Africans In China

At the end of the 3rd China – Africa Youth festival in Beijing, China, 177 youth representatives from 48 African countries and the Africa Union signed five initiatives to strengthen ties between China and Africa Youths.
At the Capital Hotel where the ceremony took place, officials from the All- China Youth Federation said that the festival strengthened the existing friendly exchanges and cooperation between youths of China and Africa.
They said China and Africa share a long history of friendship, adding that China is the biggest developing country in the world while the African Continent has the largest number of developing countries.
“We, the youth, represent an important force for promoting development and prosperity in China and Africa in the 21st century” they said.
Charged with the task of building our respective countries and carrying forward the China- Africa friendship, we have the responsibility to enhance the all-round cooperation between the youth of China and Africa, achieve harmonious development for our peoples, and pass on our friendship from generation to generation, they stated.
For this purpose, they said  the youth of China and Africa propose the following five initiatives.
The First initiative is  to take an active part in China-Africa youth exchanges and cooperation programs to enhance our mutual understanding, friendship and cooperation and carry forward China- Africa friendship for generations to come;
Secondly, to encourage and support active involvement of young entrepreneurs of our respective countries in China- Africa trade and economic cooperation to promote win-win progress and common development of China and Africa;
Thirdly, call on the young people to engage in voluntary services and share experience, and enhance youth cooperation in voluntary work to arouse enthusiasm for national development and social services among the youth in China and African countries.
Fourthly, further step up China- Africa cooperation in human resources development of youth and organize training programs for youth workers to promote the development of the youth in China and Africa, and lay a solid human resources foundation for the ever-lasting China- Africa friendship;
And lastly, vigorously promote exchanges and cooperation between the youth organizations of China and Africa in more extensive areas, including environmental protection, medical and health care, education and employment and dedicate our youth and energy to economic growth, better life of the people and sustainable development.
“We call on all the youth to actively join our ranks in serving as a bridge for people-to-people exchanges between China and Africa, and working hard for the establishment of a harmonious and win –win cooperative partnership between the youth of China and Africa and the advancement of the new type of strategic partnership between China and Africa.
By Abibatu Kamara Just from China

(awoko.org)

*Well, I see no reason why these two rapidly expanding, crankily jealous land empires should *get into any trouble* because of their ambitions to dominate Africa.

*What could go wrong?

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/siege-of-africa-china-india-battle-it-out/99692-7.html

CNN IBN LIVE

Siege of Africa: China, India battle it out

Prejudice dies hard. In 1972, Manubhai Madhvani was arrested in Uganda for being of Indian origin and jailed in a dungeon nicknamed the “Singapore Block”.

Dictator Idi Amin snatched all his wealth and expelled him from the country. To this day, the 79-year-old businessman counts himself lucky for not having been killed then.

It is events like this — and the all-too-familiar images of disease, poverty and squalor — that have shaped the stereotype of Africa in the minds of Indians. Somehow, we may have been a bit late to note when the continent began to change for the better.

In fact, Madhvani returned to Uganda in 1985 and rebuilt his family business in sugar and hospitality to a $200 million empire. Uganda, and many other African countries, reformed their economies and opened up to foreign investment.

But before we responded to the new Africa, someone else did. In a well-planned and executed strategy, China has been thrusting itself in all spheres of economic activity in the continent.

The Chinese “invasion” of Africa is veritably the biggest state-run investment in the last decade. They are everywhere. State-run Chinese firms are building bridges, roads, telecom networks, airports, and generally boosting the infrastructure all around. In return, they are getting access to natural resources.

China is now Africa’s biggest trading partner, ahead of the US. More than a million Chinese workers are now based there. After the European colonists left Africa, the Chinese have been dubbed the “neo-colonists”.

But recently, a new picture is emerging in our image of Africa. And happily, its tone is Indian. Unlike China’s push driven by its government, the Indian march to Africa has been led by the private sector.

After proving themselves in fields as varied as automobiles, telecom and education in recent years, Indian businesses are gradually upping the ante.

Big ticket investments and acquisitions are emerging. In other words, Africa has become the new frontier for Indian companies to break into.

Steadily, the profile and the scale of Indian investments in Africa is going up.

In early August, the Essar group bought a refinery in Mombasa, Kenya. Essar is no stranger there. Its $450 million investment in the country’s mobile telephony market is yielding results — Essar’s brand ‘Yu’ has 400,000 subscribers.

There’s considerable excitement around Bharti group’s on-going talks for a merger with MTN, Africa’s biggest telecom company, which could create the world’s third largest telecom company.

NIIT has grown to be one of the continent’s biggest firms in information technology training, having taught 150,000 students across 55 centres.

The Tata group, the Mahindras and Ashok Leyland have been selling vehicles for more than five years now with increasing success. Indica cars are a common sight in Johannesburg. Sales have moved up from 5,000 to 20,000 a year.

Consumer products company Marico is already in Egypt and South Africa through a carefully orchestrated strategy of buying out local hair care brands. This is just a snapshot of the 42-odd frontline firms from India that have answered the call to Africa.

Why Africa

What have all these companies sensed in the form of the African opportunity? When asked why Africa, Raman Dhawan, managing director of Tata Africa Holdings, asks why not.

“We are expecting Africa to grow substantially over the next two decades. We are here like any other international company. We are no different from the rest of the world.

They are looking at growth here, so why shouldn’t we? If you can be a good international company, you will find growth in Africa.”

After decades of living on the fringes when the West dominated and Asia rose, the African continent is finally coming on its own.

“Since the early 1990s, African countries went through serious structural reforms, improvement of economic management, incentives to develop the private sector, important changes in governance legislation in doing business,” says Jose Gijon, head of Africa and Middle East desk, OECD Development Centre.

One slice of the opportunity is a middle class numbering anywhere between 350 million and 500 million, larger than India’s. And per capita income is growing.

The continent clocked an impressive growth rate of 5.2 per cent in 2008. Of course, with recession and a crash in commodity prices, the growth may taper to 2 per cent.

But its trade links with China and India hold out hope that it could recover in tandem with these countries, says a recent article in the Harvard Business Review (HBR).

