Africans In China

“Try to imagine, on the morning of Nov. 5, a brown-skinned African-American might be announced officially to be the next president of the United States. The historic moment would be seen on television all around the world . . . What kind of signal do you think it’s sending?” my British colleague from the Daily Telegraph asked me while Barack Obama was waving to his fans during his final rally in Colorado on Oct. 26.

It’s also the question I’ve been trying to answer for the last two weeks. A taxi driver from Jamaica told me that it would signal an end to white America. A cameraman from Uganda said it would be a blessing to African people. Some sophomore from the University of Denver told me that it would reflect the evolution of societies. McCain supporters would call it a signal of socialism, but the Chinese-American voters I spoke with, who knew socialism well, said that’s out of the question.

That’s interesting. Everyone seems to be getting a different signal from the possibility of an Obama victory today. I think there must be more positive signals than negative ones.

But what if Obama is not elected? Does it mean Americans cannot accept a black president? Is the election stolen? Is that a signal of racism? Will it be a prologue to chaos?

I stepped into a bar in an African-American community when I was in Washington, D.C., 10 days ago. A bartender there from Addis Ababa yelled about burning the street if Obama doesn’t win. I considered it a joke.

African-American voters should be thankful whether Obama wins or not. They have been a part of history. After all, only a little more than 40 years ago black kids in some states were still forbidden to attend the same school with white students. And now blacks are taking part in the first credible presidential campaign mounted by an African-American. It’s a signal of hope.

Finally, I should mention something about my country, China. If Obama wins the election, the most notable signal for Hu Jintao, the president of the People’s Republic of China, may be that China is going to face a brand new challenge from United States for its position in Africa, and the challenge may be more formidable than ever.

Liang Jianfeng is the news director at the News Express Daily in Guangzhou, China, the first privately funded newspaper in China. Liang is visiting the Rocky Mountain News to observe the U.S. election.

(rockymountainnews)

Abdelaziz Ziari (R), Speaker of Algeria’s National Assembly, greets Wu Bangguo (L), chairman of the Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress, at an airport in Algiers, capital of Algeria, on Nov. 3, 2008. (Xinhua Photo)

A senior Chinese lawmaker, Wu Bangguo, on Monday began a two-week official visit to Algeria, Gabon, Ethiopia, Madagascar and Seychelles, APA learnt here.

A communiqué of the Chinese National People’s Congress (NPC) said the chairman of its standing committee Wu will also visit the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa during his visit to Ethiopia.

In recent years, China’s top leaders mainly the president, the prime minister and the top legislator have been paying annual official visits to Africa, because of the huge Chinese interests in the continent.

Bilateral trade between China and Africa will exceed 100 billion U.S. dollars in 2008, two years earlier than expected, according to expectations of the Chinese Customs Administration released recently.

The first-half figures showed that bilateral trade grew almost 66 percent year-on-year to 53.14 billion U.S. dollars. The growth rate was about 40 percent age points higher than the year-earlier level.

(apanews)

In Vietnam, the skinny and the petite can look forward to getting more exercise after proposed new regulations set a minimum chest size for licensed drivers.
Anyone with a chest under 28 inches will be banned from driving a motorbike - which make up 90 per cent of the traffic on the country’s chaotic roads.

Anyone who is too short, too thin or too sickly will also have to seek alternative transport. Ailments such as enlarged livers or sinusitis will rule out aspirant motorists.

“The new proposals are very funny, but many Vietnamese people could become the victim of this joke,” said Le Quang Minh, 31, a Hanoi stockbroker. “Many Vietnamese women have small chests. I have many friends who won’t meet these criteria.”

The average Vietnamese man is 5 feet, 4 inches (164 centimeters) tall and weighs 121 pounds (55 kilograms). The average Vietnamese woman is 5 feet, 1 inch (155 centimeters) tall and weighs 103 pounds (47 kilograms).

Vietnamese bloggers have been poking fun at the plan, envisioning traffic police with tape measures eagerly pulling over female drivers to measure their chests.

“From now on, padded bras will be best-sellers,” said Bo Cu Hung, a popular Ho Chi Minh City blogger.

“I’m not heavy enough, what am I going to do?” Le Thu Huong asked in a letter to Tuoi Tre newspaper. “And what about people whose chests are small? Most of them are too poor to afford breast implants!”

Vietnamese roads are among the most dangerous in the world but it is not clear why the ruling Communist Party believes banning small drivers will make them safer.
(Telegraph)

Pope Benedict XVI announced Sunday he will make his first papal pilgrimage to Africa — a continent where the Catholic Church is growing — with visits next year to Cameroon and Angola.

The 81-year-old Benedict gave the surprise news at the end of his homily in St. Peter’s Basilica, during a ceremony closing three weeks of discussions by bishops from around the world about the Bible.

Benedict did not give specific dates for the trip, which traditionally are first announced by local Church officials in the host countries. The Vatican usually gives details of papal pilgrimages closer to departure.

“Next March, I intend to go to Cameroon” as part of preparations for an October 2009 bishops’ meeting at the Vatican dealing with Africa, Benedict said at the end of his homily.

