Africans In China

By Chris Ochayi ABUJA — Nigeria and Chinese governments yesterday signed N107.4 million contracts agreement for the construction of four rural primaries schools in four states of the federation. The benefitting states are Katsina, Kaduna and Ogun states as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Minister of State for Education, Hajiya Aishatu Dukku, who signed on behalf of the Federal Government, explained that the project was Chinese government-assisted aimed to improve the education standard in the country. She said the project would also help to compliment the Federal Government’s initiative to accomplish the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the Education for All (EFA) goals by 2015. Thanking the Chinese government for what she described as “kind gesture” and immense contribution to the development of the educational sector in the country, the minister recalled that the Chinese government had consistently assisted Nigeria with many projects in the education sector since in the seventies. According to her, “this particular assistance is unique and significant because it arises from the forum of China-African Cooperation (FOCAC) where the Chinese President, Mr. Hu Jintao, magnanimously approved the construction of hundred rural primary schools in different African countries with four being allocated to Nigeria, the highest a single country received in Africa.” Signing for Chinese government, Mr. Wang Lei, the Charge d’Affaires, Chinese Embassy, Abuja explained that though China is still a developing country, and could provide assistance only within its capacity, but China’s assistance is sincere and unselfish. Mr. Lei explained further that China never attaches any political conditions or demands any political privileges in providing aid to other developing countries. Explaining the rationale behind the gesture, he said: “Education is of crucial importance to the development of any nation, and we appreciate that education is included in the 7-Point Agenda of President Umaru Yar’Adua.”

(vanguardngr.com)

LUANDA,  (Reuters) - Angola plans to begin producing cars next month through a venture funded by a Chinese fund and based on technology from Japan’s Nissan Motor Co (7201.T: Quote, Profile,Research), the deputy general manager of the China International Fund said.

CSG Automovel-Angola will be the country’s first car plant. The $30 million investment will produce pick-ups, SUVs, compact cars and buses at a factory on the outskirts of Luanda, Kelvin Kwan told journalists on Wednesday.

Initial annual capacity will be 10,000 vehicles but output is expected to rise to 30 000 in three years.

“We have done our market research and expect the plant to be producing (cars) at full capacity by 2012,” said Kwan, adding that the vehicles will be powered by Nissan engines.

Rebuilding after a devastating 27-year civil war that ended in 2002, Angola is keen to beef up its industrial sector as part of an effort to create jobs for its 16,5 million people and diversify oil-and-diamond dependent economy.

The southwestern African nation rivals Nigeria as Africa’s largest oil producer and is one of the world’s top diamond exporters.

Most of the estimated 1.1 million cars used in Angola are imported by sea from Asia and the United States; or by land via Angola’s southern border with Namibia.

The car factory at Viana, about 30 kilometres east of Luanda, is a sign of energy-hungry China’s growing presence and influence in Africa.

China’s trade with Africa has shot up 10-fold since 2000, soaring 45 percent to nearly $107 billion last year alone.

China has also granted over $5 billion in oil-backed loans to Angola since the end of the civil war to help rebuild roads, bridges and ailing communications.

(Reporting by Henrique Almeida; editing by Simon Jessop)

By Lesley Wroughton

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund could further revise up its growth forecast for Africa next year to reflect a pick-up in demand in China and some industrialized countries where there are signs of recovery.

In an interview with Reuters, Antoinette Sayeh, Director for the IMF’s African Department, said the end of the global recession was still a way off and African economies are feeling the dramatic decline in demand, investment and commodity prices.

“On the one hand the external environment appears to be getting better and there are expectations that growth in China may be more robust, so we’re looking at our projections in light of what appears to be some improvement,” Sayeh said, adding, “But it is a long way from the end of the recession.”

Sayeh said the IMF had just revised up its 2010 growth forecast for Africa to 4 percent, from an April forecast of 3.8 percent, and could adjust it higher by October, when it will update its forecasts for the world economy.

“It takes significant amount of time to return to growth potential after these crises, which worries us also,” Sayeh said. “It may take Africa some time to get back to the 6 percent growth we were seeing before,” she added.

Demand for IMF funding from African countries had increased sharply, she said, and the rash of new loans showed how hard the region is being hit but also reflected more flexible lending practices by the IMF.

Currently, there are 28 African countries with active IMF programs, compared to just six in 2006. In the first six months of this year, lending increased to $3 billion — more than the last three years combined.

The IMF said on Wednesday lending to the region could hit up to $8 billion over the next two years.

In South Africa — the region’s largest economy — she said there was some evidence that private capital inflows are beginning to improve.