Besides, as Professor Vijay Mahajan of McCombs School of Business, The University of Texas at Austin and author of the book Africa Rising says, “When you look at (opportunities in) the world, and take out India and China, so where do you go next? The logical answer is Africa.”

But it isn’t as if the risks have disappeared. In fact, sudden regime changes, violence and logistical nightmares continue to slow down businesses. But for the most part, it remains a high-risk, high return game.

“In Africa, any country depends on the leadership of the right person. Uganda, for instance, is becoming more open to foreign investment due to President Musevani who is all for an open economy and free trade,” says Madhvani.

Today, the global economic crisis has opened up newer opportunities for Asian investors.

“Several big projects in Africa are on hold. Western investors are losing interest in some places,” says Andrew Mold, senior economist and head of the Finance for Development Unit, OECD Development Centre. The Chinese and now, the Indian investors, are filling in that breach.

The one advantage Indians can push home is the presence of the diaspora. The ties are age-old. Madhvani’s family migrated to Uganda in 1893. There are several other business families — from the Mehtas to the ComCraft Group — that are particularly active in East Africa.

Keeping Up with the Chinese

As in everything else, the Chinese are playing a game of scale in Africa. The Indian surge may not yet match that.

While India put in $2 billion in the continent last year, the Chinese committed investments of about $8 billion dollars in 2009, according to the HBR article.

“For one, almost all of China’s investments tend to be state-led, while India’s investment is private,” says Mold. Chinese leaders are also engaging with their African counterparts much more than the Indians do.

Indian businessmen agree that reducing the gap with the Chinese will be tough.

“We are nearly five to seven years late,” admits Prashant Ruia, group CEO of Essar. “Competing with the Chinese is impossible, to be honest. They are building roads, airports and projects as a grant. They are taking a 20 year investment risk — something private companies like us cannot do. We do not have the kind of backing that the Chinese have, they are present on a much larger scale too. They have had a head start and have been there for the past 10 years,” adds Ruia.

This state-driven strategy to give infrastructure and take natural resources is the hallmark of China’s African policy. Take the $9-billion deal it struck in Congo.

China will build roads, rail networks, hospitals and schools in return for access to cobalt and copper. (It’s a different matter that the IMF has raised a red flag over Congo’s indebtedness from this deal and threatened to cancel its debt relief to that country.)

Indian businesses that have made a beachhead in South Africa and to an extent Nigeria, are still coming to grips with the rest of Africa. Indians are much more comfortable in the English speaking countries.

They have not yet fully ventured in the French or Portuguese speaking areas.

“But the Chinese do go everywhere – they don’t speak English. Yet they do business everywhere,” says Somdeep Banerjee, head of Tata Steel KZN.

Apart from the first wave of companies, much of corporate India is still Africa-shy. The problem is of perceptions, and of lack of information,” says Navdeep Suri, Indian consul-general in Johannesburg. “There’s a lot of opportunity, and we have nothing to fear but our ignorance.”

It’s not that China’s progress has been without any problems. For instance, in Congo valley, Chinese state-run enterprises had reneged on significant deals to source copper from the mines in Kantago district, after their prices fell.

China has been accused of propping up dictatorships and other repressive regimes with direct military aid and favours.

That has generated considerable ill-will and wariness towards China across Africa. Already, China’s growing presence in Zambia has met with internal resistance.

India is doing better.

“The Indian companies here, from Tata to Mahindra & Mahindra, are doing a phenomenally good job,” says Martyn Davies, CEO of South African research group Frontier Advisory and director of the Asia Business Centre at the Gordon Institute of Business Science in Johannesburg.

“They are extremely well accepted in South Africa, running very, very good business. And this is FDI that is welcomed by almost all African countries.”

It’s the same story with Indian managers, who are usually at ease with Africans in those clubs where local managers hang out. Indian managers talk to local African managers in ways the Chinese never do.

Rules of the Game

More than a century ago, Mohandas Gandhi finds his calling there and today, many Indian companies find South Africa the perfect gateway to the rest of the continent. The Tatas are present in 11 countries, but the biggest presence is in South Africa.

The Tatas plan a presence in all of Africa, and with all of Tata. Tata investments in Africa are closing in on the half billion dollar mark. The Tatas plan on taking that close to a billion dollars over the next few years, basing themselves in South Africa.

“We do feel that the benchmark will be South Africa for the whole of Africa,” says Dhawan. “We can reach the continent much better if we are established in South Africa.”

Tatas are also learning the rules of the game along the way. Banerjee of Tata Steel KZN, while trying to set up a ferrochrome plant, realised that environment is a big concern in South Africa, unlike other countries.

The company had to wait for three years to get environmental clearance. Tatas won’t miss this nuance again, he says.

There are other nuances that Indian companies must understand. “In South Africa if you want to expand and do well, you need to have ‘empowerment partners’. The government is ensuring that there are reservations and the black community get jobs now. In mineral resources development… they have to have an equity stake in your business. This might become a norm in manufacturing as well. We have known this for a long time. Zimbabwe and Namibia also have similar laws,” says Banerjee.

Venturing into a new country requires local knowledge. And NIIT chose to work with local partners in all the eight countries that it operates in.

“This way we will have more access points — somebody who has been in the country, knows the job and skills requirements, and also knows the student’s capabilities,” says G. Raghavan, president of global individual learnings solutions at NIIT.

Rather than run smack into Chinese competition in Africa, one tactic to tap Africa is to go to countries where China isn’t as active. That’s what the Essar group did. It focussed on East Africa. It figured that the region was largely English speaking and had lower political risks.

Yet even that proved to be a tough ask. It took Essar Oil nearly two and a half years to negotiate and get a 50 per cent stake in the Mombasa refinery where a set of investors led by Shell were offloading (the other half was owned by the Kenyan government).

In the middle of its negotiations with Kenya, Essar discovered an MoU between the Kenyan and Libyan governments that called for preference to Libyan companies. When the Libyans made an offer for the same stake, Essar was almost out of the reckoning. Essar even tried for a deal with the Libyans but did not succeed.

