecoms liberalisation Read More

World Bank votes $180m for research in Africa
The World Bank has earmarked $180 million for research in technology development in Africa universities. The fund is to be administered through the Africa Technology Policy Study (ATPS) Read More

Siemens to invest €200m to expand African business
SIEMENS is to spend €200m in Africa in the next two years and plans to double to 10% its share of the market in the regions it serves, estimated to be worth almost €30bn a year by 2012. The president and CEO of Siemens, Peter Loscher, said that the investment would focus mainly on expanding its business and sales structures in Africa, where the group was eyeing business in health, renewable energy and infrastructure development Read More

British Duped Ghana Millions Of Dollars In Bauxite Sale To Chinese
Months of investigation has revealed traces of negligence and conflict of interest on the part of officialdom resulting in Ghana losing millions of US dollars over the sale of the Ghana Bauxite Company Limited (GBCL) to Bosai Minerals Group; a Chinese company. Preliminary findings by The Herald put the country’s loss close to $20 million from the sale of 80 per cent shares of TBAC ; majority shareholders -previously British Aluminum Company - to the Chinese group Read More

Green norms for overseas investment soon
The Chinese government will soon come out with environmental protection guidelines for domestic companies planning overseas investments, ministry officials said last week. According to experts, the guidelines will enhance the nation's "soft power" in the global arena and foster more investment deals. Domestic companies that have overseas operations will have to take adequate steps to protect the environment and shoulder more corporate social responsibility (CSR), they said. The new rules will help improve the quality of overseas investments and are called Chinese Overseas Direct Investment Environment Protection Guidelines, said Yang Zhaofei, director-general of the Department of Policies, Laws and Regulations under the Ministry of Environmental Protection. The commerce and environment protection ministries and the China Banking Regulatory Commission are also involved in drafting the guidelines Read More

The world's biggest mine rush
London-listed African Minerals has announced further significant Chinese investment in its Tonkolili, Sierra Leone, iron ore project, now by Shandong Iron & Steel, which plans to put USD 1.5bn into mine and infrastructure development. This will gain the State-owned Chinese steelmaker a 25% equity stake in Tonkolili, and an offtake of 10m tons a year of seaborne iron ore, at discounted rates. The latest deal in West African iron ore, which has captured billions of dollars of mining investment in the past few months, once again illustrates China's long term commitment to financing resources in specified minerals and commodities. At the same time, the deals show that not even the world's biggest mining companies have sufficient individual resources to cover all the risks in these investments. Even the capital required for a new world class iron ore mine seems to be beyond the biggest individual miners Read More

China in Africa
CCB Signs credit facility with Sasol
China Construction Bank, through its Johannesburg branch, signed a 3 year Multicurrency Standby Credit Facility with Sasol (JSE:SOL) at the beginning of June 2010. The facility is in line with CCB's strategy of building a bridge between Sub-Saharan Africa and China Read More

China and Africa envision new security cooperation
Public security conditions in Africa have been stable in recent years. Peace and development have become the mainstream in some African countries. However, abnormal shifts of political power and regional unrest remain in places such as Somalia, Darfur, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Moreover, Africa faces increasing pressure from untraditional security problems such as food safety, terrorism, climate change, proliferation of small arms, and refugees and the spread of disease. African countries need help from the international community to establish and maintain lasting peace and safety. China has always put a lot of emphasis on Africa's security issues and supported African countries and organizations to solve conflicts independently Read More

Chinese bank to support Malawi with $2bn
Malawi may soon find itself a beneficiary to $2 billion to finance agriculture, mining, manufacturing, energy and other projects. The China Import and Export Bank said during its 10-man strong visit to the country. The delegation said that their visit was to explore ‘business ventures and establish lines of communication. Malawi has already benefitted a US$25 million integrated cotton production and processing company in Balaka’ through China Export and Import Bank Read More

African Minerals in $1.5 billion deal with Shandong
African Minerals Ltd has sealed a second investment deal with a Chinese group for its flagship iron ore project in Sierra Leone, selling a 25 percent stake to Shandong Iron & Steel for $1.5 billion. In January, the London-listed company inked a 153 million pounds deal with the China Railway Materials Commercial Corporation -- one of the country's largest steel trading companies -- to help fund the first stage of the Tonkolili project. News of the latest deal, which involves a three-stage investment and an agreement for Shandong to buy 10 million tonnes of iron ore per year at discounted prices Read More