“This is all healthy, but it still doesn’t make up for the outflows previously, and even countries like South Africa continue to be very much impacted by reduced demand for its exports,” she added.

Sayeh said the IMF was concerned that a prolonged downturn in Africa’s growth could force countries to increase borrowing and push up their debt levels, just as many have benefited from debt cancellation.

But she said there were no signs yet that countries were building up their debt to unsustainable levels.

NEW LENDING PRACTICES

The IMF on Wednesday said it would mobilize up to $17 billion in new resources for lending to low-income countries, most of them in Africa, seen most at risk from the global crisis.

In addition to an increase in funding, the IMF also temporarily suspended interest rate payments on outstanding credit for 60 poor countries over the next two and a half years until the start of 2011.

It also unveiled three new lending facilities for poor countries, including a short-term precautionary credit instruments for countries that may not want to immediately tap the money.

Just a few months ago, the IMF announced a similar precautionary lending program for emerging market countries, but has not had one for its poorest borrowers until now.

The IMF will also offer emergency financing for countries hit by external shocks outside their control, such as the record increase in global food prices.

But Sayeh said the IMF’s Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) for countries facing protracted balance of payments problems will likely remain the “workhorse” of its engagement in Africa.

She added the IMF expects most African countries will use an allocation of $18 billion in IMF special drawing rights, expected in August, to rebuild their reserves instead of exchanging it for hard currency.

The allocation is part of a $250 billion boost to global liquidity agreed by the Group of 20 member countries in April, of which $18 billion will go to poor countries.

SDRs were created by the IMF in the 1969 as an international reserve asset, and can be exchanged between countries and converted into hard currency such as the dollar, yen, pound or euro.

“We all want a United Africa, united not only in our concept of what unity connotes, but united in our common desire to move forward together in dealing with all the problems that can best be solved only on a continental basis.” Dr. Kwame Nkrumah

Anytime the name Africa is mentioned anywhere in the world, what comes to people’s attention is poverty. Meanwhile, it is the richest continent in terms of resources. It is made up of 53 countries with a population of over 900 million. Africa is a continent with diverse ethnic groups with many languages. Colonialism begun to show its ugly head with the coming of the Europeans and when the continent was finally partitioned in far away Berlin, Germany in 1844 among countries such as Britain, France, Italy, Germany among others. As to whether colonialism has positive impact on Africa over the negative impact will continue to be a subject of debate among intellectuals for many years.

However, the second half of the 20th century marked nationalists’ movement in many African countries. Leaders like Kwame Nkrumah, Jomo Kenyatta, Obafemi Awolowo, Dr. Hastings Banda, inter alia who were all Pan-Africanists fought hard for the attainment of independence in their respective countries. During the declaration of the Independence of Ghana on 6th March, 1957, Kwame Nkrumah declared that, “the independence of Ghana is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of the African continent”. As a result, he supported many countries in Africa against colonialism and oppression with freedom fighters and financial support. Guinea was no exception.

During the conference of African Heads of State and Government in Addis Ababa on 24th May, 1963 which led to the birth of Organization of African Unity, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah said that; “Our objective is African Union now. There is no time to waste. We must unite now or perish…. In the task which is before us of unifying our continent we must fall in with the pace or be left behind. The task cannot be attacked in the tempo of any other age than our own. To tall behind the unprecedented momentum of actions and events in our time will be to court failure and our own undoing”. The organization of African Unity (O.A.U) was renamed African Union (A.U) in 2002. What should be made clear is that, a decorated monkey they say is still a monkey. To me, the unification of Africa was dead even at birth because our leaders were divided among themselves with some wanting a gradual approach and others a radical approach. The Casablanca Group who wanted a continental unity now were led by countries such as Ghana, Egypt, Algeria, Guinea, Mali and Morocco. On the other hand, the Monrovia Group was a gradualist group and included Liberia, Togo, Tunisia, Nigeria among others.

“The Libyan Leader, Col. Maummar Qaddafi, who assumed the chairmanship of the African Union pledges to work towards reforming the Union. Qaddafi is the most serious African leader after Ghana’s first President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah who is seeking a genuine continental unity now. But how do we know that this is not just another focus for misplace enthusiasm?” (GBC Commentary on A.U 46th Day Celebrations, 26th May, 2009). In my view some of the reasons that have prevented Africa from uniting as one continent are elucidated below.

Of the many languages in Africa, which one should be used as the official language? Do you think non-speaking Arabic countries will want Arabic to be the official language? Will others agree that French should be the official language, English, or Portuguese? These are questions we all need to answer when talking about the unification of the African continent. We all want unity and peace in Africa because Africa stands to gain if we unite.