Only when the Libyans eventually pulled out for their own reasons, did Essar get back in the reckoning. “The feeling was earlier that the Indians have come as opportunists, to take away resources. The Kenyan government had to be convinced that we aren’t traders, but long-term investors,” says a senior executive with knowledge of the talks.

The Healing Opportunity

A bigger Indian presence is in the Africa no one wants to know, the Africa one dreads.

The scourge of HIV is widespread and it is the cheap antiretroviral drugs from Indian companies that are the mainstay of treatment in most parts.

“Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 10 per cent of the world population but has 75 per cent of the HIV burden,” says Skhumbuzo Ngozwana, chairman of South Africa’s National Association of Pharmaceuticals Manufacturers.

The number of people in need of immediate treatment in Sub-Saharan Africa is four million, he says.

While Indian generic drugs are far cheaper than their branded counterparts, many African countries still don’t find them affordable enough. South Africa is rolling out a $500 million plan to provide antiretrovirals to everyone who needs it. Such plans depend on international aid.

And that means business for Indian companies of the likes of Cipla, Ranbaxy, Aurobindo and Dr Reddy’s.

The companies need approval principally by the US Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) or the World Health Organization (WHO). And that comes with its own challenges. Ranbaxy is fighting FDA charges that it falsified vital data.

Aurobindo has gone to court in South Africa over a contract given to another firm when it had offered the lower tender. And many Indian companies have had to fight allegations over sub-standard medicine.

“India is probably where Japan was in the 1960s and 70s, trying to establish itself in the global marketplace,” says Vikash Salig, South Africa CEO at Dr. Reddy’s Labs (Pty) Ltd.

“And sadly one of the strategies that we find emanates from vested interests and to some extent from innovator companies is to place concern around quality, safety and efficacy of generic products. And given the momentum India has created, they seem to be facing the brunt of it.”

Indian companies produce precisely what Africa needs. “The generic penetration in South Africa is far, far too low,” says Salig. “The cost of private healthcare is increasing at a rate that is becoming more and more unaffordable. India offers a wonderful base of high quality low-cost manufacturing operations. The ability to collaborate with a powerhouse like India can only help us in South Africa.”

Despite the controversies, Indian companies have managed to build trust in the market.

“If you look at the whole of Indian pharma, the Ciplas of this world, Aurobindo, Matrix, they supply a lot of the treatment programmes on the continent. There is a growing acceptance that drugs from India are of very good quality, they are efficacious, they are safe, and of course they are affordable,” says Ngozwana.

Harry Broadman, managing director of Albright Stonebridge Group and the author of Africa’s Silk Road reckons the way India invests in Sub-Saharan Africa is the same as its approach in other parts of the world.

“India’s engagement in Africa is not a political engagement but there’s a role to be played in trade, investment and finance. India’s comparative advantage in Sub-Saharan Africa has been very under-stated. Many people have focussed excessively on China,” he says.

Two different countries, two different strategies. One is trying to impress with state-sponsored might, giving away goodies and walking away with plum deals.

The other is sending its private citizens to build trust, radiate through the people and build long-lasting businesses. The battle is intense, the stakes high. The result is in the hands of the African people. At last, power to Africa.

(By Sanjay Suri in South Africa and Neelima Mahajan-Bansal in New Delhi with inputs from Cuckoo Paul, T Surendar and Prince Mathews Thomas)

(wired.com)

China has invested $552 million directly in Africa in the first half of the year, a report by Law Info China quoting the country’s Ministry of Commerce has said.

According to the report, the amount raises China’s direct investment in Africa to 81% from the same period in 2008.

Meanwhile, trade between China and African countries has dropped 30.5% to $37.07 billion in the first six months of 2009 as a result of the global economic crisis, the report added.

It said in the first half of the year, Chinese enterprises signed US$22.45 billion of new labor service contracts in Africa, up 25 percent year on year, and completed US$11.53 billion of business volume, up 61.1 percent year on year.

About 1000 Chinese enterprises have been approved or registered to do business in Africa. They are into trade, manufacturing, resources development, transportation, agriculture and agricultural products processing.

Trade between Ghana and China has grown over the years. In 2005 trade between the two countries was $769 million.

Trade between the two countries has blossomed over the years, with China benefitting most.

Ghana’s exports to China totalled only 25 million dollars with imports of 93 million dollars in the year 2000. Exports grew to 32 million dollars in 2003 with imports of 180 million dollars. In 2006, the figure went up to 39 million dollars for exports while imports surged to 504 million dollars.

A greater number of Ghanaians also prefer Chinese products, the results of a survey by Xinhua, a Chinese publication has shown.

Remarking on the results of the survey, which was done in July 2009, said it, “Ghanaians’ wrong perception about goods imported from China has gradually changed with the result that there is currently high patronage of all sorts of goods made in China.”

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi

(ghanabusinessnews.com)

The life of a Japanese businessman is a hectic one. The consistent go-go attitude makes sparing a single second difficult, which is perhaps why the Japan-based Niban Too Corporation invented a briefcase that not only holds those all-too-important TPS reports, but your day’s waste as well.

The Gotta Go Briefcase is an invention designed to maximize efficiency in the fast-paced world of Japanese business. Constructed with Mahogany leather and a stainless steel toilet bowl, this time-saving invention includes a toilet paper dispenser that can be hidden underneath the padding, which complements the privacy panel on the opposite side for maximum bowel evacuation efficiency and privacy.

Accessories include a cup holder, hand sanitizer with refillable dispenser, and a vanity mirror, because vanity is important when you’re doing your business in a public area. The maximum supported weight of the briefcase is 175 pounds, so portlier Japanese businessmen may still want to utilize public facilities to prevent it from breaking and contaminating everything.

This invention begs the question, however: Where does the waste go when you’re done?

(Link)

(.weirdasianews.com)

By Joe Bavier

KINSHASA, Aug 18 (Reuters) - The Democratic Republic of Congo announced on Tuesday it would downsize a controversial infrastructure-for-minerals deal with China, winning IMF assurances it could be in line for swift debt relief.

