Africans In China

By Joe Bavier

KINSHASA, (Reuters) - Congo and the International Monetary Fund have yet to resolve disagreements over a Chinese infrastructure-for-minerals package that is blocking much needed debt relief, IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said on Sunday.

Under the $9 billion package signed early last year, cash-strapped Democratic Republic of Congo granted Chinese companies lucrative copper and cobalt concessions in exchange for the building of roads, railways, and hospitals.

IMF officials worry the contract, a key element of President Joseph Kabila’s post-war economic policy, will plunge the central African nation deeper into debt, and have delayed forgiveness of most of the $10 billion Congo already owes.

Strauss-Kahn, who is in Congo on a three-day visit aimed at relaunching a formal programme there, told journalists after a meeting with Kabila and Prime Minister Adolphe Muzito that the two parties were still seeking a way out of the impasse.

“I think that it’s possible, but it’s not certain … If we leave things as they are, there could be elements of contradiction,” he said.

The IMF has said it will wait for the results of the Chinese contract’s feasibility study, expected next month, before it takes a decision on debt relief.

Congolese officials say the government will not incur any further debt as a result of the deal and that the projects are necessary to rebuild the vast country after decades of dictatorship and a devastating 1998-2003 war.

“These two things are sometimes a bit difficult to put in place at the same time. That is why we must work on this. But I think that it is possible to get there. It’s not done yet. We’re not there yet,” Strauss-Kahn said.

He said he hoped the issue of debt relief could be resolved in the coming weeks.

ECONOMY IN CRISIS

Congo’s mining-driven economy has been crippled by the global economic downturn that has led to a fall in demand for mineral exports, its primary foreign currency earner. Income from mining and oil exports make up around 60 percent of state revenues.

Benchmark world prices for copper MCU3, Congo’s primary mineral export, on the London Metal Exchange traded at around $4,600 per tonne on Friday, down from a record high of almost $9,000 per tonne last July.

In March, the IMF slashed Congo’s 2009 growth forecast to 2.7 percent from an October projection of more than 10 percent.

Direct foreign investment, primarily in the mining sector, was slashed by around two-thirds.

By February, Congo’s foreign reserves had all but evaporated.

Central bank interventions in the local currency market, backed by an IMF disbursement of around $200 million in emergency funds, have in recent weeks helped stabilise the country’s sliding franc currency <CDF=>. (Editing by Daniel Magnowski and Jan Paschal)

Beijing is using its huge capital availability to seize African mineral assets at bargain basement prices to secure long term supplies.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -

Chinese companies are making a major push into mining and related projects in Africa, using reserves of cash unavailable to Western competitors to scoop up assets at steep discounts, a seminar heard on Thursday.

With many mines struggling due to the slump in commodity prices that followed the global financial crisis, Beijing is seizing the chance to get its hands on the mineral resources needed to fuel its long-term growth and urbanisation.

“There is a very clear mindset in Beijing,” Martyn Davies, head of African investment consultancy Frontier Advisory, said. “They see this as the greatest opportunity for a very long time, and being so cash flush, it’s all systems go.”

Many Chinese companies are state-backed, giving them access to Beijing’s massive funding reserves and freeing them from the need to placate shareholders.

Western companies are suffering from heavily depressed share prices and an inability to access loan finance due to the reluctance of European and U.S. banks to take on risk.

“Chinese state-owned companies are walking around with massive cheque books and cheap debt. Western companies don’t have access to cheap debt,” said Nivaash Singh, a mining and resources specialist at South Africa’s Nedbank.

Three months ago, Davies and other analysts noted the global slowdown had forced Chinese businesses to close operations in Africa and prompted rethinks of some multi-billion dollar deals.

The recovery off the lows in prices of key commodities such as copper has now given fresh impetus to the Chinese juggernaut.

Major Chinese-Africa deals range from a mines-for-infrastructure agreement with Guinea, the world’s top bauxite exporter, to a $9 billion package signed in 2007 with Congo to build roads, railways, hospitals and schools in exchange for copper and cobalt..

Earlier this month, copper producer Zambia picked NFC Africa, a subsidiary of China Non-ferrous Metals Corporation (CNMC), to run its Luanshya Copper Mines, a major operation that shut in December due to the economic downturn.

Underscoring the strategic importance Beijing attaches to Africa, Chinese President Hu Jintao toured the continent in February to reassure African governments that the forced closure of some Chinese concerns did not presage a wider withdrawal.