“From there, God willing, I will go on to Angola, to celebrate solemnly the 500th anniversary of the evangelization of that country,” Benedict said.

The Catholic Church has been growing in parts of Africa and Asia, with those continents sometimes supplying priests for parishes in parts of Europe and North America where vocations have steadily declined in the last few decades.

While the Vatican has been concerned about the flagging faith of some Catholics in the affluent West, Church officials are heartened by the vibrancy of local churches in parts of Africa and Asia.

When the pope visits Cameroon, representatives of Africa’s bishops conferences will be meeting there to prepare for next year’s Vatican synod on Africa.

Cameroon, formed in 1961 from western African territories governed by the French and British, has an 18 million population that is about 40 percent Christian.

Angola’s history as a former Portuguese colony has given the country Christian roots. The southern African country was lacerated by a civil war that started with its 1975 independence and ended in 2002.

Since being elected pontiff in 2005, Benedict has visited several European countries, including France in September, his latest foreign trip. He has also traveled to Brazil, the United States and Australia earlier this year.

His predecessor, Pope John Paul II, visited Africa several times in his 26 1/2 years as pontiff.

On Sunday, Benedict paid tribute to the Church in another distant part of the world — China — where Catholics loyal to him worship in clandestine churches and have sometimes suffered harassment, or in the case of clergy, even imprisonment.

The pontiff noted that bishops from China had been unable to attend this month’s gathering at the Vatican. The Vatican and Beijing do not have formal ties, largely due to China’s insistence that it make appointments of bishops, a right claimed by the Holy See.

Benedict said he was thankful for the Chinese bishops’ “faithfulness” to the pope, and he prayed that they receive the “strength and zeal to guide, with wisdom and far-sightedness, the Catholic community of China that we love so dearly.”

By FRANCES D’EMILIO

(ap.google)

A China-aided agricultural technology center broke ground in Togo on Wednesday, aimed at strengthening bilateral cooperation in agricultural fields.

Chinese Ambassador to Togo Yang Min, Vice Governor of China’s Jiangxi Province Xiong Shengwen and other officials of both countries attended the ceremony.

Chinese Ambassador to Togo Yang Min (1st R, front), Togolese Agriculture Minister Kossi Messan Ewovor (C, front) and Xiong Shengwen, vice governor of China’s Jiangxi Province, attend the inauguration ceremony of the Chinese-aid agricultural technologies center of Togo, Oct. 22, 2008. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

Yang highlighted the boost of the Sino-Togo cooperation since the Beijing summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in 2006.

Stressing the importance of cooperation in agriculture, the Chinese ambassador said the two sides will fully implement cooperation programs reached within the framework of the forum and take further steps to deepen bilateral relations in all fields.

The fruitful cooperation will contribute to the development of Togo’s agriculture and the strengthening of its food safety, he added.

Togolese Agriculture Minister Kossi Messan Ewovor praised Sino-Togo cooperation in agriculture.

“It is helpful for Togo to tackle challenges posed by food crises,” he said.

The center, consisting of a 10-hectare agricultural technology demonstration land and a 80-hectare rice cultivation base, would be constructed by China’s Jiangxi Huachang infrastructure engineering company.

The project will be completed before the end of 2009.

(Xinhua)

China signed Friday a trade deal with Senegal to offer zero-tariff treatment to more than 400 categories of goods imported from Senegal.

The agreement was inked by Chinese Ambassador to Senegal Lu Shaye and Senegalese Minister for Commerce Mamadou Diop in Dakar, Senegal’s capital.

The trade deal will elevate their bilateral trade and economic ties to a new stage and will also foster people-to-people exchanges between the two sides, said Lu.

The two peoples will benefit from the agreement which raised the number of tariff-free Senegalese export products to China from about 190 in 2005 to more than 600, the Chinese ambassador added.

Diop said that the agreement was of great significance for the two countries to strengthen their economic and trade cooperation.

Friendly bilateral cooperation in various fields, particularly in trade and economy, has been booming since China and Senegal resumed diplomatic ties in October 2005, the minister said.

More Senegalese are now running businesses or have started their own enterprises in China, he said, adding that he welcomed more Chinese businessmen to make investment in Senegal.

At the Beijing Summit of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum in 2006, the Chinese government pledged to further open China’s market to exports from Africa’s least developed countries by raising the number of products enjoying zero-tariff treatment from190 to 440.

(XINHUA)

Soaring food prices, supply fears among import-dependent countries and rising demand for biofuels have driven up investment in agricultural land, notably in Africa. The meltdown in financial markets has slowed some of these flows, but some analysts say there are still good opportunities in African land, where investment in infrastructure, fertiliser and equipment has traditionally been lacking.

Here are some facts about farming and foreign investment on the continent:

*The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) says only 14 percent of Africa’s 184 million hectares of arable land is under cultivation, with some 21 million hectares in a state of accelerated degradation.

* It said agriculture accounted for 17 percent of gross domestic product in Africa, 57 percent of employment and 11 percent of export earnings.