The International Monetary Fund feared the contract to use Congo’s mineral reserves as a guarantee for infrastructure projects could plunge the African nation deeper into debt and had delayed forgiveness of most of the $10 billion Congo owes.

The changes will narrow to $6 billion from $9 billion the value of the deal with China, which has overtaken the United States as Africa’s top trading partner.

“During our visit the authorities … told us that the partners have accepted the amendments in the project of the Sino-Congolese agreement including the removal of the government’s guarantee on the mining project,” IMF mission chief for Congo Brian Ames told reporters after talks in Kinshasa.

Congo central bank governor Jean-Claude Masangu told the same news briefing it would suspend a $3 billion infrastructure phase of the project that also raised IMF concerns.

“When the IMF services confirm that the revised agreement is compatible with the viability of the debt, the Congolese authorities will be in measure to solicit financial assurances for (a new IMF) program from the lenders of the Paris Club,” said Ames.

“The administrative council of the IMF will then rapidly be able to examine the request for a new three-year HIPC (Heavily Indebted Poor Countries) program,” he added of a plan launched in 1996 to help poor countries with their debt burden.

“Today, we have swept away all the problems that the Chinese contract could pose,” said Masangu.

ON THE BACK-BURNER

The IMF did not detail the extent of possible debt relief. A figure of $7 billion worth of non-commercial loans has previously been mooted, which would save Congo around $400 million in annual payments.

The IMF had previously cited the two amendments as critical to ensuring the deal would not add to Congo’s debt burden.

The contract with China is a cornerstone of Congo’s post-conflict reconstruction policy following decades of dictatorship and a 1998-2003 war that left the former Belgian colony’s infrastructure in ruins.

The deal was to have included two phases of infrastructure projects with a total price tag of $6 billion aimed at rehabilitating thousands of kilometers of road and rail connections and constructing schools and hospitals.

“The second phase of infrastructure for three billion, we’ve put on the back-burner,” said Masangu. “So with this three billion gone, we are now talking about six billion.”

In addition to the first phase of infrastructure projects that will remain, $3 billion is earmarked to develop new Chinese copper and cobalt mines in mineral-rich Katanga province.

“Concerning the mining project, there was a guarantee from the state. The Chinese partners are no longer demanding a guarantee from the state. We are left with an purely commercial contract,” said Masangu.

BRIAN BENZA
Staff Writer

BEIJING: As the global economic recession took its toll, trade volumes between China and Africa weakened by 30.5 percent in the first half of the yea

Speaking to African journalists here this week, the Commercial Counsellor in the Western Asia and African Affairs department in China’s Ministry of Commerce, Xie Yajing, said lower resource prices and declining demand from China had seen trade volumes flag to $37.07 billion in the first six months of 2009 from $48 billion in the first half of 2008.

“Since 2000, average annual growth of China-Africa trade has averaged 3.5 percent,” Xie said. “However, since most imports from Africa consist of natural resources such as metals and oil whose prices have weakened significantly since mid-2008, trade figures lowered in the first half of the year.”

Although country-specific figures were not readily available, Botswana’s main exports to China include copper and nickel, prices for which declined by as much as 80 percent last year.

Other Chinese imports from the African continent are coffee from Uganda, wine from South Africa, olive oil from Tunisia and tobacco from Zimbabwe.

In 2008, China-Africa trade reached $106.8, twice as much as that of 2006 and ten times that of 2000. Of the $106.8 billion, 0.8 billion was in the form of exports to Africa and  $56 billion of imports from Africa.

Xie said although trade volumes had decreased, in the same period, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from China to Africa had actually increased, compared to 2008. “In the first half of 2009, Chinese FDI to Africa stood at $552, up 81 percent from the same period last year,” she said. ‘The direct investment covered areas that included trade, production, processing and resources.’

Responding to a question about cheap quality goods from China flooding Africa, the counsellor appealed to African governments to help ensure that only products of good quality were sold to consumers. “We are aware of this problem and are doing everything we can to maintain the highest standards in the production of goods,” she said.

“It is not the intention of the Chinese government to encourage dumping of goods (on Africa). However, since China is a very big country, we cannot do this alone; we need the importing countries to help us in this regard through their respective standards organisations.”

Xie urged African countries to use the zero-tariff facility put in place by the Chinese government. “China has granted a zero-tariff arrangement to 500 products from 31 African countries,” she said. “However, the use of this facility, which is meant to boost trade between the two parties, has been very minimal.

“Even so, we are looking at increasing the number of products that may be exported to China duty-free in a bid to further promote trade relations between us.”

Since 1956, China has helped 53 African countries with over 900 projects that cover extensive areas. “China has also trained nearly 30, 000 professionals from Africa to-date and reduced or exempted parts of matured debts for 33 heavily-indebted poor countries (HIPC) and least developed countries (LDCs) in Africa,” Xie said.

(mmegi.bw)

BEIJING — Sinopec Group said Tuesday it has completed its $7.5 billion acquisition of Addax Petroleum, obtaining new reserves in Africa and the Middle East in China’s biggest foreign corporate takeover to date.

State-owned Sinopec Group is the parent of Sinopec Corp., also known as China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., Asia’s biggest refiner by volume. It wants to expand its production capacity to profit from rising crude prices that have cost it billions of dollars in recent years due to government caps on retail fuel prices.

Addax is China’s biggest foreign corporate takeover but the deal is half the size of last year’s $14.3 billion acquisition by Aluminum Corp. of China, with Alcoa Corp., of a 12 percent stake in global miner Rio Tinto PLC, according to financial information firm Dealogic.

Chinese oil, mining and other resource companies, flush with cash from their country’s economic boom, are investing in foreign oilfields, mines and other assets to profit from rising commodities demand.

The previous record for a Chinese corporate takeover abroad also was in the petroleum industry — last year’s $2.5 billion purchase by China Oilfield Services of Norway’s Awilco Offshore.

Addax, based in Geneva, has oil and gas exploration and production operations mainly in West Africa and the Middle East. It jointly operates the Taq Taq field in Iraq’s self-ruled Kurdish region with Turkey’s Genel Enerji.