Last year, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC)

also took a 20 percent stake in South Africa’s Standard Bank as part of a plan to bring together Chinese capital and Standard’s expertise in emerging African markets.

“There are a number of deals that we’re looking at together, and they’re starting to come to fruition,” said Standard Bank mining specialist Mark Cohen. He declined to give details.

By Tichaona Chifamba

HARARE, (Xinhua) — China should look at Zimbabwe as its centre-piece for development co-operation in Africa because the country is more psychologically and strategically prepared to accept China as a development partner than any other country, a former Zimbabwean diplomat has said.

Businessman and former Zimbabwean Ambassador to China Chris Mutsvangwa told Xinhua in a sideline of a symposium on Sino-Africa and Sino-Zimbabwe relations here recently that Zimbabwe was strategically located in the Southern Africa region because most of the telecommunications and transport network were interlinked through the country.

“If you are talking of a strategic location as an investor, this is the place you will think of putting your industry. But more important, because of the fact that we have made more advances than any other country in opening up to China, we are much more psychologically prepared to accept China as an investment partner,” Mutsvangwa said.

Mutsvangwa said Zimbabwe’s problems with the West also stem from the advances it had made in dealing with emerging powers like China and India. “No African country is advanced in thinking as Zimbabwe,” he said.

He encouraged more Chinese investment in Zimbabwe, saying Zimbabwe was not a basket case, but a case for the future of Africa.

Mutsvangwa said there was no way people to people relations could be furthered unless there were Chinese banks in Africa.

“We need sooner rather than later, Chinese banks to have a physical presence in Zimbabwe in one way or another. I know that there you have the China Development Bank but that’s a policy bank. We need presence in the commercial banking sector,” he said.

He also proposed a currency swap between Zimbabwe and China to help restore the value of the local currency and the creation of local economic zones.

While Air Zimbabwe flew to China, Mutsvangwa called for reciprocal flights from the Chinese.

The Secretary of Regional Integration and International Co-operation, Tadeous Chifamba, also proposed a currency swap but went further to highlight the lack of specific integration between China and regional organizations such as the Southern African Development Community.

He added that Zimbabwe had not fully optimized the benefits of bilateral cooperation because of balance of payments problems resulting from persistent droughts and the effects of sanctions.

However, he said, there are high expectations that China, which has always stood by Zimbabwe, will participate actively in the economic recovery efforts of the inclusive government by giving support to the Short term Economic Recovery Program though any or a combination of the following measures: debt rescheduling or forgiveness, provisions of lines of credit and credit loan financing.
Editor: Wang Guanqun

Uk firms to consult with private firms and state investors to try and avoid disasters of the continent’s colonial past
???? | Read this in Chinese

China has embarked on a series of joint projects with Britain in Africa, with the aim of avoiding the abuses and mistakes committed by former colonial powers as it rapidly increases its economic role on the continent.

China invested $4.5bn in infrastructure in Africa in 2007, more than the G8 countries combined, and much of the investment has been private. The number of Chinese companies operating in Africa has more than doubled in just two years to 2,000, with about 400 operating in Nigeria alone, according to new research.

In contrast to the “one-dimensional” stereotype of state-owned enterprises extracting natural resources, most of the investment is from privately-owned firms and many are involved in manufacturing.

However, many of the business practices followed by those companies, such as a preference for using Chinese workers, coupled with Beijing’s belief that human rights are the preserve of host country governments, have led to claims that the rapid rise in Chinese influence in Africa has not helped its human rights.

“The Chinese firms that are moving are building infrastructure, they are building roads, they are providing jobs for people, but at the same time: what they are not doing, neither the Chinese government nor the companies, is raising any issues about how the population are being treated,” Irene Khan, Amnesty International’s secretary general, said today.

“Therefore we find that the Chinese presence is not helping the human rights situation. It might be aggravating it when revenues and resources are being paid into coffers of hugely corrupt and oppressive governments.”

In an apparent reflection of Chinese anxiety over its reputation in Africa, both embassies and companies have been urged by Beijing to forge closer links to local communities.

China has also entered into a partnership with Britain’s department for international development, (Dfid)intended to monitor and control the social and environmental impact of Chinese investment.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, for example, Dfid is working with the government and Chinese companies to fund the drafting of social and environmental standards that road building projects will have to adhere to, and to carry out assessments of the impact of the new roads.

Until now, most attention has focused on the multibillion-pound infrastructure-for-resources deals which China has signed with African governments.

The problem facing such government-to-government programmes is that the projects are no longer being carried out by central planners, but by a plethora of Chinese firms.