* Agricultural imports have increased more rapidly than exports in the last 30 years with Africa becoming a net importer of agricultural commodities, 87 percent of which were food products in 2005.

* In 2003, African governments agreed to allocate at least 10 percent of their budgets to agriculture and rural development. The African Union said only one country in five has reached or exceeded that level.

* It is estimated that if the current plateau in agricultural productivity continues, the amount of additional land required just to meet projected food demand in 2050 would be about 3 billion hectares, nearly all from developing countries.

* The China Development Bank has granted loans worth several hundred million dollars to agricultural processing firms, mostly in East Africa. Governor Chen Yuan told African finance ministers in August the bank plans further investments and urged Africans to grow cereals as well as cash crops.

* In 2006, China agreed with some African countries to help raise grain production by using Chinese rice seeds and technology. It has also agreed to set up demonstration farms.

* Cash-rich, water-poor Middle Eastern and Gulf nations are also looking to secure food supplies. Import dependency in food will reach 60 percent in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries by 2010, according to the FAO. Oil producer Abu Dhabi announced plans in July to develop over 70,000 acres of farmland in Sudan to grow alfalfa, used as animal feed, and probably corn, beans and potatoes. The United Arab Emirates has farms in several Sudanese provinces, including a 40,000-feddan (1 feddan is 4,200 square metres) farm where wheat and corn are grown. Saudi Arabia said last June it was in talks with Sudan to allow Saudi companies to establish projects for wheat, barley, soya beans, rice and animal fodder.

* U.S.-based Dole Food Co. and Chiquita Brands International are talking with Angolan authorities to help rebuild the once prosperous banana industry in Vale do Cavaco. Brazilian building giant Odebrecht also recently announced plans to invest in Angola’s sugar and ethanol sector.

* The pressure to develop biofuels and non-food oils has resulted in an explosion of foreign-owned plantations in developing countries. Land in emerging markets can cost one-tenth the price of land in industrialised countries. But the global financial crisis means some players believe funding for new biofuel projects may be hard to come by, at least in the near-term.

* Germany’s Flora EcoPower is investing $77 million in Ethiopia’s Oromia state as part of a purchase of over 13,000 hectares of land for biofuel production. Sweden’s Sekab Group, one of Europe’s leading ethanol producers, plans to produce 100 million litres of ethanol a year in Tanzania by 2012 at a cost of $200 - $300 million. British-based energy firm CAMS Group said in September it planned to produce 240 million litres of ethanol a year from sweet sorghum in Tanzania at a cost of up to $600 million. Britain’s Sun Biofuels plans to grow about 5,500 hectares of jatropha in Tanzania. The company also grows jatropha in Ethiopia and has similar projects in Mozambique.

* Grain yields in sub-Saharan Africa are 40 percent below those in other developing countries, with a hectare of Zambian farmland providing roughly a third of the maize that a comparable Chinese plot would yield.

It may be hard for Africans or outsiders to accept the idea of food being grown for export when local people go hungry. This has been cited as a concern by China, among others. The potential for conflict or upheaval is real. In countries where there are sensitivities to foreigners owning land, some investors fear they may be vulnerable to nationalisation or labour disputes.

INVESTMENT FUNDS: A FEW EXAMPLES — UK-based Emergent Asset Management said in May it was planning to launch a fund to buy farmland in sub-Saharan Africa. The African Land Fund would initially invest in 12 countries. UK-based investment company, cru Investment Management, has already piloted a farming scheme in Malawi and launched a fund called Africa Invest on the back of that success. Agri-Vie, a new private equity fund, plans to invest in agricultural processing, with backing from a foundation linked to cereal maker, Kellogg Co. It will focus initially on South Africa and neighbouring states; on Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda in East Africa and Ghana and Nigeria in West Africa.

CASE STUDIES: DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO — The International Food Policy Research Institute says DRC, could become a breadbasket for the developing world. It has 80 million hectares of arable land, ranking it seventh in the world, and 80 percent of the land that could be farmed is either unused or underutilised. ZAMBIA — Zambia has demarcated thousands of hectares of land into farm blocs for sale to foreign and local investors. Zambia uses only 10 percent of its more than 40 million hectares of arable farmland. Huge tracts of land remain uninhabited.

(africanagriculture blog)

Though the world financial crisis will impact trade between China and Africa, the crisis may also allow China to increase its influence in the country at a time when Western investment in Africa is declining.

Today, a South African navy ship is scheduled to make its first official visit to China, as part of a year-long celebration honoring 10 years of China-South African diplomacy.

China’s investment in Africa has grown exponentially in recent years, with the total value of trade between China and Africa increasing nearly 40 percent every year.

Despite Chinese officials characterizing the relationship as “win-win” proposition, there are questions about the effects of cheap Chinese goods on the African job market.

Recently, British conservative author Peter Hitchens penned a scathing article about China’s exploitation of Africans. He calls the relationship a “slave empire,” saying that Africans fear speaking ill of Chinese businessmen despite producing their raw materials in poor living conditions.

The “Tibet Rights” blog posts a response to Hitchens’ article, calling it hypocritical and reminding readers of the impact of Western intervention in Africa.