China in Africa - SABMiller
How does one eat an elephant? One bite at a time, goes the popular answer. In a country of 9,6mkm² , 33 provinces and 1,33bn people, SABMiller’s strategy in China is remarkably similar. The group’s trail into Asia began in 1994 when it acquired joint control of the second-largest brewery in mainland China with China Resources, a privatisation arm of the government. The joint venture, CR Snow, had a head start on its competitors as it was only in 2007 that aggressive consolidation began Read More

The Next Empire
All across Africa, new tracks are being laid, highways built,ports deepened, commercial contracts signed—all on an unprecedented scale, and led by China, whose appetite for commodities seems insatiable. Do China’s grand designs promise the transformation,at last, of a star-crossed continent? Or merely its exploitation? Howard French travels deep into the heart of Africa, searching for answers Read More

China's Sinopec reports oil discovery in Nigeria
State-owned Chinese oil producer Sinopec said its Addax subsidiary has struck oil offshore Nigeria after the unit was acquired last year to expand the company's African presence Read More

Zimbabwe President Mugabe invites Chinese businesses to invest in infrastructure
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe urged Chinese businesses to invest in developing infrastructure in the various productive sectors of the economy for the country to develop rapidly and turn its fortunes around. Mugabe made the call when he met with visiting Chinese delegation that is in the country for the 8th session of the Zimbabwe-China Joint Commission. Mugabe said Zimbabwe needs investment in agricultural infrastructure in different sub sectors, namely tobacco, cotton, maize, livestock and horticulture. He said the infrastructure would enable the sectors to expand and meet the domestic and export requirements. The country also needs to revamp the irrigation systems and this required capital Read More

Chinese Co Sues State Insurance Co
China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) Addis Engineering Plc dragged Ethiopian Insurance Corporation (EIC) to court, claiming insurance coverage worth over two million Birr for damages caused to its construction site on a road project in the Afar Regional State two years ago. CRBC Addis is currently undertaking the Serdo-Afdera-Afrarhaik Road Upgrading Project worth 624.5 million Br for which it bought an insurance policy from EIC Read More

Congo says talking to China on land for palm oil
Democratic Republic of Congo is studying a proposal to provide land to China to grow large amounts of palm for oil production in the vast central African country, a government minister told Reuters Read More

India in Africa
Asian giants look to Africa
The announcement by Bharti Airtel of its US$10.7 billion (Dh39.29bn) acquisition of the Kuwaiti company Zain’s African operations was the biggest such deal by an Indian telecommunications company. Providing access to Zain’s 42 million subscribers spanning 15 nations, this expansion announced last month made Bharti Airtel, India’s biggest telecoms operator, the fifth-largest mobile carrier in the world.The much-celebrated deal is also indicative of India’s strident foray into Africa, once dubbed the hopeless continent but now rapidly emerging as a lucrative investment destination for Indian businesses Read More

Neha Chowdhry: Heeding the call of the African continent
With India's markets in the West faltering as a result of the global financial crisis, Indian firms stand to gain by stepping up investments in Africa. Indian investments in Africa need to be honest, to make a business of it,” said Vinod Dhall, director of corporate planning for the Mac Group, which invests in the East African and Tanzanian markets. Dhall has been in Africa for 12 years and has noticed a “changing ethos” in the manner that business is done in Africa Read More

We are poorer than we thought
A new measure of poverty has shown that just eight Indian states have more poor people than 26 of the poorest African nations together. So much for our grand economic success story. Being worse off than Sub-Saharan Africa is serious Read More

SAITEX encourages India-Africa trade
African and Indian companies will meet this year at the Southern African International Trade Exhibition (SAITEX) to further cement trade relations between the two emerging economic powers. SAITEX, the largest international trade show in Africa, takes place at Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand, near Johannesburg from 25 to 27 July 2010. India is South Africa’s sixth-largest Asian trading partner, with total trade between the two countries reaching $4.4-billion in 2008. Indian companies have returned en masse for this year’s SAITEX, and will be exhibiting on the Indian Pavilion to showcase new products and services Read More