Evidence from more than 100 interviews with businesspeople and officials in both China and Africa indicates that more than 80% of the companies operating on the continent are privately owned. In 2006, the Chinese EXIM Bank estimated that there were only about 800 Chinese companies in Africa.

“These entrepreneurs have an agenda of their own, which they have been left free to pursue by the Chinese government. It is the usual one of the pursuit of profit and the exploitation of business and market opportunity,” said dr Jing Gu, a research fellow at Sussex University’s Institute of Development Studies, which carried out the research.

She said Chinese businesses were well placed to tap into what some called “the last golden land” because of similarities to the Chinese market of the 1980s and 90s, and because there was so much competition domestically.

“The Chinese private entrepreneur … is willing to take a long view and endure tough contemporary conditions and relatively low returns to be able to entrench himself locally,” she argued.

Plummeting exports to Europe and America – with trade hit by both the appreciating renminbi and the global economic crisis – have increased the keenness to move into new markets. One Chinese newspaper described Africa as “the best refuge for sunstroke prevention from the financial crisis”.

While Beijing has encouraged businesses to move into overseas markets, officials monitor activity so loosely that many of the firms Gu studied have not even registered their investments.

According to official figures, only 4% of China’s foreign direct investment went to Africa in 2006, compared to 26% to Latin America and 64% to Asia. But Gu said the pace of growth has been rapid.

While some firms employ significant amounts of local labour in Africa, Gu said resentment was building up in some places.

“Specific problems do arise because of the tendency of Chinese to behave quite ethno-centrically. They prefer to employ their own people; not so much Chinese nationals, as people from the same regions or even extended families as themselves, whom they know and are used to.

“Also, the Chinese work ethic is to work very hard, long hours for little money, hoping eventually to establish themselves in an area, to be able to replace others. Some of them even import some labour illegally to get around local immigration restrictions. This does produce some social tension and even violence between Chinese and Africans in such countries as Nigeria, Ghana and Madagascar,” she said.

“But there is also recognition of the actual and potential benefits of China’s involvement.”

(guardian.co.uk)

May. (China Knowledge) - Shenzhen Huaqiang Holdings Ltd, parent of Shenzhen Huaqiang Industry Co Ltd<000062>, plans to build a theme park in Johannesburg, South Africa, sources reported.

Huaqiang Holdings signed the contract with the China Development Bank, China-Africa Development Fund (CAD Fund) and South Africa-based Industrial Development Corporation at the China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industries Fair.

The theme park, namely Fantawild Adventure, will cover a land area of 770,000 square meters in Johannesburg. It will consist of three zones, which are distinguished by Chinese culture, African culture and global culture. The total investment is expected to be up to RMB 250 million.

Liang Guangwei, president of Huaqiang Holdings, said construction of the theme park would begin at the end of 2009.

The park is estimated to be completed in three years and will attract around 2 million visitors each year.

Huaqiang Holdings built its first theme park in Chongqing in 2006, which proved to be a huge success.

Cuito, Angola, – The Public Works Director of Bié province in Angola, João Marques Banco said Tuesday in Cuito that over 1,000 kilometres of roads would be rebuilt in the province over the next few years.

Speaking to Angolan news agency Angop, Marques Banco noted that after the refurbishment of roads, a further 1,500 kilometres of secondary and tertiary roads would be rebuilt, in a project co-funded by municipal authorities and the Local Management fund.

Marques Banco said he was satisfied with the road reconstruction programme and noted that asphalting of the Cuito-Chitembo road was progressing well and that base and sub-base work had been completed on the Cuito-Andulo and Calussinga section (Kwanza Sul).

He said that work was going well on the Andulo-Nharea contract, in the hands of Chinese company Sinohydro.

He also added that on the 78-kilometre Kuito-Kamacupa road, in the hands of the Clamar company, work was also progressing satisfactorily.

The road reconstruction programme in Bié province involves constrution companies, Empresa de Terraplenagem e Pavimentações (Paviterra), Clamar, Monte Adriano and Sinohydro, amongst others. (macauhub)

MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine customs authorities have seized an estimated 3.5 tonnes of elephant tusks from two containers sent from Tanzania, one of the largest such consignments found in the country, officials said on Wednesday.

The consignment arrived in Manila in March and immediately drew suspicion because it was said to contain plastic, said Customs police chief Nestorio Gualberto.

“What kind of plastic materials does Tanzania produce?” he said. “We suspected right away that these were elephant tusks.”