Grace Augustine argues on Stanford’s “Social Innovation Blog” that despite China’s claim of reducing poverty in Africa, poverty and inequality are not the same and Africa should be wary of China’s human rights record.

The blog “I have no tribe, I’m Sudanese” writes that China has helped Africa. The blogger defends China against colonization claims and says the relationship is mutually beneficial.

Blogger “Keeplefty” writes that while most reactions to China’s presence in Africa fall under categories of paranoia or praise, their real relationship falls somewhere in between.

American blogger David Mixner urges increased involvement in Africa to compete with China.

The “Windy Harbor” blog writes that the financial crisis may be an opportunity for Africa to more fully engage in the global economy.

As the debate continues, interest in Africa is on the rise elsewhere. The “China Comment” blog predicts that China will face competition from the U.S. and EU in South Africa, where it has deep economic and diplomatic ties. Alex Belida of “Regrets Only” discusses Iran’s interests in Africa, while Pambazuka News examines India’s role in the region.

Following a recent World Bank report [PDF] on China’s essential financing of sub-Saharan African infrastructure, the “African Politics Portal” blog assesses the thoroughness of the study and outlines the benefits and pitfalls of these Chinese investments.

(worldfocus)

Tom Minney

ADDIS ABEBA, Sep 27 (IPS) - Behind the media headlines about China’s scramble into Africa, new trends are emerging of far-reaching involvement in finance, infrastructure and manufacturing. A two-way engagement even sees African lessons shaping Chinese foreign policy.

This is the argument presented by researchers from the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA), a foreign policy think tank. They were hosted by the African Union’s Department of Economic Affairs in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia, on Sep. 8, to present their ongoing China in Africa project.

”We’re at the end of the beginning of the Chinese surge into Africa,” said team leader Chris Alden of the London School of Economics and Political Science. ”China is diversifying its investments and changing its policies. It is developing a sustainable engagement.”

Alden said media headlines describe China as ”leading the charge” in a recent investment surge into Africa, under a ”no conditions” aid and investment policy and welcomed by Africans rebelling against Western donors who link aid to democracy and governance conditions.

China’s arrival is backed by deep financial pockets and a history of strong support for African independence. It has rapidly become a significant player in resources, especially in oil-rich Angola, Sudan and Nigeria, is Africa’s leading infrastructure lender and is in the forefront of two-way trade.

Chinese construction firms are turning to Africa as China’s domestic construction slows. Projects are often linked to access to Africa’s rich resources but, once established, Chinese firms also compete in the local market. Researcher Isaac Idun-Arkhurst, of the UK’s Cambridge University, said China’s growing aid programme to Ghana includes the 600 million dollar Bui Dam on the Black Volta River.

China’s Sino Hydro is building it and China’s ExIm bank is financing it, backed by cocoa revenues. Sino Hydro has since won contracts on four more hydro-electric projects, some backed by international finance consortia.

Chinese manufacturing in Africa is a change in a market used to deadly competition from cheap Chinese imports. In October 2007, Beijing’s Tianpu Xianxing Enterprises and Kenya’s Electrogen Technologies started building the first solar panel factory in Eastern Africa, in a 125 million dollar joint venture. The plant highlights China’s new role in creating local employment, technology transfer and a lasting partnership.

SAIIA’s Tsidiso Disenyana said solar energy is growing fast in Kenya, particularly in rural areas affected by poor transmission and distribution infrastructure. Some 200,000-350,000 photovoltaic systems are in use, demonstrating that solar power is viable even for poor households in an unsubsidized market. The new plant could bring the cost of panels down by 40 percent, ensure faster take-up of solar energy and be replicated elsewhere in Africa.

Chinese banks are entering emerging banking and capital markets just as the West is reeling and likely to focus on rebuilding at home, said SAIIA financial consultant Riaan Meyer. Chinese banks have little exposure to the ”toxic products” that are crippling Western banks.

”China has a unique problem — it has too much cash,” he said. Acquisition is one route into new markets, such as the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China’s 5.5 billion dollar investment for 20 percent of South Africa’s Standard Bank in October 2007; that purchase brings ICBC good banking systems and a presence in 18 African countries and London. More mergers and acquisitions could follow.

Chinese banks are increasing trade finance and following Chinese businesses into Africa by setting up corporate and retail banking services and expanding branch networks. The China-Africa Development Fund, set to grow to 5 billion dollars, is funded by the China Development Bank and China ExIm Bank. It signed its first four deals with Chinese companies in January 2008 for infrastructure and housing projects.

In project finance, Sonangol-Sinopec International, a joint venture between Angola’s state oil company and a Chinese refiner, successfully bid a record 1.1 billion dollars for oil bloc 18 off Angola’s coastline. The deal was opened to Western banks to help finance what one magazine termed African oil and gas ”deal of the year”.

Elaborating on China’s policy after the presentation, Zhang Yeubang, Counselor at the Chinese Embassy in Addis Abeba, said China’s cooperation with Africa follows principles of mutual respect, believing that countries should respect each other’s ”dignity” and work on the basis of equality and mutual benefit. He said China had also experienced bullying.