In addition, African countries tend to have closer ties with their colonial masters than even their neighbours. In the words of the late Omar Bongo of Gabon, Africa without France is like a car without an engine. But France without Africa is like a car without fuel. No wonder that Nicolas Sarcozy, the French president and Jacques Chirac, the immediate former French president were at his funeral in Gabon.

The French speaking countries tend to do everything from politics to trade with France whereas the English speaking countries do same with Britain. How can we ever unite if this continues? How can we trade among ourselves when we impose tariffs and embargoes on our fellow African countries?

Furthermore, all will agree with me that Africa is suffering from leadership crises. Most of the leaders we have in Africa, both past and present are corrupt, selfish, greedy and lack visionary ideas. They do not think about the future of their people. I do not think I will be committing a fallacy of ignorantio elenchi if I say that no African leader would agree to surrender his sovereignty to another. Do you think Col. Qaddafi, Moi Kibaki, Robert Mugabe or Yahaya Jammeh would do that? African Unity in the right sense of the word is rather very superficial or to say the least, unreal. Now is the time for the present generation to take the bull by the horn.

Above all, the many wars and civil unrest across Africa from Somalia to Sudan and from Liberia through Sierra Leone to Cote d’Ivoire and also Congo will not make it possible for Africa to unite. How can we come together as one state when we are killing our fellow brothers and sisters? To unite, Africa must be freed of wars and conflicts. There should be Political freedom, freedom of the Press, freedom of movement and other principles of democracy and good governance.

African democracy is what is needed in each African state before we can start to talk about the unification of Africa. African democracy is one that includes African social and cultural values and not one that is borrowed from the West. “The reality of continental unity is that we do not want the historical and fatal resolution of unity to be hostage to the will of those meeting in a small hall in the so-called African summits which is attended scores of Presidents. Such historic fatal resolutions have to be the will of millions of Africans and not just a score of Presidents”.

In my view, if we are able to unite as a continent, our human as well as natural resources will be put to efficient use for the aspirations of the African people and Africa will not only trade better amongst themselves but will also have one voice and be respected across the globe politically, socially and economically. “No sporadic act or pious resolution can we resolve our present problems. Nothing will be of avail, except the United Africa. The social and economic development of Africa will come only within the political kingdom, not the other way round.”

“If we in Africa can achieve the example of a continent knit together in common policy and common purpose, we shall have made the finest possible contribution to that peace for which all men and women thirst together, and which will lift once and forever the deepening shadow of global destruction from mankind. Africa must Unite” Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.

Credid: Francis Xavier Tuokuu
National Service Person
University of Ghana
P.O. Box LG 59
Legon – Accra
(mactuokuu@yahoo.com).

(news.myjoyonline.com)

The market in Africa is not different from any other developing country. When Mahajan interviewed advertising agencies, Multinationals and local entrepreneurs across the African continent, these were his brief conclusions:

There are three major market segments in Africa:
a) Africa 1: Comprises between 5% -15% of the population
• These people could be from anywhere in the world
• They are Senior Government officials, experts, Businessmen, NGO workers, Bankers and employees of international firms
• Examples: 10% of the populations from North Africa are in Europe now.
• There are an estimated 100 million Africans living away from home.
• Kenya’s highest source of foreign reserves is remittances from abroad.

b) Africa 2: Comprises between 35% - 50% of an African Country’s population
• These people are neither poor nor rich
• They are average people living from month to month
• They have some savings
• Largely Civil Servants: Hard working teachers, nurses, officers and Africans in Hospitality sector
• Have very high aspirations
• They believe Africa is going somewhere and are upbeat
• Approximately 350 to 500 million people.
• These segment of the population is going to drive the economy and consumer markets in Africa

c) Africa 3: Comprises the remaining 35% - 60% of an African Country’s population
• This is the struggling population of Africa.
• This is the meat of Broadcasters who portray Africa as a desperado.
• Africa 3 work for Africa 2 and 1
• They aspire one day to be part of Africa 2
• This 35% is the same as the struggling population in China or India.
• Approximately 700m people in India and 750m people in China do not have access to a toilet
d) The emerging Africa: Allow me to portray another Africa. There is another Africa comprised of the business and visions of African economies. Most African countries like Kenya and Uganda have great potential for any serious business person. With the advent of liberalization of the economy and opportunities in the rapid privatization of state bodies, key properties and strategic opportunities are emerging on the African continent.