No one came to claim the consignment and there have been no arrests.

Officials said some of the tusks weighed as much as 25 kg each. They valued the consignment at over $2 million, although that appears to be a conservative estimate given that in some countries prices are at or above $1,500 per kg.

While there is an illegal market in the Philippines for religious icons made of ivory, officials suspect the tusks were bound for China, where there is thriving demand.

There, the tusks are mainly manufactured into chopsticks or mahjong chips.

Three years ago, about 6 tonnes of elephant tusks from Zambia were also seized in Manila’s container port

BEIJING, (Reuters) - In the latest advertisement of China’s currency ambitions, an official suggested on Wednesday that the yuan could make up more than 3 percent of global foreign exchange reserves by 2020.

The yuan <CNY=CFXS> is not convertible for purely financial purposes, ruling it out as a reserve currency for now, but China has started to carve out a bigger international role for its money.

A pilot scheme will start soon in Hong Kong to use the yuan to settle trade with selected companies in southern Guangdong province; China has signed yuan swap deals totalling 650 billion yuan ($95 billion) since December with six central banks; and on Tuesday two foreign banks said they had won permission to float yuan bonds in Hong Kong. [ID:nSHA239335]

Zhang Guangping, vice-head of the Shanghai branch of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, acknowledged that a series of conditions would have to be met for the yuan internationalisation trend to gather momentum.

China would have to gradually make the yuan convertible on the capital account; it needed a more liquid foreign exchange market; its bond markets and banking system needed to be more developed; and there had to be proper monitoring of cross-border capital flows, Zhang told a foreign exchange conference.

But, hypothetically, he said there was no reason why the yuan could not account for over three percent of global reserves by 2020, the target date for Shanghai to have evolved into an international financial centre.

That would mean the yuan displacing the Japanese yen as the fourth-largest currency in reserve portfolios, behind the pound, the euro and the dollar.

Zhang told reporters later his target was plausible, given the rapid growth of China’s economy and outbound investment and its big share of world trade.

“We have the conditions to reach such a proportion,” he said.

In late March, central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan signalled China’s intention to play a greater role on the global currency stage by proposing that the dollar be eventually replaced as the dominant reserve currency by a beefed-up version of the Special Drawing Right, the International Monetary Fund’s unit of account. (Reporting by Langi Chiang and Simon Rabinovitch; Writing by Alan Wheatley; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner)

China’s engagement with Africa represents a major transition in the continent’s strategic landscape, said an African expert.

“I think for many years there was a feeling among Africans that there was a very limited interest from Western countries, the traditional trading partners,” Dr. Peter Lewis, director of the African Studies program at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), told Xinhua in a recent interview.

He noted that the levels of direct investment and trade between Africa and Europe and the United States had not been increasing significantly from the 1970s to 1990s.

On the other hand, beginning around 2000 or 2001, China significantly expanded its engagement with Africa, pouring investment and aid into the continent, he said.

“In China, there is a perception that there are many opportunities in Africa, and Africa is a continent with many possibilities for growth and for enterprise and for trade and investment,” said Lewis.

As an important strategic partner in Africa, China is offering the poverty-stricken continent a way out of destitution, said the scholar, who has written extensively on questions of economic adjustment, democratization, and civil society in Africa.

“China has reduced poverty, and China has become a major manufacturing power” over the past 20 years, Lewis said.

“I think that many African countries see they have more in common with China, which recently came out of poverty and underdevelopment, than they have with Western countries, which were colonial powers and have developed and industrialized for many years,” he stated.

He said that there was a much more balanced view with China’s relations with Africa here in the United State and less concern about direct competition between the country and China with regard to Africa relations.

“I think there will be a great appreciation in the West, as Chinese leaders are certainly increasing their engagement with African countries,” he said.

Lewis believed that Africa benefited a lot from the relations with China in terms of improved infrastructure, and trade and investment opportunities and that benefit could be reciprocal.

“I think it is not necessarily a win-win situation in all instances but certainly there is a potential,” he said.

Source:Xinhua

Dwindling value of the Chinese stock markets might have hit China’s wealthy dramatically, the number of millionaires on the mainland in Renminbi has hit a record 825,000, says Rupert Hoogewerf in his latest Hurun report, writes the China Daily. More than 51,000 have even more than 100 million Renminbi.
Rupert Hoogewerf has been tracking China’s wealthy since 1999.
The China Daily:

According to the new report, the number of wealthy people with more than 10 million yuan in Beijing, Guangdong and Shanghai made up nearly half of the total.