On competition, he explained: ”We have developed our technology and skills in the past decades — we have the most railways, the longest bridges and the biggest dams. We have a workforce that can stand up to hardships”.

Summing up, Alden said China is proving ”the catalyst for African development”, but must calm disquiet. On the positive side is the substantial hard infrastructure, including roads, railroads and hydro-electric dams, where the skills and overcapacity of China’s construction sector means mutual benefit from the interaction. Local manufacturing, banking and a willingness to open projects for Western and other financing and support show China’s evolving role.

On the negative side is ”de-industrialisation” as Chinese imports destroy local manufacturers. Other concerns include that Chinese aid is tied to using Chinese firms and doubts about whether local contractors have capacity to take up their smaller share of projects.

In some countries, infrastructure projects are run by the Chinese embassies and handed over when complete. There is concern whether project supervision is adequate to ensure Chinese companies deliver to their potential. While state-owned companies are getting better at governance, private Chinese firms have a reputation for exporting ”worst practice”.

On the political front, China is learning fast from its involvement in Africa. Popular activism about Darfur dented China’s image-building around the Olympic Games. Resource firms worry their massive investments will be subject to the fortunes of unstable regimes. China may soon find its interests aligning with those of other superpowers.

Problems such as sole sourcing, corruption and environment are not limited to the Chinese and many of Africa’s previous partners are also guilty. Controlling them requires effective regulatory regimes and civil society, says Alden, and getting the best of the new partnership could ”come down to African governance”.

(globalnewsblog)

China on Friday provided 1 million U.S. dollars and another 2 million dollars worth of building materials to Kenya to help the country recover from the consequences of the post-election riots.

“The Chinese government and its people are very sympathetic to the tens of thousands of Kenyans rendered homeless in the riots,” Chinese ambassador Zhang Ming said, noting that China has provided humanitarian aid to the East African country soon after the riots flared up in January.

To show its support to the Kenyan coalition government, which has done a great deal in restoring social economic order and resettling refugees, China has decided to send this new batch of aid to Kenya, the ambassador said during a meeting with Kenyan Finance Minister John Michuki.

Michuki expressed his gratitude to China, saying the donation would further strengthen the friendship between the peoples of the two countries.

Disputes over the result of the December general election triggered widespread riots and ethnic violence that killed at least 1,200 people in Kenya. More than 300,000 others were displaced.

With the mediation efforts by the African Union, the two major political parties in Kenya agreed to a power-sharing deal and formed a coalition government in mid-April.

(xinhuanet)

The oil-rich African nation of Angola and China plan to start direct flights between their capitals next month, the state-run Jornal de Angola reported.

Under the deal signed Thursday in Beijing, Angola’s state-run TAAG airline and Chinese carriers will begin flying from Luanda to Beijing and the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, the paper said.

“Initially TAAG chose to fly to two cities, Beijing and Guangzhou,” the airline’s vice commercial director Jacinto Junior said in the paper.

He added the airline was waiting for Chinese authorities to allocate timetables and airspace for the flights.

“The profitability of the route is proven, given the number of Chinese companies operating in Angola under the national reconstruction program,” he said.

State-run radio RNA reported earlier this week that China’s Hainan Airlines and Oriental Sky Aviation were set to win contracts to fly into Luanda.

Angola’s airlines were banned last year from flying to the European Union over safety concerns.

(quamnet)

Africa, China safe from global economic turmoil

John Bailey
The new chief executive for Standard Bank/ICBC Strategic Partnerships, Craig Bond says
Africa and China’s economies will not be adversely affected by the current turmoil in the world economies.

Speaking in Beijing Bond says the two economies will survive the instability because China has a huge burgeoning economy and many foreign reserves, while Africa’s economies are growing and has enormous resources.

Relations between Africa and China are at an all time high. The trade volume between the two partners is expected to reach R800 billion by 2010. To fast track Chinese investment activities in Africa, a dedicated Chinese language Pan-African investment magazine has now been launched. Investors say the Sino-Africa partnership will substantially strengthen and their economies will withstand the current global financial crisis.

Bond says: “Because of the way China operates and because the way that business is done here is far more conservative than most Western countries, that are being hurt at the moment…. I think Africa has been relatively isolated because we are an emerging market and because we are not involved in the kind of investment that has given rise to the sub-prime crisis.”

Biggest emerging continent
The new magazine is likely to give Chinese investors and government officials more reliable investment information on Africa. A member of China Africa Business Council, Li zhang says: “Africa is the biggest emerging continent, while China is the biggest emerging country. The co-operation between these two parties which has the biggest dynamism and potential, will surely contribute to the development and momentum of the relations between the two sides.”

There is growing Chinese foreign direct investments in Africa especially in the resources sectors such as mining, oil and gas, but there is also an interest in telecommunications and infrastructure. The Chinese see the success of Africa as being crucial in their recipe that they want Africa’s economies to grow, because not only will it build a strong alliance between the two partners, but it will also create a big market for the future. The more affluent the African economies become, the better it is for China.