In other Emerging News

Turkish Airlines moving into Africa: will the country emulate China?
Turkish Airlines (THY) is being encouraged to launch services between Istanbul and Lusaka, the capital of Zambia. It is not the first time that the airline has been linked to new African services but on this occasion comes the admission there is a wider agenda involving trade and specifically mining and energy. Could Turkey be about to emulate China, which has been flooding the African continent with executive manpower - especially where there are sparse resources to be mined - using essential air transport as bait? Read More

SA and Brazil pledge to boost trade
South Africa and Brazil pledged to deepen trade and commercial ties in another sign of emerging countries gradually shifting their economic dependence away from rich nations. At the end of a six-country tour of Africa – his 12th trip to the continent – Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva told South African counterpart Jacob Zuma that developing economies had to tear down barriers to trade. Since coming to office in 2003, the former metal worker has worked hard to boost trade between Brazil and Africa to $26-billion, a more than five-fold increase Read More

Lula visit deepens shift in Kenya’s global trade
President Luiz Da Silva’s visit to Nairobi has added fresh impetus to the ongoing shift in Kenya’s choice of economic partners in favour of the world’s emerging powerhouses such as Brazil, China and India, economists said. Kenya is expected to use its growing ties with Brazil to seek affordable technology and loans to build the infrastructure it needs to push economic growth to the double digit levels target required to realise the Vision 2030 development goal Read More

SAfrica farmers get land offers in Africa
A South African farmers group said on Friday it had received fresh offers from African states, including Sudan and Mozambique, to invest in agriculture to grow export crops and some of the deals will be concluded soon. Agri SA deputy president Theo de Jager also said the farmer's group would within the next two months visit China to conclude an agreement over joint investment ventures with Chinese public firms in agriculture on the African continent Read More

Standard Bank plans further expansion in Africa
STANDARD Bank was looking to consolidate its grip in Africa by further expanding on the continent where it already ranks as the largest bank by assets, group CEO Jacko Maree said. The group, whose balance sheet is being supported by a formidable shareholder in the form of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), also wanted to widen its product range to take advantage of Africa’s growing trade with other emerging markets Read More

Iran, Israel take their tussle to Africa
Arch foes Iran and Israel have taken their diplomatic rivalry to Africa, courting the continent with everything from trade to security ties in their search for support in the United Nations. Both nations are sending politicians and business leaders across the continent to forge or revive contacts, clinching a string of deals ranging from arms and agriculture to promises of dams, oil and protection. Although not on the scale of the Cold War-era rivalries that saw Russia and the U.S. fight proxy wars in Africa, analysts say the continent is increasingly important to Iran and Israel and believe countries will take what is on offer from both sides Read More

Minister Nkoana-Mashabane’s Working Visit to the Russian Federation – 13-15 July 2010
South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO), Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane will arrive in Moscow (Russia) on a two-day working visit. In the two days that she will spend in the Russian Federation, the Minister will interact with her counterpart, Minister Sergey Lavrov and discuss a wide-range of issues that define South Africa-Russia bilateral relations. She will also hold bilateral discussions with the Minister of Natural Resources, Mr Yuri Trutnev, in their shared capacities as Co-Chairs of the Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade and Cooperation (ITEC). The visit will seek to secure some form of commitment from the Russians on how to further strengthen and broaden commercial relations; facilitate education and skills development partnerships; strengthen Russian partnership on the African Agenda; and last but not least strengthen partnership and cooperation on multilateral issues Read More

IDC to approach China, India to borrow R40bn
THE Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) was planning an aggressive borrowing initiative to raise R40bn to support a disbursement programme worth R100bn in five years, chief financial officer Gert Gouws said. This was in light of the IDC’s central role in developing SA’s industrial sectors and its commitment to the government’s “new growth path” policy focus ing on employment creation and development of industry. The corporation would “significantly” seek additional funding through debt finance from local and international sources, including lenders from China and India Read More

Naspers buys 28,7% of Russia’s Internet firm
South African media group Naspers will buy more than a quarter of one of Russia’s top Internet firm Digital Sky Technologies in cash and shares as it bulks up its fast-growing Internet unit Read More

World Cup handover puts spotlight on Africa-Brazil ties
When South Africa hands over the task of organising the next World Cup to Brazil, it will be the first time the tournament passes from one emerging nation to another. It will also be a high point for Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who has made Brazil’s ties with the developing world, especially Africa, a priority of his administration Read More