Beijing, with a population at more than 16 million, boasts the highest number of millionaires — at around 143,000.

The capital was followed by south China’s Guangdong province, where the number of 10-million tycoons reached 137,000. The business hub of Shanghai has 116,000 such wealthy people.

The report showed that average age of the millionaires was 39, and those people fell into four categories: businessmen, those with high-profile jobs such as celebrities, those who earned money from housing trades and professional stock investors.

(chinaherald.net)

Microsoft is already a dominant brand in Africa

Microsoft has defended itself against criticism over aggressive marketing techniques in Africa to win people over to its software.

“Despite the wealth of information that gets around, it’s sad that sometimes reality has a hard time catching up with perception,” said Dr Cheikh Modibo Diarra, chairman of Microsoft in Africa.

“I think that that perception comes from the fact that we are very successful because wherever we are, we are competing respectfully and openly; you can verify that everywhere,” he told the BBC World Service’s Digital Planet programme.

For Dr Diarra, one problem alone defines Africa’s situation.

“Technology wise, African needs can be summarised in one word: access,” he said.

“When you talk about access, you talk about affordability of hardware, software and connectivity, which is 50 to 100 times more expensive in Africa than in the US,” said Dr Diarra.

Too aggressive

Microsoft is on its way to becoming a dominant brand in Africa, mainly through the deals made with various governments.

“We are very conscious of the environment in which we do business, where our employees and customers live, we always try to empower those communities,” said Dr Diarra.

“Africa is really the last frontier in not only developing technology that is specific to people’s needs, but eventually even developing new business models that will enable the emergence of local software industries, such as young people who have the skills to be able to write their own applications for their own community,” he said.

Competition time

In Africa, Microsoft faces strong competition from open-source software, in particular the Linux operating system. Many use Linux and run free counterparts to the Microsoft Office suite.

Open source gives people more opportunity to adapt applications to their needs

Ken Banks from Kiwanja.net has spent 15 years developing open source applications in Africa and feels that the battle between proprietary and open-source software is changing rapidly.

“Today we’re seeing growing open-source programmer, developer communities in South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and other African countries.

“Clearly, if you have this informal programming sector coming up, access to source code is almost critical if they are going to be able to take advantage of these new tools that are emerging,” he said.

Not all open-source software is hard to use or requires training Ken Banks

Mr Banks feels that if programmers do not have access to source code, then much of the empowerment that Microsoft talks about, is blocked.

He also feels that even the cost of open-source software is over-exaggerated.

“Not all open-source software is hard to use or requires training,” he said.

“In-fact many users wouldn’t really be that interested in source code at all, they would simply download binaries and run those,” said Mr Banks.

Binaries are simply the installation files of a given application - rather than the core code.

“Open Office runs exactly like Microsoft Office but you don’t need to worry about the source code being made available if you are not really that interested in getting stuck into it,” he added.

Affordability and invention

One major criticism levied at Microsoft is the cost of owning its software.

However, Dr Diarra feels that the question of affordability can be overcome by simply changing the business model.

“You buy Microsoft software, and you buy it once and for all, the cost that we tell you is the total cost for ownership”.

While others may even offer the software for free, Microsoft offers support 24/7 for all customers, so any problems encountered can be resolved without paying extra.

Microsoft has also faced criticism for one of the new programs it has developed for emerging markets, called Vine.

This helps people communicate after a disaster where the infrastructure has been destroyed or put out of commission.

For Ken Banks from Kiwanja.net, Vine replicates software already developed for such a need.

“There are already a number of tools out there, including Ushahidi.com, which is doing a very similar thing.

“Microsoft are basically trying to own the space through the development and creation of Vine.

“I don’t know if people really want to have crowd-sourcing, crisis systems such as that being controlled by a single organisation who would decide what upgrades are done, when they are done, and when they are released.

“People are far more comfortable working on things like Ushahidi.com, which has managed to mobilise a large number of developers all around the world including Africa,” added Mr Banks.

Digital Planet is broadcast on BBC World Service on Tuesday at 1232 GMT and repeated at 1632 GMT, 2032 GMT and on Wednesday at 0032 GMT.

You can listen online or download the podcast .

(BBC)

MAPUTO, Mozambique (AFP)–Mozambique will receive $3 million in military aid from China under an agreement signed recently in Beijing, Mozambique’s Defense Ministry said Wednesday.

A Defense Ministry spokesman said the money would be used to purchase logistical equipment.