(sabcnews)

Note: I came across on this article and loved it, so I want to share it with u. However I think he made a small thin mistake by saying that Ethiopia is home to the source of Nile river.  The source of Nile is in Burundi ( Rutovu).

Ethiopia, one of the oldest independent countries in the world, is a resource rich nation. Long regarded as the water tower of Africa, Ethiopia is blessed with many rivers and is home to the source of Nile, the world’s longest river. The country is the birthplace of coffee plant and Africa’s largest coffee producer and the World’s fifth largest. Ethiopia is also rich in cattle, the latest data from UN’s Food And Agriculture Organization (FAO), places Ethiopia 6th in the world with 43 million cattle. The country is also home to one of the world’s largest beehives and it is no exaggeration to say Ethiopia is indeed land of milk and honey. We have compiled the following top 10 lists from the latest FAO data on Ethiopia and we share it with our readers.

Despite all its natural resources, Ethiopia suffers from frequent droughts and political upheavals, but the focus of this blog is in Ethiopia’s potential to be not just a military power but also an economic power in Africa.

Without further ado here are the Top 10 Lists.

Top 10 Cattle Countries (2007)

1. Brazil 207,170,000
2. India 177,840,000
3. China 116,861,393
4. USA 97,003,000
5. Argentina 50,750,000
6. Ethiopia 43,000,000
7. Sudan 39,500,000
8. Pakistan 29,600,000
9. Mexico 29,000,000
10. Australia 28,400,000

Top 10 Beehive Countries

1. India
2. China
3. Turkey
4. Ethiopia
5. Iran
6. Russia
7. Argentina
8. Tanzania
9. Kenya
10. Spain

Top 10 Camel Countries

1. Somalia
2. Sudan
3. Ethiopia (2,300,000)
4. Mauritania
5. Kenya
6. Pakistan
7. Chad
8. India
9. Mali
10. Niger

Eritrea ranks 23rd with 76,000 camels

Top 10 Coffee Producers

1. Brazil
2. Viet Nam
3. Colombia
4. Indonesia
5. Ethiopia
6. Mexico
7. India
8. Peru
9. Guatemala
10. Honduras

Top 10 Donkey Countries

1. China
2. Ethiopia (4,265,194)
3. Pakistan
4. Mexico
5. Egypt
6. Iran
7. Brazil
8. Nigeria
9. Burkina Faso
10. Morocco

Top 10 Goat Countries

1. China
2. India
3. Pakistan
4. Bangladesh
5. Sudan
6. Nigeria
7. Iran
8. Ethiopia (18,000,000)
9. Mongolia
10. Indonesia

Top 10 Horse Countries

1. United States of America
2. China
3. Mexico
4. Brazil
5. Argentina
6. Colombia
7. Mongolia
8. Ethiopia (1,600,000)
9. Russian Federation
10. Kazakhstan

Top 10 Sheep Countries

1. China
2. Australia
3. India
4. Iran
5. Sudan
6. New Zealand
7. United Kingdom
8. Pakistan
9. Turkey
10. South Africa
11. Nigeria
12. Ethiopia

Top 10 Papaya Producers

1. Brazil
2. Mexico
3. Nigeria
4. India
5. Indonesia
6. Ethiopia
7. Congo, Democratic Republic of
8. Peru
9. Philippines
10. Venezuela

Top 10 Seaseme Seeds Producers

1. India
2. Myanmar
3. China
4. Sudan
5. Uganda
6. Ethiopia
7. Nigeria
8. Paraguay
9. Bangladesh
10. Tanzania

Top 10 Chickpea Producers

1. India
2. Pakistan
3. Turkey
4. Australia
5. Iran
6. Myanmar
7. Canada
8. Ethiopia
9. Mexico
10. Iraq

Top 10 Nut Producers

1. United States of America
2. Indonesia
3. Mexico
4. Ethiopia
5. China
6. Australia
7. Guatemala
8. Portugal
9. Thailand
10. Philippines

Top 10 Sorghum Producers

1. United States of America
2. Nigeria
3. India
4. Mexico
5. Sudan
6. Argentina
7. China
8. Ethiopia
9. Burkina Faso
10. Brazil

Top 10 Wheat Producers

1. China
2. India
3. United States of America
4. Russian Federation
5. France
6. Pakistan
7. Germany
8. Canada
9. Turkey
10. Kazakhstan

Ethiopia ranks 27th in the world in wheat production and 2nd largest wheat producer in Africa after Egypt.

Top 10 Maize Producers

1. United States of America
2. China
3. Brazil
4. Mexico
5. Argentina
6. India
7. France
8. Indonesia
9. Canada
10. Italy

Ethiopia is the 18th largest producer of Maize in the world and 4th largest maize producer in Africa after Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt.

Other rankings

Ethiopia is the 16th largest producer of Avocados in the world
* 18th largest producer of Sweet Potatoes
* 19th in Barley
* 22nd in Dry Bean
* 41st in Banana


Data is from Food And Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The latest data is from 2007.

(nazret)

Martin Luther Oketch

To speed up the integration of stock exchanges in East Africa, the East African Securities Exchange Association (EASEA) have resolved that the implementation of the project ushering in a single clearing and settlement infrastructures is to be implemented within three to six months after January 2009.