I can furnish any of my business networks with a copy of Kenya’s Vision 2030 for them to see the Business Opportunities that pop out. The laws under Public Procurement System virtually allow any business from any part of the world to participate in public tenders. I believe Governments across Africa spend the bulk of state resources through the Public Procurement System. There are nine ways to penetrate the African Market:
1. Via a Joint Venture
2. Via a Direct Foreign Investment
3. Via Licensing or License agreements
4. Via Exporting- Indirect or Direct
5. Via Contract Manufactures
6. Via Strategic Alliances & Connections
7. Via Management Service Contract
8. Via Franchising & Coalitions
9. Via an existing network
10. Other ways you know of…

e) In conclusion, what opportunities are there in Africa? “Are there consumers in Africa who have the resources to buy products like consumers in India and China do? The fact is that the GDP of Africa- that is, looking at the continent as if it were a sort of United States of Africa- is actually higher than India’s. If all the countries in Africa combined forces, they would be the 10th largest economy in the world, one notch above India, and ahead of the other big emerging economies, Brazil and Russia.”-Vijay Mahajan, In an Interview with Knowledge@Wharton.

Best Regards
David Nahinga,
Project Manager| Goshen & Kuna Vijana
Founder | Spinel Management Systems
Telephone|+254 720578632
MAIL ID |nahingax@yahoo.com | david.nahinga@gmail.com
Skype ID |david.nahinga
Website| http://www.linkedin.com/in/nahinga

(ecademy.com)

Termites Already Have a Hydrogen Economy

While companies and governments both are spending billions trying to build a future that runs on hydrogen, the tiny, stupid termite has been doing it for millions of years.

In fact, the reason termites like to chew on your house is that they have a whole intricate system working inside their guts that turns wood pulp into hydrogen, and hydrogen into energy.

They’re so efficient that the U.S. Department of Energy is studying them in hopes of just stealing their method; scaling it up so hydrogen could be produced commercially with the same process–hopefully from a gigantic, terrifying 80 foot-tall robot termite.

Yeah, there’s no way this will end poorly.

That’s actually not the only place termites put our energy industry to shame; they build massive, complex mounds up to 30 feet in height with a specific design to manage climate control, using the shape of the mounds and tunnels to drive hot air circulation to specific locations (such as to the rooms that house their fungal gardens).

That’s right: They have community gardens, which they ventilate with the equivalent of an HVAC system while the termite police chase all of the bums off the grass. And their entire nests are giant cooling towers, dispersing waste heat while the workers toil along inside.

When We Invented It:

We’re still decades away from an efficient system for producing cheap hydrogen. And while we do have a firm grasp on central air systems (securing the patent in 1851) we came up with it about 250 million years after termites initially unveiled the technology. Though we do have a firm grasp of killing termites with rolled up ads from Best Buy. So we win, really.

(cracked.com)

JOHANNESBURG, (Reuters) - South Africa’s No. 2 banking group FirstRand Ltd (FSRJ.J) has partnered with China Construction Bank (0939.HK) to help both companies win investment, corporate and project finance deals in Africa.

They said they would focus on providing joint advisory and structuring services to CCB’s Chinese clients looking to expand in Africa, African corporate clients and projects that may be of interest to CCB’s Chinese customers and FirstRand’s South African clients looking to do business in China.

FirstRand, struggling with rising defaults and a recession at home, is stepping up its expansion into Africa under newly appointed CEO-designate Sizwe Nxasana.

“CCB brings a formidable balance sheet to support RMB’s corporate finance, M&A and project finance teams,” Nxasana said in a statement.

He said the tie-up would allow FirstRand Bank and CCB to participate in large transactions and investment opportunities expected to emerge in Africa, where resource-hungry Chinese companies are investing heavily.

FirstRand is competing with Standard Bank (SBKJ.J), which is 20 percent owned by Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) (1398.HK) (601398.SS), and which has used the tie-up to pursue deals aggressively in the rest of Africa.