“The Chinese Defense Ministry guaranteed that, despite the world financial crisis, it will continue to support the armed forces of Mozambique with logistical assistance and training,” ministry spokesman Cristovao Artur Chume said in a statement.

China has taken a keen interest in Mozambique in recent years.

The country became Mozambique’s second-largest investor last year, bringing in $76.8 million - second only to neighboring South Africa.

Chinese financing has funded such projects as a hydroelectric dam, a convention center and a national football stadium.

China’s role in Africa has expanded rapidly as its economy has boomed.

It is the continent’s second-biggest trading partner after the U.S., a relationship fueled in part by petroleum imports from oil-rich African countries such as Angola and Sudan.

HARARE,(Xinhua) — Zimbabwe’s Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi said on Tuesday Africa will continue to work with China in pushing for the reform of the United Nations so that it caters for the needs of all member states.

Addressing a one-day symposium on China-Africa and China-Zimbabwe relations, Mumbengegwi said the UN needs to be reformed particularly the Security Council which has continued to be viewed as biased towards superpowers such as the United States and Britain.

“China and Africa will continue to wok together to reform the UN, especially the Security Council to ensure it is transparent and accountable,” Mumbengegwi said.

He said China won many African friends when it vetoed, together with Russia, attempts by some western countries to punish Zimbabwe under chapter seven of the UN Charter.

Mumbengegwi said that support was a triumph of their shared commitment to the principal of non interference in the internal affairs of other states.

China, he said, was an all weather friend for Africa because it provides development assistance without conditions.

Under its Forum on China-Africa Cooperation launched in 2000, China is seeking a new strategic partnership with Africa that is premised on the cardinal principals of sovereignty and win-win situation.

As a result of the policy, Africa has benefited from development assistance from the Asian country for construction of hospitals, rural schools and agricultural technological demonstration canters.

“Let us therefore continue to explore every possible avenue of cooperation between China and Africa to improve the lives of both peoples,” Mumbengegwi said.

Chinese ambassador to Zimbabwe Yuan Nansheng said there was greater scope for further strengthening of ties between the two countries.

“Our efforts should contribute towards deepening the China-Africa relations to address some of the challenges we may be facing,” he said.

The one-day symposium attracted participants from a number of African embassies based in Zimbabwe, and ran under the theme “regional integration in southern Africa and China-Zimbabwe relations in the 21st century”.

The symposium is the second to be held in Zimbabwe after a similar one in 2007.
Editor: An

Johannesburg — AS THE geopolitical ambitions of SA and Africa shift from trade links with established economies in favour of ties with the robust economies in the southern hemisphere, trade experts are encouraging Africa to engage actively with countries such as China and India to formalise ties.

Asian economies have considerably upped the investment ante on the continent over the past decade. Between 2002 and 2005, China was the second-biggest investor in Africa with 32 new projects.

While China is keen to claim its stake of Africa’s extractive industries such as oil and minerals, it has also been actively involved in strategic sectors such as agri-processing, financial services, power generation, road construction, tourism and telecommunications. Africa would benefit from increased investment in these sectors.

Moreover, Africa’s exports to China have grown impressively. In the five years from 2000 to 2005, the continent’s exports to China increased 48% annually, and at least some believe that sustained ties with China could help cushion Africa from the fallout resulting as a result of the global economic downturn.

SA’s share of Chinese investment is considerable. In 2005, bilateral trade surpassed $6bn, representing a formidable 53% rise over the previous year. In the same year, China’s exports to SA grew 45,5% while imports rose 70%. The total volume of two-way investment between China and SA in 2005 surpassed the $500m mark, while SA was also the recipient of the largest single investment in Africa last year when the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China acquired a 20% stake in Standard Bank in a deal valued at R54bn.

But some observe China’s increased forays into Africa with concern and warn that African countries should craft a common, co-ordinated approach to ensure that Chinese projects are linked to local supply systems if they want the investments to benefit local economies.

“China has a strategy for Africa, but does Africa have a strategy for China? We need a regional, possibly continent-wide strategy rather than the bilateral approach we have been following, otherwise Africa stands to lose out totally,” trade and industrial consultant Mike Morris says.

Speaking at a session at the African Development Bank annual meeting in Dakar last week, Morris said Africa had the potential to follow a commodities-based industrialisation path. What was important was how it harnessed Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI).

Chinese FDI on the continent is seldom characterised by skills transfer, local job creation or linkages to local businesses, and it was pertinent that Africa attached some conditions that would leverage investment benefits for local economies.