The resolution was reached at during the 11th consultative meeting under the auspices of East African Securities Exchange held recently at the Serena Hotel, Nairobi. The EASEA members showed strong support for speedy integration of East African Stock Exchanges to create a wide market as well as increasing the liquidity levels within the region.

“The request for proposals will be ready in November this year and the project is expected to be implemented within three to six months thereafter,” EASEA members said in a press communiqué they issued after the consultative meeting.

EASEA members said that the meeting will be hosted in Dar-es-Salaam in January 2009 and there after the implementation of the project will be endorsed.

One of the initiatives of the EASEA is to integrate trading, clearing and settlement infrastructures within the East African Community (EAC) to facilitate a faster trading system within the bloc.

Members of the East African Securities Exchange Association, which consists of the Chief Executive Officers of the four stock exchanges of EAC partner states, said that the integration model would allow market participants in EAC’s Exchanges trade in the four markets.

They argued that the integration of the Exchanges will also bring the following benefits to the region; consolidation of market liquidity across the region, increase visibility of the EAC’s capital markets to foreign investors hence attracting capital benefits to the region.

Other benefits expected from the integration are single access point to capital and liquidity across the markets and this would subsequently make cross border trading more efficient.

On the current status of the EASEA, members noted with concern that high inflationary rate being experienced in all the partner states leading to high cost of living pose threats to investors in East Africa.

(allAfrica)

The South Africa official 2010 mascot, a leopard known as Zakumi, is seen during a launch in Auckland Park, Johannesburg September 22, 2008. The mascot for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa was unveiled in Johannesburg on Monday, with Fifa opting for a leopard for the showpiece football tournament’s first visit to Africa. “Zakumi is young, vibrant, energetic, smart, self-confident, sociable and ambitious, but also warm-hearted,” Local Organising Commitee CEO Danny Jordaan said at the televised launch. [Agencies]

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - A cuddly leopard with a green afro leaped through a beaded curtain Monday and into World Cup history.

The leopard, named Zakumi, was unveiled as the mascot of the 2010 World Cup, which will take place in South Africa. At Zakumi’s introduction at a state TV studio, a performer in a Zakumi costume kicked around a football with Mark Fish, who helped lead South Africa to the African Cup of Nations title in 1996.

Zakumi was given a biography and name evoking South Africa’s history and hopes. The character was “born” June 16, 1994, tournament organizers said. The year is when apartheid ended and the date is celebrated as Youth Day to mark the Soweto uprising of 1976, remembered as the day when young South Africans struck a blow against white rule.

The first two letters of Zakumi are the country’s initials in Afrikaans, one of South Africa’s 11 official languages. “Kumi” means 10  for the year of the tournament in many African languages, World Cup organizers said.

Tim Modise, spokesman for the South African organizing committee, said “zakumi” also can be understood as “come here” in southern African languages.

The idea, design and realization of the mascot all came from South Africa, including Cora Simpson, whose company just east of Johannesburg built the costume for Monday’s launch.

The World Cup “brings business to my company,” Simpson said.

Her initial contract with the organizing committee was worth less than 250,000 rand (about US$31,000), but Simpson said it would open other opportunities and had spread optimism among her staff of about 30.

(chinaDaily)

The Federal Government is to spend $4 billion in a bid to revive railway transportation in the country as part of efforts to have an effective means of land transportation that will meet up with President Yar’Adua’s seven point agenda, Minister of Transportation Mrs. Diezani Allison Madueke said in Abuja yesterday.

The minister, who disclosed this while addressing a high powered delegation from the Peoples Republic of China led by the country’s Vice Minister of Commerce Mr. Chen Jian, said the project is expected to commence in four months time.

The minister said due to the rapid development of Nigeria’s economy, its overall transportation capacity cannot meet her demands, which constitutes a bottleneck to economic development. Therefore the only way to solve the insufficient transportation problem is to build a modern railway system, she said

“in order to ascertain the strategic importance of modern railway in Nigeria’s socio economic development there is need for us to try and deepen cooperation in railways and transfer of technology and I am very glad to say that we are in the process of modernization of railway,” she said

Mrs Madueke however said the visit marks the beginning of a new era in terms of infrastructural relationship as many such discussions would subsequently hold in areas of railway, roads and other transportation sub sectors such as the maritime, aviation and in the generic of transfer of technology to areas of procedural and process management.

She said the project would be financed through the Public Private Partnership (PPP) and other concessionary forms of investment and “by the end of the day we would be able to stand with pride because we would see on both sides through the reflection of value for money and see projects that have been instituted and stand the test of time for ourselves and the Peoples Republic of China.” She said vision 2020 cannot be a reality without adequate land transportation and railway modernization.

On his part, Mr. Chen Jian said that the mission of the Chinese government to Nigeria is because the two countries have for many years had strong bilateral relationship in many areas that border on economic issues. The Chinese vice minister said that “based on the contentious issues worked out, we should bear in mind the preconditions that would benefit the people, the cooperation is not only a single activity but a lot of factors such as technology, capital and management is required. Actually, I believe the benefit of this process is to broaden the vision and by the time we conclude the railway project, we also have to think of how to maintain the project, therefore we must establish a joint venture that would be responsible for maintenance of the project. If this is done we would counter the problem of transfer of technology.”