FirstRand shares gained 1.56 percent to 14.93 rand by 1131 GMT, slightly outpacing a firmer JSE Top-40 index of blue-chip stocks .JTOPI

As with every new kid on the block, China is being told by those who for long have had a vested interest in Africa, to play the game of politics after its rules. Good Governance, Human Rights, fiscal transparency, structural adjustment programs were some of the Western strategies added in the last decades to the handbook of development implemented on the African continent. And as many leaders in especially Sub Saharan Africa today point out the results of these often drastic economic plans, envisaged in the First World to overhaul Africa into a consumerist capitalist heaven, are still pending positive results on the scoreboards of improved African livelihoods.
China on the other hand, as Power and Mohan explain, came with a clear interest to Africa “based on bilateral ‘co-operation’ rather than a moralising political discourse of ‘catch up’ development”. It joined in “partnerships” for a hunger to develop itself with Africa’s resources untapped by Western nations and is much less interested in exporting an ideology to win over the hearts and minds of Africans. China refers to these “special relationship” with African states as a “win-win” situation for all. Even in problematic cases such as Angola and Sudan the Chinese politbüro remains true to its diplomatic pragmatism based on sovereignty and non-interference, which are – we ought not to forget – still the guiding principles of the United Nations. In both cases the foremost acceptance of sovereignty and non-interference are now increasingly put under scrutiny by the new language of the West, and the United States in particular, linking security to development and humanitarian action as well as calling for preventing conflict in a cloudy language of a responsibility to protect.  And of course, Taylor makes a valid point, in seeing a danger that China will “politely rip off Africa, just as the West did.” However, in respecting sovereignty and non-interference, China appeals to many states on the African continent still perceiving themselves as fragile Pawns in the international system of states. In this sense China increasingly establishes itself as a counterweight to the covert and nebulous neo-imperial and hegemonic strategy of the United States. At the same time China signals to African states to be a trustworthy player in the future interested in stability and long lasting partnerships. It is to earlier to judge Chinas long-term interest as a global player in Africa, at the moment I believe to detect a primary interest in building itself internally, while making sure that outsiders perceive it as “business partner” instead of a “preacher”. This is indeed a new approach to international development that surely is not in line with liberal ideals of human rights, democratization and consumerist capitalism. It is to be seen what will happen once business relations with, as Chinas critics proclaim “undemocratic” and “greedy”, African leaders go sour. The Chinese leadership might than follow another strategy that is based on a very different understanding of the term “crisis” which in Chinese also means “opportunity” – thus Taylor might be right and in the end the people of Africa are loosing out once more. Yet, if China wants to build genuine trust amongst Africans it will begin to involve itself more in development projects building on their efforts in Eastern Africa in the 1970’s were their development support up to this day is still highly regarded

(jl.luedert.com)

By Wendell Roelf

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - The International Finance Corporation expects closer future cooperation with China to provide funding in Africa’s growing oil and gas sector, a senior investment official said on Wednesday.

The world’s poorest continent is emerging as an important global source of oil and gas, attracting competing interest from Europe, Russia and Asia.

“We are hopeful that in a couple of years China will become a valuable partner for us because they have the risk appetite to take on the risks associated with Africa,” Kamal Dorabawila, the IFC’s top investment official for the oil and gas sector in Africa, told an oil conference in Cape Town.

China has displaced many western countries as the major investor in Africa, where it has pumped billions of dollars to secure access to Africa’s commodities which it needs for its industries.

However, China’s track record on environmental and social issues has seen the investment arm of the World Bank take a cautious approach to joint funding deals.

Speaking to Reuters, Dorabawila said that as global financial markets recovered from the downturn there was increased liquidity to fund oil and gas projects in Africa, although capital remained tight.

“There is definitely more likelihood for mergers and acquisitions given that in this environment small juniors who don’t have production systems…. are going to find it difficult to raise equity capital to meet expenditure,” Dorabawila said.

He said the IFC has seen more applications for loan assistance.

The IFC has a portfolio worth some $2 billion in the oil and gas sector globally, of which 20 percent was in sub-Saharan Africa or a little less than $400 million, said Dorabawila.

“We definitely would like to have that increase… Africa is a focus area,” he said.

The IFC provided $115 million to Tullow Oil and another $100 million to Kosmos Energy to help finance the $3.1 billion estimated cost of developing the Jubilee off-shore oil field in Ghana.

(Reuters)

LUSAKA (Reuters) - China’s largest nickel producer Jinchuan Group Ltd. will take over Zambia’s sole nickel mine Munali next month after the operations were suspended in March due to low nickel prices, the mines minister said on Wednesday.

“Jinchuan will become the majority shareholders with above 70 percent of the shares,” Maxwell Mwale told Reuters in an interview.

“Officials from Jinchuan will be coming to Zambia next week to finalise the take over arrangements and we are hoping that they will take possession of the mine by the end of August.”

Production at Munali was targeted at 10,000 tonnes of nickel per year.

Nickel prices on the London Metal Exchange had fallen more than 80 percent to below $10,000 a tonne by the time the mine suspended operations, from a record high of $51,800 in May 2007 as demand from stainless steel producers slumped due to the global downturn. Prices have since ticked up.