“There is a cash-cow extraction threat if these investments are not linked up to the value chain of local manufacturers. Are we developing a local manufacturing class and involving local labour? And what kind of production do we see from these investments? Is it simple assembling or complex production? There are fundamental challenges around harnessing value-add,” says Morris.

Morris said a “regional approach is the answer” when dealing with China, as some countries would not be able to negotiate individually.

Some experts also urge for the formalisation of so-called Singapore issues, such as rules on investment and government procurement.

Tralac executive director Trudi Hartzenberg believes it is important to have a rules-based system to ensure that investments take place in a proper and transparent legal framework. “Foreign firms invest in our part of the world. But on what terms do these investments come to our markets? Capacity constraints in many state departments mean individuals end up with far too much policy space and make deals with foreign investors. There are government officials involved in business with foreigners … the sea of corruption looms large in the absence of a rules-based system,” she says.
(ALLAFRICA)

Despite the global financial crisis, Chinese outbound departures are expected to reach 50 million in 2009, up over 9% from last year.

Chinese tourists made a staggering 45.8 million outbound trips last year, up 11.94 percent from 2007, as the appreciation of the yuan against other currencies raised their purchasing power.

At the 5th COTTM 2009, (China Outbound Travel & Tourism Market), a number of exhibitors shared their views on the Chinese outbound market.

“The business prospects of the Chinese market compared to other markets is very good. We need to continue these two types of travel marts to continue to educate the travel agents about the various destinations that their customers can experience,” said a representative from the Guam Visitors Bureau.

“With the fast growing economy of China, prospects are there for more Chinese people to travel overseas as they will have a lot of disposable income,” said a spokesperson from Tanzania National Parks.

A tourism in Italy exhibitor said, “It is no doubt that China is the biggest increasing market in the global area and it will recover fast from the financial crisis”.

“The growing trend shows China will be the biggest outbound market in the near future,” said a representative from Tourism Western Australia.

(etravelblackboardasia.com)

DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA - Counterfeit imports worth US$12,000 were destroyed in Dar es Salaam last week.

They were destroyed by the Fair Competition Commission (FCC) at Kinyamwezi rubbish dump after being intercepted at Dar es Salaam Port.

The imports comprised extension cables, radios, oil and air filters and mobile phone accessories. They had been imported by three firms: King Crown Import and Export Limited, Mwanza Iward and Habas Magreth, and Haji Mwajuma Ibrahim.

The destruction was overseen by FCC staff, the police and media personnel.

The FCC Legal Officer, Laiton Mhesa, who supervised the torching of the imports said the three importers were also fined TShs5 million (around $4600) and paid for the cost of destruction in accordance with the Merchant Marks Act of 1963. The importers lost their goods after they had paid import duty as well.

He said the fake imports which originated from China and United Arab Emirates were discovered by the Dar es Salaam Port customs officials who reported the matter to FCC.

He said FCC depends on the Tanzania Revenue Authority and the general public for information that leads to impounding and destruction of fake imports that threaten not only business competitiveness but lives as well.

Mhesa said: “The FCC would like to reiterate its call to merchandise importers to desist from trading in counterfeit products as they stand to face stern legal actions including imprisonment, fine and destruction of their merchandise at their own cost.”

The legal officer said if an importer declines to pay the fine, he is prosecuted and if found guilty is fined between TShs5 million and TShs50 million ($46,000), or a jail term or both.

Mhesa said guilty importers of counterfeits have been fined over TShs300 million ($295,000) todate.

(busiweek.com)

FREETOWN, (Reuters) - China is to build two hydro-electric dams in Sierre Leone as part of efforts to foster ties with the West African country, its ambassador there said late on Monday.

Qiu Shaofang told reporters Sierra Leone’s President Ernest Bai Koroma was due to make a state visit to China starting on Sunday to discuss bilateral ties and assistance.

“Despite the current international economic downturn, China has promised not to reduce assistance to African countries, particularly Sierra Leone,” Qiu said.

The two dams would be built over three years in the northern city of Makeni, Koroma’s home base, and in Port Loko, 75 miles (120 km) from the capital Freetown.

Sierre Leone is seeking to put years of conflict behind it and attract investors. China, which has seen its trade with Africa jump in recent years, has frequently offered help to African nations in building dams despite criticism from campaigners about their impact on the local environment. (Reporting by Christo Johnson; Writing by Mark John; Editing by Giles Elgood)

Luanda – The African Union is seeking a consensus on the creation of a Union’s Government, said in Luanda the director for Africa and Middle East of the Angolan Foreign Ministry, Nelson Cosme.