(allAfrica)

Just over a month since the Smithsonian Institution announced the discovery of new bird species in Africa, little is still known about the olive-backed forest robin named for its distinctive olive back and rump.

Scientists are trying to unravel the little bird’s specific diet, mating and nesting habits, and the species’ complete habitat range, but the dense undergrowth of tropical forest where it was sighted may still offer further surprises.

Adult members of the robins - both male and female - measure just about 4.5 inches in length and average 18 grams in weight.

Males exhibit a fiery orange throat and breast, yellow belly, olive back and black feathers on the head. Females are similar, but less vibrant. Both sexes have a distinctive white dot on their face in front of each eye.
The bird was first observed by Smithsonian scientists in 2001 during a field expedition in southwest Gabon but it was initially thought, however, to be an immature individual of an already-recognized species.

To ensure that the specimens collected were a new species, geneticists at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo compared the DNA of the new specimens to that of the four known forest robin species.

The results clearly showed that these birds were in fact a separate and distinct species but anything else is remains a puzzle to scientists.

“I suspected something when I found the first bird in Gabon since it didn’t exactly match any of the species descriptions in the field guides,” Brian Schmidt, a research ornithologist at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and a member of the team that made the discovery, said.

Image credit: Brian Schmidt

(ecoworldly)

Robert D. Kaplan wrote quite a fascinating article for the Atlantic, about the world’s forgotten continent; Africa. According to Kaplan, Africa future might be brighter than most suspect; there are developments taking place which should give all of us hope.

For starters; the number of robust democracies on the continent has risen from three to 11, since 1977. Not only are there more robust democracies in Africa, there also far more grassroots organizations that try to spread democracy all over the continent now than there were only, say, ten years ago.

Additionally it seems, African economies are finally starting to grow at a rapid spead. ‘Real GDP in sub-Saharan Africa expanded by 6.5 percent in 2007, the highest growth rate in decades. If trends hold, poverty in Africa should be halved by 2015,’ Kaplan writes.

Oil production is booming already, and food production may very well follow suit. Africa has not had its own Green Revolution yet, but it seems likely that it will have one soon. ‘High-yield varieties of major African crops like sorghum, millet, maize, and cassava may soon be custom-fitted to Africa’s micro-terrains and climates.’

Moreover, India and especially China are becoming increasingly dependent on Africa; China is investing bigtime and will invest even more in the coming years. ‘China has supplied African countries with technical assistance in tea planting, soil analysis, and irrigation. China is leading the Asian dash into Africa, with investments as diverse as in chocolate in Ivory Coast and in copper in Zambia, and plans to build or modernize railroads, highways, and dams across the continent.’

This is, of course, in Africa’s interest.

What is even more in Africa’s interest is that the United States is not quite willing to let China have the playing field all by itself. It too is investing increasingly more in Africa. Especially African oil is popular in Washington. By 2015, the United States will get a quarter of its oil from West Africa.

And the above are not the only countries currently investing in Africa, let alone in the future. Gulf states too are already pumping billions of dollars into the formerly forgotten continent, and are likely to invest more. In short; there is a stable trend taking place. Africa is becoming a continent investors are interested in. Western, Asian and Arabic citizens and businesses - and governments of course - all realize that Africa may be behind now, but could be a major market in the future.

Of course there are many problems which has to be resolved, it could go either way with Africa, but the situation has changed in so far that there was virtually no hope only a decade ago.

(poligazette)

900 Nissan cars will be exported to Egypt in a few months from the Huadu production base of Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd. (DFMC), a joint venture of Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. And Dongfeng Motor Corp. of China, Nissan (China) Investment Co., Ltd. said in an interview on August 21.

The cars will include 400 Livina cars and 500 Sylphy cars, and their first batch is scheduled to be shipped toward the country in September, disclosed Sharon Shen, a spokeswoman for Nissan China. They will be sold there via Nissan dealers in Africa.

“Livina and Sylphy are just an attempt of Nissan,” Nissan China said. “The future export will be decided by their sales performance and local market changes.”

It will be the second time that DFMC is set to export cars. It was in August 2006 that it firstly exported 1,000 Tiida cars to Angola.

(tradingmarkets)

Egypt’s North Sinai Governor Mohamed Shousha said here Monday that he welcomes investments from China, particularly in the domains of high technology, tourism, mining and water resources.

In an interview with Xinhua, Shousha said there is a great potential for Egypt and China to boost investment in various fields in the northeastern Egyptian governorate.

He said North Sinai governorate is working on realizing development in the fields of agriculture, industry, mining, tourism and human resources.

He expressed his hope that his governorate, even Egypt as a whole, can attract more investments from China to make use of China’s advanced high technology, which has witnessed great developments in the past years.

Chinese companies are also welcomed to invest in the Mediterranean coastal governorate for sea products, said Shousha.

(XINHUA)