In its announcement, Sinopec said it paid 52.80 Canadian dollars ($47.80) per share for 157.6 million Addax shares.

Addax, which is listed on exchanges in London and Toronto, says Sinopec promised to keep Addax’s top management intact.

(AP)__

Sinopec: http://www.sinopec.com

Addax Petroleum: http://www.addaxpetroleum.com

BEIJING: China’s direct investment in Africa rose 81 percent in the first half year from the same period last year to US$552 million, according to a report released by the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) Tuesday.

Trade between China and African countries, however, slumped 30.5 percent to US$37.07 billion in first six months because of the global economic downturn, according to the report.

In the first half year, Chinese enterprises signed US$22.45 billion of new labor service contracts in Africa, up 25 percent year on year, and completed US$11.53 billion of business volume, up 61.1 percent year on year.

China maintains trade with 53 African countries and has been providing zero-tariff treatment for the poorest African developing countries from 2005 on. About US$890 million of African products had enjoyed preferential treatment by the end of June, according to the ministry.

About 1,000 Chinese enterprises have been approved or registered to do business in Africa, involving fields like trade, manufacturing, resources development, transportation, agriculture and agricultural products processing, said the ministry.

(chinadaily.com.cn)

The newly formed Amalgamated Automobile Distributors (AAD) joint venture between McCarthy (Bidvest group) and Imperial – both JSE-listed rivals under any other conditions – is set to expand its range of Chinese imports over the next few years.

This comes as several local Chinese importers have closed their doors in the face of plummeting vehicle sales, much of this owing to the current global credit crisis. The local presence of brands such as Geely and Meiya, have come to a swift end as cash- and credit-strapped consumers are either abdicating from showrooms floors altogether, or returning to familiar brands.

New vehicles sales in South Africa this year have already dropped by more than 30% compared with 2008.

However, the case for Chinese vehicles – offering a value-for-money proposition compared with European or US alternatives – is still strong, says AAD MD Brett Soso.

AAD was formed in June, and is a 50:50 joint venture.

Chery South Africa and Foton South Africa, previously the sole responsibility of McCarthy, now reside under AAD as the holding company.

The Chinese parent companies of Chery and Foton have the option of buying into AAD.

The value of the deal has not been disclosed.

Imperial is familiar with vehicle imports having, for example, introduced the now well-known Indian brand Tata into South Africa.

“We said it’s a tough business out there, so let’s team up,” comments Soso on the formation of AAD. “It also takes out the duplication between Imperial and McCarthy in terms of back office and logistical infrastructure, for example.”

AAD currently offers the Chery QQ3 minicar, the J5 sedan, and the Tiggo sports-utility vehicle to the South African motoring public.

In the Foton stable, there is only one product on offer, and this to the local minibus taxi industry.

Around 2 390 Chery vehicles were sold in South Africa from May to December 2008, and 1 680 Foton taxis, since the vehicle was launched in July 2007.

Soso expects 2009 Chery sales to drop by around 50% compared with 2008.

In general, he does not expect the local market to improve until banks are willing to loosen their credit criteria, which he anticipates will take another 12 to 24 months.

“At some stage, the credit approval rate was at 16% of applications.”

CHERY

The ten-year old Chery is the Asian country’s biggest 100% Chinese-owned vehicle manufacturer.

The company had one model on offer in 1999, a number which has since grown to 13.

In 2001, sales reached 28 149 units, growing to 356 000 units in 2008. Of this number, 135 044 units were exported to more than 80 countries in 2008.

The company’s production capacity is around 650 000 vehicles a year, 650 000 engines a year, and 400 000 gear boxes a year.

Chery South Africa is set to introduce the J1 – a 1,3 l hatchback – into the local market in October, notes Soso.

It is Chery’s first global car, says Chery Asian-Pacific and South Africa region GM Tony Sun.

The vehicle was designed in Italy, and is aimed at the North American, Asian and European markets, he adds.

Chery is keen to offer South Africa an even wider range of vehicles.

However, says Soso, any new introduction has to make sense from a price perspective.

Vehicles imported from China to South Africa are subject to a 28% import duty, adding to the cost.

Accepting vehicles based on the same production platform – which means there is a high commonality of parts – make particular sense, adds Soso.

“We are likely to be offered six Chery models over the next two years, but we won’t take all of them.”

These models may include a minibus for the taxi market, and a mini pick-up.

FOTON

AAD is set to introduce a new taxi to the local market in September, in the form of the Inkunzi (Zulu for bull).

The 14-seater will retail at roughly R200 000, with the new long-wheel base version replacing the current short-wheel base version.

“The vehicle has been homologated [recognised as a production model] and has passed all the taxi specifications in June already,” says Soso.

The long-wheel base version adds a few centimetres legroom for commuters, as well as one extra seat and power steering.

The Inkunzi makes use of a 2,2 l petrol engine.

Other vehicles to come from the Foton group, planned for a phased roll-out in the South African market from 2010, includes the MP-X multipurpose vehicle, a range of single and double-cab vehicles, and a range of light-duty trucks from 1,5 tons through to five tons.

“These vehicles are all currently being homologated,” says Soso.

In the long-term Foton also wants to introduce a range of heavy-duty trucks into South Africa.

The 13-year old Beijing-based Foton is the world’s second largest commercial vehicle manufacturer.

Last year the company sold 409 800 vehicles, up from 63 600 units in 1999.

By the end of this year, the company will have 11 factories worldwide, including facilities in Mexico and Vietnam.

THE FUTURE

Over the next few years, the Chery and Foton companies within AAD will start to function much more independently of each other, says Soso.

At this point in time Foton is much more commercial-vehicle orientated, with Chery a strong passenger vehicle manufacturer. However, this is set to change as Foton is developing its own range of passenger vehicles.

Soso adds that he expects a few new Chinese brands to be introduced into the local market over the next year or so.

This will seem a lucrative proposition on the back of a stronger rand, having recuperated from a weak spell at around R10 to the dollar, which all but erased the price advantage Chinese vehicles have to offer.

