Emerging powers news roundup

NEW CURRENCY
Robert Fisk caused a storm by his claim in the Independent that;
‘In a graphic illustration of the new world order, Arab states have launched secret moves with China, Russia and France to stop using the US currency for oil trading...Gulf Arabs are planning - along with China, Russia, Japan and France - to end dollar dealings for oil, moving instead to a basket of currencies including the Japanese yen and Chinese yuan, the euro, gold and a new, unified currency planned for nations in the Gulf Co-operation Council, including Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Qatar’.

He claimed to have reliable information that ‘Secret meetings have already been held by finance ministers and central bank governors in Russia, China, Japan and Brazil to work on the scheme, which will mean that oil will no longer be priced in dollars’.More.

Fisk explained his story at greater length in an interview on al Jazeera TV.

As he predicted, his report was officially denied.

But as if to underline the growing global power-shift, China and Japan were reported to be planning an EU-style Asian grouping.

CHINA AND GLOBAL RECOVERY
A new report from the IMF suggests that emerging and developing countries are leading the recovery from the global financial crisis. According to the recent International Monetary Fund World Economic Outlook, these countries will grow 1.5 per cent in 2009 and 4.7 per cent in 2010.
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Based on the IMF estimates, China's growth for 2009 will be 7.5 per cent and 8.5 per cent in 2010. The numbers for India are 5.4 per cent for 2009 and 6.5 per cent for 2010.More

The trend is also being recognised by the private sector. The global private equity firm Actis announced that it has raised $750 million for investment in infrastructure across emerging markets, including India. "Actis' presence on the ground across Africa, China, India, Latin America and South East Asia gives the fund an unrivalled presence in its targets markets," it added. More

China’s progress over the last 60 years is summed up in telling graphics in Fast Company Magazine

Is China, 30 years after its opening to the West, becoming a consumer society? What policies might drive that transformation, and what are the consequences for other nations? More

Meanwhile, just 10 years after establishing diplomatic and trade relations, China has overtaken the US, Japan, Germany and the UK to become South Africa's biggest trading partner, according to the latest figures from the SA Department of Trade and Industry. More.

AFRICA AND THE WORLD ECONOMY
Africa's poorest nations are demanding representation
within the Group of 20 (G20) developed and emerging economies, which
was turned into the world's main economic policy forum last week.
More

This year African Union heads of state adopted a plan of action for Africa's industrialisation. It was another attempt to shift the continent away from a dependency on primary commodity exports and towards local manufacturing and beneficiation.
More

CHINA AND THE USA
US opinion is having to come to terms with the implications of Chia’s economic rise - including Chinese firms in takeovers which save US jobs. More

The Obama administration's relations with Beijing have been better than feared. But the first cracks are emerging.

One possible point of friction is the renewed pressure from U.S. labor and manufacturing groups urging President Obama to formally label China a currency manipulator in a Treasury Department report due out next week. But policy watchers doubt the President will agree. More

Obama’s decision to delay a meeting with the Dalai Lama was seen as a straw in the wind.More

CHINA AND INDIA
Low-level friction between China and India continued to rumble over Chinese claims to the Indian region of Arunachal Pradesh. More

There was a similar stand-off over China’s latest move to issue “separate” visas to Indian passport holders from Jammu and Kashmir, More

ENVIRONMENT
Tension rose at climate change talks as China accused the developed nations of ‘trying to change the rules of the game’
More

The vexed issue of the role of developing countries in cutting emissions even led China to a rare public clash with the US and Europe as key talks continued in Bangkok. More

But all was not gloom, as a new study claimed that wind power could provide all of China's electricity, if the country raises its subsidy and improves its grid.
More

There was also good news for Africa as a World Bank official claimed that using Africa's vast agricultural resources to help tackle climate change could earn the continent $1.5 billion a year. Africa could tap its underexploited renewable resources, particularly hydropower, to meet increasing energy demand and boost both growth and development. More

INVESTMENTS AND BUSINESS
A southern African bank will provide a $60-million loan to Zambia, and China will give a further $420-million loan to fund a power project meant to plug a power deficit, according to the state-run power utility Zesco. More

Botswana may soon become a strategic hub for telecommunication and scientific technology development for southern Africa - if the country’s efforts to woo Chinese companies to set up telecommunications business there succeed.
More

The Nigerian government is planning to sell large stakes of its oil slabs, especially the ones currently unused by western energy firms, and China is ready to buy. But will the Chinese oil firm operate differently?
More

Dow Jones is reporting that China's top offshore oil producer, CNOOC Ltd., is in talks with Ugandan officials to invest between 5 and 6 billion dollars into Uganda's nascent oil sector. The investment could cover the refinery, the oil pipeline through Kenya and other infrastructure needs.
More

South Africa’s International Relations and Cooperation Minister Maite Nkoana Mashabane will later today jet off to Brazil for a state visit. The minister, who is travelling to the country ahead of the arrival of President Jacob Zuma on Thursday and Friday, is hoping to strengthen existing ties. More

South Africa’s decision to block a $23 billion merger between MTN Group Ltd. and India’s Bharti Airtel Ltd. may indicate President Jacob Zuma favors more state involvement in the economy to protect jobs and local industries.
Bharti and MTN abandoned talks after the deadline for an agreement expired on Sept. 30. Bharti said the structure of the deal failed to get approval from the South African government.
More

LAND GRABBING
South Korea will develop large-scale farmland and a food processing complex in Tanzania that could help local companies make inroads into African and European markets, a state-run rural development corporation said Thursday. More

The Chinese government intends to implement in Angola, as from next year, new farming projects in order to reduce the country’s dependency and decrease food import costs, ANGOP has learnt.
More

South Africa’s largest farmers’ union expects to conclude a multimillion hectare farmland deal with the Republic of Congo and agree a smaller land lease with Libya next month, its deputy president said. More

‘China’s growing appetite for African resources over the last decade is well documented. Indeed, China’s massive industrial machine relies on oil from Angola, Sudan, and Nigeria, and minerals from South Africa, Zambia, and Liberia. While China maintains that its trade relationship with Africa is benign, some commentators see China’s investment as a resource grab’argues US analyst Carl Rubinstein. More

South Africa’s minister for trade and industry Rob Davies feels that it is important to conclude the Doha negotiations of WTO as a development round even if it takes some more time. ‘I think here we have the legitimate demand of the poor farmers in the developing world against commercial ambition from commercial agriculture. For us, the balance has to be tilted in favour of the needs and interest of poor farmers’. More

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS
* Stephen Marks is research associate and project coordinator with Fahamu's China in Africa Project.
* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at Pambazuka News.