(af.reuters.com)

By: Michael Jones

Chinese and other non-South African owned wine distribution companies are responsible for the majority of our sales in China, yet none of them ever lift a finger to promote Brand South Africa as a source of leading wines, and for the most part try to make the most money off the cheapest wines - not exactly a sustainable approach for our country’s industry.

Very low-key

Official promotions of Brand South Africa wines are very low-key. While the Department of Trade and Industry (dti) and Wines of South Africa (WOSA) have limited themselves to exhibition participation, the South African Embassy for its part ensured that numerous wine tasting events were included in last year’s South Africa promotional campaign, which included media engagement activities resulting in media coverage of our wines in local publications.

South Africa Tourism has also included the wine route in the itinerary of visiting Chinese journalists to SA that has resulted in some local media coverage of our wines.

No matter from which angle you look at it, however, SA wines are promoted too irregularly in China, if at all, and for the most part China’s burgeoning middle class has little inkling that our country produces any wine, never mind being a source of excellent wines.

French wines sell themselves with little effort due to an enviable country brand positioning they hold in China. Australian wines, especially the Jacob’s Creek brand, is advertised so extensively that its posters could rival Coca-Cola billboards in Africa. All this while this year we celebrate 350 years of SA producing wine, yet nothing is being done to generate awareness of this in China.

Most puzzling

What I find most puzzling is SA wine producers’ complacency in promoting their own wines in China. It is always easy to point fingers at government efforts but, to date, I have personally observed no consortiums or companies proactively targeting the Chinese market.

This is why it was so inspiring to meet Oscar Foulkes of Cloof Wines.

Cloof Wines had signed up with a large Chinese distribution company but was determined to promote its products above and beyond the local partner’s efforts. Being virgin territory, it agreed to roll out a Cloof promotional event on a shoestring budget to serve as pilot study. A SA restaurant, fittingly called Pinotage, was selected as the venue and seven Beijing food and beverage bloggers were invited to the event. On the night itself, the restaurant served traditional SA food and Oscar Foulkes kicked-off the event with the Cloof wine tasting session.

Being from such an ‘exotic’ country, the culturally curious Chinese media could barely contain their excitement and ask numerous questions. The most impressive aspect of the event was how the bloggers genuinely enjoyed themselves, as opposed to the usual run-of-the-mill media events, where journalists usually arrive late, grab a media kit and leave as soon as humanly possible (but understandably so, considering the numerous drab events their editors send them to). The Cloof event resulted in over 10 blog posts achieving an impressive 30 000 hits, an excellent return on investment.

Just as investment advisors will advise against placing all your investment eggs in one basket, it is equally necessary for SA wine companies to develop multiple export markets to spread potential risk.

Ignorant or scared

Yet while this logic is apparent to most, SA wine exporters seem either completely ignorant of China’s growing consumption market - or are so utterly scared of the foreign of foreign markets - that it is not even considered. Of equal concern are the companies already exporting to China that do little to promote their brands in the local market; for them I have included some takeaway points.

• Impactful promotional events CAN be executed on a shoestring budget if conducted in a creative manner
• While the traditional print media will always be important, industry specific bloggers are passionate about their beat and easier to interact with
• Chinese media and consumers are genuinely interested in SA products; they are both surprised about and enticed by our products when educated about them.

Successful event checklist:

• Local PR partner with appropriate media contacts and event management skills
• Appropriately translated product names
• Supporting background materials in Mandarin (Chinese media copy and paste, rarely writing their own content)
• Creative key messages that generates debate
• Translator versed on SA wine industry terms (very rare, so provide ample time to prepare)
• Appropriately selected venue with suitable F&B (the Chinese are food-obsessed)
• Guest gifts (either the product itself or something unique)
• Post-event media follow-up

CAIRO, (Xinhua) — Visiting Chinese Special Envoy on African Affairs Liu Guijin and Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit met here on Monday, pledging to boost bilateral ties.

During their meeting, Liu said that this year marks the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the strategic cooperative relations between China and Egypt. China would like to make joint efforts with the Egyptian government to promote bilateral ties.

China appreciates Egypt’s support to Chinese government’s handling of the deadly riots in Urumqi, capital city of China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

The separatists-inspired riots in Urumqi, which broke out on July 5, killed 197 people and injured more than 1,680 others. The Chinese government took immediate and decisive measures and quickly restored order in the city.

Abul Gheit said Egypt attaches great importance to Egypt-China relations and his country understands China’s stance on the Urumqi riots.

On the same day, Liu also met with Amr Moussa, Secretary General of the Cairo-based Arab League (AL), and exchanged views on Sudan issue and the China-Arab relations.