Recently the Hurun Research Institute published the 2009 Chinese Nouveau Riche Consumption Standard Report on the new rich in six cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, and Shenyang.

Beijing came in first place with 8,800 members of China’s nouveau riche, with Shanghai and Shenzhen coming in second and third place.

The report also pointed out that if you want to be considered a member of the nouveau riche in Beijing, a basic consumption standard of at least 87 million yuan each year (approximately 12.73 million USD), is required. About 51,000 people in China have such consumption capability.

The report determines whether or not the consumption of the wealthy in China qualifies them as part of the Chinese nouveau riche through their set total asset value and total consumption.

The report said that Beijing has about 143,000 people with more than 10 million yuan and there are 8800 people with assets over 100 million yuan. The rich in Beijing are eclectic and nostalgic. They yearn for cultivating their mind and going back to nature.

There are 42,300 people with more than 10 million yuan and there are 2280 people with assets over 100 million yuan in Hangzhou. The rich in Zhejiang are very traditional in choice of luxury, but also very confident. Watches, jewelry, and luxury cars are their favorite collections.

Shenzhen has 40,600 people with more than 10 million yuan and there are 2760 people with assets over 100 million yuan million. Rich people in Shenzhen consider that luxury represents a comfortable way of life.

There are 12,200 people with more than 10 million yuan and there are 650 people with assets over 100 million yuan in Chengdu. Sichuan rich are generally more pragmatic and low-key, living a comfortable life.

Shenyang, 6900 people with more than 10 million yuan and 450 people with assets over 100 million yuan. Rich people in Northeast China live a mysterious and low-key life, but generally they are quite bold and generous. Their concept of investment maybe the most conservative: putting money in the bank gives them a sense of security.

Shanghai has 116,000 people with more than 10 million yuan and there are 7000 people with assets over 100 million yuan. Rich people in Shanghai are rational and clear-headed in consumption, and seldom follow the crowd. At the same time, they also know how to enjoy life. They have plenty of long vacations and go abroad frequently. Shanghai nouveau riche spend 7.5 million yuan a year, of which the husband has the largest annual consumption, mainly for the purchase of new vehicles, while 1.5 million yuan goes to charity and collection.

Shanghai nouveau riche’s household consumption includes two houses: a villa in suburbs and a luxurious apartment in downtown. In their house, there are not only collections of luxury porcelain, jade and other antiquities, but also the works of famous painters. With Steinway & Sons piano in the living room and Italian Baccarat crystal lamps hanging in the hall, housing and interior decoration accounts for about half of the nouveau riche’s consumption.

In addition, a rich family in Shanghai enjoys vacations three times a year, including the Spring Festival family trip and holiday travel to Italy and France. The family’s child is around 14 years old, having been sent to study an elite boarding school in the United States and plans to attend university there.

Chic lifestyle of the nouveau riche in China

The men who meet the 2009 Chinese Nouveau Riche Consumption Standard are on average 43 years old. He will usually wear haute couture and a luxury watch. Playing golf at club is his main leisure activity. Sanya and Macao are his frequent travel destinations with his friends. He will also ask three to five friends to tour Kenya and watch the spectacular migration of prairie animals. On holidays, he would carefully pick gifts for his wife, parents and friends.

As for “she” in the nouveau riche group, she is distinguished and elegant, love herself and enjoy life is her philosophy. In order to maintain her beauty, she chooses expensive skin care products such as La Prairie and frequently attends Evian Spa on Three on the Bund. Hot springs in Kyoto and Hakone, as well as shopping in Tokyo with her female friends are on her travel agenda this year. Appreciating several classic musicals and opera is also an important entertainment choice.

(People’s Daily China )