Blogs, Opinions and Publications
The Challenges of Change: Improving Resource Governance in Africa
When diamonds were discovered in the remote Chiadzwa area of the Marange district, Zimbabwe in 2006, many in the local community considered this as a blessing that would lessen their hardships in tough economic times. Indeed, it is estimated that diamonds from the Chiadzwa fields could provide as much as US$1.2 billion per month in state revenue. However, instead of funding the country’s reconstruction after years of economic collapse, the diamond rush made the people of Chiadzwa one of the latest victims of the so called “resource curse”. Against this background the HBS publication Persepctives examines the transparency issues in three case studies: Zimbabwe and the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme, the Nigerian Extractive Industries Initiative, and the Publish What You Pay Coalition in Tanzania Download here

It’s all down to Africa
Part of the Western world’s emotional response to China’s ‘rise’ has been a general alarm lest the Yellow Peril swarm across Africa in search of loot. It is as if there were a kind of Monroe Doctrine etched upon Western European and American hearts and minds: Africa is the proper sphere of influence of the white-majority Powers, ours alone to lecture, structurally adjust and bless with charity. No sooner does a Chinaman appear upon the savannah (actually, they’ve been around for decades, but few Westerners noticed them before) than we conclude that his ‘insatiable appetite for resources’ has brought him to strip-mine the continent, encouraging dictatorship, rampant corruption and exploitation along the way. Despite its unpromising title—how much longer must we endure Dragon, Tiger and Great Wall clichés? Read More

How China Exim Bank and China Development Bank Contribute to China-Africa Trade
Based on the activity of China’s financiers in Africa, 2010 may prove to be the most remarkable yet for China-Africa economic ties, and China Exim Bank and China Development Bank are setting the pace for another record breaking year in the story of “South-South” trade Read More

Argentina: China’s new Africa?
Being a commodity-hungry emerging power with plenty of cash can be a frustrating occupation sometimes. The goods are out there, the price is right, but getting hold of the stuff (be it oil, copper, wheat…) can be a drag. That’s why China has been building railways in Africa since the 1970s. Now it’s decided to do the same in Latin America. Cristina Fernández, the Argentine president, was hoping to secure a breakthrough on China’s ban on Argentine soya oil imports during her trip to Beijing this week. Instead she sealed a $10bn train deal, the latest step in intensifying trade ties between the two nations Read More

China and the new world order
Austin Thomas challenges the Sierra Leone President to look more closely at how China has developed itself and to draw lessons from it. He argues that If president Koroma really understands change, then let him start by changing the status quo in his government and look for a country that got independence at the same time with Sierra Leone like Singapore and establish diplomatic ties with them. Get them to teach us how they succeeded through the years even though they were like us under colonialism, they work the road of development with casting blame on colonialism. We blame colonialism because we failed Read More

Insight: China’s peaceful development and security diplomacy
In December 2005, China’s White Paper introduced the policy of the “Peaceful Development Road” to replace the previously enunciated policy of the “Peaceful Rise” policy in 2002. The change in nomenclature was deliberate, as Beijing’s leadership wanted to assure China’s neighbors and other Pacific powers that its fast-paced economic growth would not lead to a drastic change in the security environment. China’s stress on “harmonious relations” with its neighbors underlined the importance of concentrating on domestic social and political issues arising from inequities in its globalized economy Read More

Why, then, China did not imperialize/colonise the whole of Africa?
The contrast between Zheng He’s expeditions and Vasco da Gama, and their general behaviour towards the littoral populations, could not have been greater. Although the Ming expeditions were unorthodox in the amount of force they used in their dealings with the petty states around the Indian Ocean rim, they still largely abided by the then prevalent general principle that the big continental states of Asia had no business interfering in the free trade of the Indian Ocean Read More

Podcasts
Bric: The new world order
Brazil, Russia, India and China (Bric) are booming whilst many other countries are struggling economically, or even crashing. When their leaders recently convened in Brasilia for their second Bric summit, they all underlined their commitment to a more democratic global governance. Although Bric started life as just a clever acronym dreamt up by a Goldman Sachs economist, it might be time to start getting accustomed to hearing about Bric in its fullest political expression. Will the emerging powers change the way the world works, or merely grab a bigger share of it? And what future for Brazil on the world's summit? These are some of the questions Empire on Aljazeera attempts to answer and examines the forces already shaping a new world order Watch Here

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* 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.