Egypt is Liu’s first stop in an African tour which will also take him to Morocco, Guinea, Congo and Niger.

Editor: Deng Shasha

(regretfulmorning.com)

JOHANNESBURG,  (Xinhua) — World heads of states including U.S. President Barack Obama were impressed with South Africa’s preparations for the soccer World Cup, the South African Press Association quoted South African President Jacob Zuma as saying on Saturday.

“I am impressed with what South Africa has achieved since it was awarded the right to host the World Cup. Heads of states including the U.S. President Barack Obama are talking about it,” said Zuma addressing workers at Durban’s Moses Mabhida Stadium.

Zuma visited the stadium to see the work that has been done at the stadium and to thank workers for the contribution they have made. The president was accompanied by KwaZulu-Natal Premier Dr Zweli Mkhize, eThekwini Municipality Mayor Obed Mlaba and all provincial MECs.

Zuma said in all international summits he had attended, heads of states were praising South Africa for being well on track with World Cup preparations.

“One of the heads of states called me aside during one of the summits and asked me to visit his country soon so that he will also return the visit next year during the world cup. He is the president of the country that is likely to win the cup and we nearly beat it during the Confederation Cup. I am not going to mention his name. You can guess which country I am talking about,” he said.

He said sceptics who thought that South Africa would not organize the World Cup had been proven wrong.

“Even FIFA president Sepp Blatter has made it clear that he is impressed with the manner we are preparing for the tournament.”

He said criticism had also helped South Africa to work even harder.

“We are ready. There is no doubt about that. I would like to thank all people who are involved in building stadiums. We are ready because of your contribution. I would also like to thank political leaders for their dedication.”

Zuma called on Mlaba to slaughter a cow for the workers when they finish building the Moses Mabhida stadium.

(en.expo2010.cn)

Festus

I will be very happy if you guys can pass this information on to the people who should know. I’m very happy that parents are now questioning the quality of services offered by foreign teachers in the major cities in China now. I never thought this would be a problem considering the requirements a foreigner has to meet to be given a position in China.
In China, a foreigner looking for a job has two major requirements:
1, native speaker (WHITE PERSON)
2, come from (CANADA, US ETC)
The most important is being a white person Sometime you see things like:
( 1) MY BOSS ONLY WANTS WHITE SKINNED FOREIGNER.
(2,) ONLY WHITES SHOULD APPLY
(3),FILIPINO AND AFRICAN APPLICANTS WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED
While America and Europe spend millions to entice African professionals, BLACKS in China are treated like Animals.
A recent survey conducted by a private group in China suggests that, blacks in China don’t mingle with local Chinese as they do in America and Europe. But what amazes me most is that the group failed to find out WHY.
America and Europe know that Africa is poor, but they also know that Certain individual Africans are distinguished in their career. Chinese look at the sight of blacks and begin to laugh.
A black in China doesn’t feel fine even to go the park because of Chinese behavior
About 95% of Chinese think that Africa is a Country so they foolishly say FEIZHOU REN apparently to say a poor person from Africa.
Many Africans are going through nasty racism and refusal of jobs from millions of Chinese because of being Africans and blacks.
I know this message will not reach where it should be, but i just want you to know that the whole world knows about what is happening in China.
There are Africans in China who are far better than the WHITE PEOPLE YOU PEOPLE WORSHIP AS ANGELS.
How can you be sure that anybody from America or Canada can teach English? But unfortunately, that is the thinking of the average Chinese

Reply from HireEd

Yes, this is perhaps a good thing (also, perhaps not). Anyway, I don’t disagree with much of what you assert; however, keep in mind that parents of students also made a major contribution (perhaps the most significant one) to the very hardcore discrimatory employment practices that you describe. It is the Chinese customer that drives this racism every bit as much as the employer, in my opinion.

The reason I say that “parents are now questioning the quality of services offered by foreign teacher” is not necessarily a good thing, is because from what I witnessed during my time in ESL China (2003-2008) most parents have no real ability to accurately and fairly assess the abilities, qualifications, and performance of most foreign teachers — as a great majority of Chinese parents don’t speak English.

Again, I don’t disagree with your overall assertion, FESTUS, but I certainly don’t think the “questioning of services” by parents will bring about any signifcant change toward improving the general bias against blacks found in ESL hiring practice.

(eslteachersboard.com)

by Lucy-Claire Saunders

UNITED NATIONS, (Xinhua) — Last week, the founder of the consultancy group Beijing Axis touched on a phenomenon occurring in South Africa that is being replicated across the African continent.