Speaking to Angop on the occasion of the Africa’s Day, May 25, the official said a debate is underway, seeking a consensus, in view of existing divergences.

He said there are positions defending an agreement or ratification from states for the transformation of a supra-national structure.

According to the official, there are indications that the process is moving towards an intergovernmental institution, adding that the debate on the issue is still going on.

Nelso Cosme characterised the activity of the continental over three decades as comprising two stages.

He mentioned that the political purpose – the constitution of the Organisation of African Unity (OUA) was accomplished, as well as the liberation of the peoples from colonial rule and attainment of their independences, of which the Western Sahara is left.

To him, there is a component concerning the economic integration and the role the continental institution can play in the prevention and management of conflicts.

The diplomat stated that these two elements have been essential to the current structure of the organisation that is the African Union Commission, with specific programmes to respond to the economic matters and adoption of an architecture capable of responding for the management and prevention of conflicts, namely with the creation of the Peace and Security Council and other structures that did not exist in the past.

Commenting on coup d’Etats in the continent, the Foreign Ministry’s Africa and Middle East director, said the African Union should not accept this way of winning power.

He recalled that in the light of the dispositions contained in the Lome and Alger accords, institutionalised later by the AU, this purpose has been fulfilled, mentioning the example of Mauritania, Guinea Conakry and others whose states ceased to have a seat within the organisation, after they were found to have used violence to win power.

The OAU was created on May 25 1963, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on an initiative by the Ethiopian emperor, Hailé Selassié, through the signing of its constitution by representatives of 32 Governments of African independent countries.

The continental organisation was replaced by the African Union on July 9, 2002.
(portalangop.co.ao)

Story by Judith Makwanya

Foreign Affairs Minister, Cde Simbarashe Mbengegwi has hailed the Sino-Zimbabwe relations and the good partnership between the Asian nation and Africans.

He was speaking at a one day symposium of Zimbabwean Academia and 17 senior scholars from China in Harare.

The symposium is aimed at crafting strategies for strengthening South-South co-operation and to deepen relations between Zimbabwe and China, and China-Africa relations.

It is a follow-up of a similar one held in 2007.

The forum is also a platform for intellectuals of both countries to make contributions to the broadening and deepening of co-operation between Zimbabwe.

Minister Mbengegwi paid tribute to China for the assistance that it continues to give to Zimbabwe and Africa as a whole, in the post-colonial era which includes non-credit development assistance, provision of social services in the health, education and infrastructure development sectors.

Cde Mbengegwi said Zimbabwe and other African countries should take advantage of China’s strong financial and human resources as well as technological expertise to develop partnerships based on a win-win situation.

Minister Mbengegwi said Zimbabwe’s look east policy has yielded benefits in the socio-economic development of the country especially in regards to support for the agricultural mechanization programme.

Chinese Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Mr Yuan Nansheng welcomed the meeting as a platform for Zimbabwe and China to explore Zimbabwe-China and China-Africa relations.

At the same symposium, Secretary in the Ministry of Regional Integration, Cde Tadeous Chifamba spoke of the challenges in the Sino-Zim relations.

The group of Chinese scholars are among leading experts in international politics and Africa study in China and most of them are visiting Zimbabwe for the first time.
(newsnet.co.zw)

KUNMING, (Xinhua) — Two Chinese explorers in the Sahara Desert have been out of contact for more than three days, said sources from their hometown in southwestern Yunnan Province Tuesday.

Olympic torch bearer Jin Feibao and geologist Fei Xuan began their desert tour in Algeria May 16. According to their plan, the pair would ride on camels and maintain contact via satellite communication facilities.

After beginning their trip, the pair has not been heard from, said Xu Hongyan, one of Jin’s employees who was put in charge of their communications.

“Jin is an experienced explorer and was equipped with advanced communication facilities,” Xu said.

She has called the exploration company in Algeria where the explorers rented camels. That company agreed to send out a rescue team.

If those efforts fail, Xu planned to contact the Algerian Embassy in China for help on Wednesday.

A woman with the Chinese Embassy in Algeria, surnamed Jiang, told Xinhua via telephone that she learned of the missing explorers from the media and would be reporting the information tothe ambassador.

She could not confirm Xu’s story or say what measures might be taken by the embassy.

Jin and Fei started an expedition in Africa last month. They planned to cover 7,500 kilometers throughout Ghana, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Algeria, Libya and Egypt within 80 days.
Editor: Yan