By Salihu Abubakar
For five days in July 2009, African media officials interacted with officials of the State Council of Information of China and many other top officials of the Chinese government, to map out strategies for achieving closer cooperation between the Chinese and African media.
The media of the two regions proffered suggestions on how to “cross-report each other in an unbiased and balanced manner“ as against what they believe, are the heavily tainted ways of reporting their regions that is being carried out by their counterparts in Western countries.
They agreed that over the years, Africa and China were portrayed to the rest of the world as being backward and uncivilized; having no regards for human rights; and were not democratic or where they had some semblance of democracy, their elections were hardly ever free and fair.
The Western media had also flayed African and Chinese leaders as being corrupt, deceitful, dictatorial and lacking in the true meaning of leadership for their people.
The West always emphasise the disasters and conflicts in the two regions.
While the seminar was not anti-West and protective of the two regions, the consensus was that the Western media was overtly biased against Africa and China and were only interested in the negative things that happen in the two regions.
It is because of these that leaders in the two regions view media reports from the West as mischievous, considering the fact that their histories and cultures are far apart from those of their critics.
For instance, Africa and China are quick to point at the deprivations that they suffered in the hands of their colonial masters and that millions of their populations are still poor and in need of basic infrastructure.
“The main concern for us is the improvement of the living standard of our populace and putting food on their tables, not the pursuit of such things as “their so called human rights,’’ a member of the Chinese ruling party, Mr Liu Yao, noted during the tour.
According to Yao, China has strived to provide decent houses to its people through the introduction of efficient mortgage arrangements that helped many to own their houses and those in rural areas are being assisted to improve both their occupations and their places of abode.
He said that despite the successes recorded in the Chinese economy–the general improvement of the living standard of its populace and its ability to feed its more than 1.3 billion popu-lation, none-theless, the attack from Western media had remained unrelenting.
The Chinese say the sourest grape in relations between China and the West has to do with attempts to enthrone “so called” Western democracy and democratic norms and cultures in the heavily populated country as opposed to its communist ideology, which the West has maligned as a form of dictatorship.
Another sour point between them has been the question of human rights and recurring abuses that the West had repeatedly made so much noise about.
The Western media have refused to forget the incident at the Tiananmen Square in Beijing about two decades ago, when security agents had a face-off with demonstrating students.
According to the Chinese, the West believe that Beijing was too high-handed in handling the armless students, and had continued to harp on it, making a kind of anniversary out of it.
The Chinese believe that every country and people have their own standards for human rights and that no nation should dictate to the other.
“We have been debating this with them, we have been going annually to debate, argue and sometimes even fight with them in Geneva where the UN has a special body on human rights,” an official of Chinese State Information office said at the Beijing seminar.
“We are always ready to defend our policy anywhere, any day, and we are open for them to come and see,’’ he stressed.
“We are currently in a state of recurring reckless anti-Africa and anti-China rhetoric’s in the Western media and we must come together to nip this in the bud,” a Director-General with the Chinese State Council on Information, Mr Jiang Weiqiang, explained.
He therefore called for closer cross-coverage of activities by African and Chinese media, so as to ensure the dissemination of “true and undiluted information“ to their respective peoples.
Weiqiang said that there were a lot of misconceptions, half-truths and blatant lies about China and Africa that were being floated by the Western media.
“We are looking at each other, not directly, but through the distorted vision of the Western media“, he said, adding that China and Africa need to have greater presence of their media at each other’s backyard so that they could cover each other “truthfully and openly”.
He said that , China had already established offices of its official party Newspaper, the Peoples Daily and the official News Agency, Xinhua, in major African cities, including Abuja, Nairobi and Johannesburg, and urged African countries to post correspondents to Beijing.
He said that 46 African countries were working closely with China on the area of exchange of visits such as the seminar for top media officials, which was becoming a regular feature.
He noted, however, that so far, only Kenya and South Africa had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Chinese government on collaboration in information dissemination.
Weiqiang insisted that for developing countries, the priority should be how to put food on the tables of their teeming populations and roofs above their heads and not “So called human rights for citizens”.
“Different countries at different stages of their development have different understandings of human rights, “ he said, noting that China and Africa must not be isolated at this time for incessant pummeling by the Western media.
“Unlike the Western nations, our priority is subsistence and housing for our people“, he said, noting that the Chinese government had brought together experts to define human rights as it affected China and that the government was satisfied that it was on the right track.
“China was never afraid of discussing the subject of human rights yesterday, today and will not be afraid to discuss it tomorrow, having published in 1991, its first position paper on human rights“, he said.
Speaking in the same vein, the Chinese Minister responsible for the State Council of Information office, Mr Wang Chen, called for the creation of a bridge across the gap between Africa and China.
“I urge you to build a bridge of China-Africa friendship with your Pens and Cameras; the Western media will never let us progress peacefully”.
On the African side, officials noted that a major problem was the corrupt tendencies of the leaders and their undying desire to hold on to power, even at the expiration of their official terms.
They agree that Africa, a continent richly endowed with human and material resources, was still groping in deprivation, disease, and gross under-development.
As noted by some of the African participants at the seminar, no Western nation would want to be doling out aid into a bottomless pit without seeing any positive improvement from those African countries that were dependent on such foreign aid.
Observers believe that some form of compromise will suffice in bridging the “war of words” between China, Africa and the West.
They also say that good government and development would further bridge the gaps. (NANFeatures).

(triumphnewspapers.com)

The Democratic Republic of Congo is defending a $9 billion mineral deal with China that is holding up a major international agreement aimed at reducing the DRC’s external debt.

China’s biggest investment deal in Africa would give state-owned firms the right to develop Congolese copper and cobalt mines in exchange for building roads, railways, hydroelectric dams, universities, airports and hospitals.

But the International Monetary Fund is holding off on debt relief for Congo because it says the agreement could lead to an explosive growth in debt, in part, because it is financed on commercial terms at a time when low commodity prices mean mining revenue may not cover as much of the infrastructure costs as originally planned.

Congolese Foreign Minister, Alexis Thambwe Mwamba says the agreement with China is good for Congo after generations of mineral exploitation by foreign firms.

For more than 100 years, Mwamba says, the riches of Congo have served to develop foreign countries, but not Congo, in what he calls a geologic scandal.

Some members of the Paris Club, an informal group of financial officials from several the world’s richest countries, are critical of the agreement because it gives the consortium of Chinese state-owned firms financial guarantees, including specific revenue set-asides, that make China a privileged creditor.

Congolese Foreign Minister Mwamba says it is not just about China.

Mwamba says President Joseph Kabila’s government is taking a new approach with partners to use mineral resources to help build the country’s infrastructure. He says it is not only about China and that it could include business partners from Australia, France, Belgium and the United States who want to help ease poverty in Congo by investing in water and electricity.

Hillary Clinton addresses panel discussion in Goma, Congo, 11 Aug 2009

The foreign minister spoke to reporters following a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. U.S. officials would not say whether Clinton brought up the Chinese mineral deal. When asked about China’s growing influence in Africa, Clinton said she is not looking at what anyone else is doing, only at what the United States can do.

The secretary of state did bring up the issue of illegal ore and diamond mining in Eastern Congo, the profits of which help fund militias there.

“I think the international community must start looking at steps we can take to try to prevent the mineral wealth from the DRC ending up in the hands of those who fund the violence here,” Clinton said. “Of course, you know that many of the mineral producers are very small operations; they are not corporations even. They are certainly not international. So this is a very challenging problem. But we are going to address it.”

Clinton told President Kabila that she would like Congo to comply with the Norwegian-based Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, which aims to improve accountability in oil and natural gas production as well as mining.

Twenty years ago, the few Africans in China were locked behind diplomatic walls in embassies, while those who came for trade restricted themselves to commercial cities such as Shanghai and Guangzhou. Today there’s a growing population of Africans in China, more than 20,000 in total, but the vast majority of Chinese have never seen one.

This is the reason many Chinese people from rural areas get overly excited when they meet Africans. Most of them had barely heard of Africans and the idea of people with black skin, and coiled texture hair is still far-fetched to them. At tourist sites like the Great Wall and Tiananmen Square you often see farmers queuing up to take pictures with Africans and sometimes the farmers even ask to touch and feel the Africans’ skin or hair.

While most Africans understand the Chinese reaction and try to be patient and calm when asked for pictures, sometimes the experience is shocking. Walking in Beijing one day, Daniel Tonga, a Zambian graduate student, saw a boy running after him, gesturing him to stop. After he stopped, several women appeared and they walked briskly to him with small digital cameras.