“Far more Chinese companies are doing deals very quickly … What is to follow will be far, far greater,” Kobus van der Wath said of Chinese investment at the African Mining Congress in Johannesburg.

The Beijing Axis is a cross-border firm registered in South Africa that provides management consulting and international trade solutions to organizations with a China-Africa agenda.

However, in many Africa-related business cases, the West is absent. A report released by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in May found that U.S. firms deemed the level of risk in Africa unacceptably high.

But where the West sees risk, China sees opportunity. Africa has provided the highest return on foreign direct investment of any region in the world with an average of 31 percent for two years straight, said a report released at the 2008 U.N. Conference on Trade and Development.

And as a result of China’s explosive growth, Africa has an opportunity to reduce its dependence on traditional trading partners such as the United States and the European Union (EU), said Michael Kulma, an expert on China’s economy at the Asia Society.

“If you look at Africa and China’s trade pattern, the numbers suggest that China and India combined make up about a third of export trade for African nations, which replaces the traditional U.S. and European relationships,” Kulma told Xinhua. “No doubt that China is gaining ground in that economic sphere.”

By importing Africa’s raw commodities, and more recently, African-manufactured value-added goods such as processed foods and household consumer goods, China has helped integrate the continent further into the global economy.

Adams Bodomo, associate professor of linguistics and African studies at Hong Kong University, wrote in a recent essay that Africa and China have entered a golden era. This era, according to Bodomo, is marked by high-level political visits and meetings, an increase in trade and the rapid establishment of African and Chinese migrant communities on both continents.

“Ten years ago, there was talk about the marginalization of Africa,” Bodomo told Xinhua during an interview. “Now, nobody talks about that.”

China’s presence has helped to “diversify the destination points for African exports and introduced greater competition while making available far cheaper manufactured imports than is usually the case,” said Ernest Aryeetey, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute and director of the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) of the University of Ghana.

“It is not for nothing that the prices of many commodity exports from Africa remained fairly stable for the best part of the last eight years,” Aryeetey told Xinhua via e-mail.

Bodomo said all of this has presented Africa with the opportunity to funnel China’s interest into real investments in social projects.

“Africa has enjoyed a good decade of economic growth, and profit margins for foreign businesses there tend to be very healthy,” French Howard, who recently wrote an op-ed about U.S. interest in Africa for the New York Times, told Xinhua via e-mail while traveling through Southeast Asia.

“Chinese companies have … very smartly sought to expand in places where international competition is relatively weak. Africa is just such an environment.

“Having said this, Chinese business people deserve credit for understanding that Africa is a promising new stage for globalization,” he concluded.

With few U.S. firms willing to invest in Africa, Chinese state-owned enterprises have discovered an environment to conduct business with less competition.

Nevertheless, China is not immune to the risks that deter U.S. interest. However, Chinese businessmen are still involved in deals with Africa, and they are also taking preventive measures to ward off possible terrorist attacks.

In 2008, China-Africa trade volume reached 106.8 billion dollars, up 45.1 percent from a year earlier, according to the Chinese government statistics. This year, the trade volume is likely to continue to expand.

Khartoum-Neimat al-Naiem
Chaired by the President of the Republic, Field Marshal Omer Hassan Al-Bashir, the cabinet lauded the stability prevailing in eastern Sudan since the signing of East Peace Agreement in the year 2006.

The cabinet pointed out to the gravity of the two parties of the East peace agreement in enforcing the articles of it, revealing that the stability of the security conditions in the three eastern states helped in establishing more development projects besides providing citizens with the necessary services.
It is worth mentioning here that the cabinet has reviewed last year reports of the three eastern states that was presented by the minister of Federal governance Lt. General Abdulrahman Saeed and the governors of Gedarif, Kassala and Red Sea.
The cabinet also has directed the states to focus great concern to the public utilities with special regards to higher education institutions and the offices of the Attorney general.
On his part, the cabinet’s official spokesperson, Dr. Omer Mohammed Salih, said in press statements, that the reports of the three eastern states pointed out to the significant improvement in the local revenues, especially for Kassala and Red Sea, besides the increase in the public expenditure allocated for development by 32% for Gedarif, 48% for Kassala and 52% for the Red Sea. He also pointed to the increase in number of citizens who benefited from water services.
Salih further added that an amount of $36 million dollars has been allocated for setting up development projects in the East as a loan from China. These projects include specialist hospital, vocational training centers and two bridges on Atbara River besides water grid and fishery project in the Read Sea.

(sudanvisiondaily.com)