“They could not speak English so they gestured that they wanted to have a picture with me,” said Daniel.

Some Africans in China for a longer stay, such as students, talk of experiences beyond cultural shock and posing for pictures. Several said they felt a measure of discrimination and racism. One African student recalled one time on the train when as soon as he sat down the woman next to him covered her nose and tried to avoid any bodily contact, which was futile given how crowded trains are in China.

He was embarrassed and was confused for days until he asked his Chinese classmates what the problem with the woman might have been. “I felt bad hearing that some Chinese people believe that Africans have dark skin because they don’t bath,” the student said, “The woman covered her nose because she thought I would smell.”
Another student from Uganda said some taxi drivers refuse to pick Africans up. On several occasions, he said, he had been passed by a taxi only to see it stopping for either Chinese or Westerners standing a few metres from him.

“One time, it was raining but a taxi driver refused to take me while I was already in his car,” the student said.

Hearing African narrate their encounters with Chinese people, some Chinese clearly behave in ways deemed racist or discriminatory out of ignorance or sheer lack of exposure. For example, some Africans talk of Chinese who after touching African skin checked their fingers expecting that some color may have rubbed off. Others say when they get into a train Chinese avoid sitting next to them.

Looking at this behavior through a historical lens, it is forgivable. China has only been open to the outside world for 30 years and its exposure to Africans only dates back a few years.

It is likely that most Chinese behave this way more out of ignorance than ill will. I have heard of Chinese students who avoid contact with African students out of fear of violence or use of dirty words. This reaction is likely a direct Hollywood influence because in movies African-Americans are usually portrayed as gangsters.

I associate with most of the experiences shared by fellow Africans, especially posing for pictures. But given a chance to share my own experiences of being in China, I would talk about my fascination with the differences between social conventions here and in my home country, Malawi.

One Sunday I was on the train in Beijing. A young woman and her partner got on board and as soon as she sat down she pulled out a make-up kit from her bag.

Oblivious to the packed carriage, the woman held a small mirror in her left hand and started applying eyeliner. Surprised as I was by her boldness, I was much more surprised that no one seemed to pay attention to her, since in Malawi this would be considered shocking behavior, similar to getting dressed in public! By the time I got off, she was pinning her hair. I realized, though, that seeing this was just part of the process of familiarization that both Africans and Chinese have to go through.

As the population of Africans grows in China and more Chinese go to Africa, the two peoples will become more familiar with each other, and the stereotypes of the past will disappear.

The author is a student from Malawi now studying at the School of Journalism and Communication, Tsinghua University

Source: Global Times

by Guo Chunju

DAR ES SALAAM, (Xinhua) — The East African Community (EAC) is looking forward to reinforce trade, investment and various relations with China, which is seen as a more serious economic partner with the total acceptance of market, EAC Secretary General Juma Mwapachu said here on Wednesday.

In an exclusive interview with Xinhua on the sidelines of the 11th annual East African Power Industry Convention, Mwapachu said that the region is ready to work with China for development as the international financial crisis developed negative effects to the world economy.

“Market is the key driver of development,” the secretary general noted, hailing China’s reform and opening policy constructed by then Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping and adopted in 1978 in China.

“Most of China’s investment in the region focus on mineral resources, like copper, as well as infrastructure including roads. China has rich experience in developing energy sectors and east Africa has the potential for investment to develop energy, ” said the Mwapachu, who was former Tanzanian Ambassador to France and with a wide-ranging career in the public and private sectors in the east African country.

The 64-year-old experienced diplomat noted that gas reserves was detected in Rwanda and the region expects cooperation with China in the sectors of developing geothermal, wind and solar power.

He also expressed hope to make better use of the China-Africa Fund through the energetic regional body of EAC.

The secretary general further sent his warmest congratulation on the upcoming 60th founding anniversary of China on Oct. 1st this year.

On the integration process of the East Africa, Mwapachu noted that everything goes smoothly as the EAC is celebrating its 10th anniversary and the heads of states of its five members, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi, are expected to sign the EAC Common Market Protocol in November this year.

Under the theme “Pooling Resources for African Development”, the three-day 11th annual East African Power Industry Convention, which began on Tuesday with pre-conference round table sessions, attracted more than 280 delegates from nearly 20 countries to address pertinent issues on infrastructural requirements to support national development programs.

By Janine Zacharia

(Bloomberg) — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton showed irritation today in the Democratic Republic of Congo when she was asked what her husband, former President Bill Clinton, thought about a Chinese deal with the African nation.

“You want me to tell you what my husband thinks?” Clinton responded to a question, posed through a translator, from a university student at a town hall meeting in the capital, Kinshasa. “My husband is not secretary of state. I am. If you want my opinion I’ll tell you my opinion. I’m not going to be channeling my husband.”

An aide to Clinton said State Department officials on the trip listened later to a tape of the question and determined it had been translated correctly. Afterward, the student approached Clinton and apologized, said the aide, who discussed the matter on the condition of anonymity.

China has proposed a $9 billion loan for infrastructure improvements in Congo in exchange for control of 10 million metric tons of copper and 600 million tons of cobalt.

The International Monetary Fund said in May that Congo wouldn’t qualify for $10 billion in debt relief until the offer is altered so the Congolese government is no longer the guarantor for the Chinese loan. The IMF wants to avoid burdening Congo with further debt.

The start of Clinton’s seven-country trip to Africa was overshadowed last week as her husband flew to North Korea, met with dictator Kim Jong Il, and won the release of two U.S. journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who had been detained for more than four months.

To contact the reporter on this story: Janine Zacharia in Kinshasa, Congo, at jzacharia@bloomberg.net

(bloomberg.com)

A woman walked into the kitchen to find her Husband stalking around with a fly swatter.

‘What are you doing?’,
She asked.

‘Hunting Flies’,He responded.

‘Oh.! Killing any?’,She asked.

‘Yep,3 males,2 Females,’he replied.

Intrigued, she asked. “How can you tell them apart?’

He responded, “3 were on a beer can,2 were on the phone.”

(thespoof.com)