My Account Login

Need Help?

Basket 0 Items

View basket | Checkout

Find us on Facebook

June 2010

Vol 3 N0 8

Image courtesy of Panos Pictures
Image courtesy of Panos Pictures

View site
Algeria ALGERIA | CHINA

Beijing in the line of fire

Yet again Chinese companies are being penalised in the anti-corruption campaign led by some of President Bouteflika’s rivals in the security elite

ALGERIA | CHINA

The highway on trial

As the graft wars intensify between factions of the Algerian government, several officials are appearing in court in co...

ETHIOPIA | INDIA

Fertile fields for India

Ethiopia is renowned more for its famines than for its fertile fields but land leasing has become a burgeoning business...

BLUE NOTES

Close

South Africa shines

The 2010 World Cup is South Africa’s turn in the global spotlight. Africa’s biggest economy is hosting the world and notching up another success for the continent despite some carping in the Western press.

South Africa’s relations with China, India and Brazil, an alliance which grew out of last year’s climate talks in Copenhagen, show the promise and difficulties of cooperation among bigger developing economies. Ahead of the kick-off on 11 June, President Jacob Zuma flew to New Delhi for talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and clinched a multibillion dollar coal-to-motor-fuel project for South Africa’s Sasol.

Demand for African commodities from Asia is welcome as it pushes up market prices, but it doesn’t help efforts to establish local competitive processing and manufacturing operations. African shortcomings in this area are symbolised by the omnipresence – at Africa’s first World Cup tournament – of Chinese-made dolls and vuvuzelas, and Indonesian and South Korean footballs.

Beijing and the World Bank are talking about using Chinese expertise to set up low-cost factories in Africa, making toys and shoes for the local market. The Asian-backed power, road and port projects may provide the boost needed for these nascent industries.

MAURITIUS | INDIA

Taxing times

India’s Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is sending a team of senior officials to resume the difficult negotiations with Mauritius to resolve the lingering stand-off over the 1983 Double Tax Avoidance Agreement. Under the DTAA, capital gains on shares in Indian companies bought in Mauritius are not liable for tax. That has encouraged a massive flow of illicit funds from India to Mauritius, which is then re-invested in India – with no tax paid on the profits.

CONGO-KINSHASA | ASIA

Private grief, state cash

China may be the biggest state investor in Congo but its private companies have invested less than those from South Africa and Britain, a new survey in Kinshasa reveals. According to the Agence Nationale pour la Promotion des Investissements (ANAPI), private companies from Asia and the Middle East are responsible for US$1.1 billion or 19.5% of a total promised investment of $5.6 bn. in 2007/2009. Despite calls from Beijing and New Delhi for business to explore Congo’s markets, many private projects have not obtained the necessary finance.

CONGO-KINSHASA | CHINA

Is what is good for Zijin good for Congo?

A storm is gathering over attempts by China’s Zijin Mining Group to buy Platmin Congo without prior approval from President Joseph Kabila’s government, despite generally good Beijing-Kinshasa relations. The row centres around Platmin Congo’s rights to a joint venture with the state mining company Gécamines. The Mines Ministry is blocking the deal, pending negotiations on the future of the joint venture, and both sides have set a deadline of 30 July to resolve outstanding issues.

SOUTH KOREA | AFRICA

Out of the starting blocks

On 24 May, Seoul’s Strategy and Finance Ministry identified Algeria, Ethiopia, Congo-Kinshasa, South Africa and Tanzania as ‘strategically important’ countries in its economic cooperation with Africa. South Korea will target infrastructure projects in Northern and Southern Africa, and mining and agricultural investment in East and Central Africa. Nigeria, where South Korean oil companies have been involved in extended legal proceedings (AAC Vol 2 No 3), is absent from the list of countries that will get Seoul’s special attention.

PAKISTAN | AFRICA

Get in the game

Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari held a mini-summit of African ambassadors on 2 June to launch Islamabad’s first real forays into Africa. In the style of Beijing’s Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, the aim is to increase commercial ties between Pakistan and its few African partners. African countries which currently have diplomatic representation in Islamabad include Algeria, Egypt, Kenya, Libya, Mauritius, Morocco, Nigeria, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan and Tunisia. For reasons of geography and cultural and religious affinities, Pakistan largely trades with and treats with North and East Africa, but it has diplomatic representation in about ten African countries, with embassies in Cairo, Lagos, Port Louis and Pretoria. Like its Asian neighbours, Pakistan wants to build on its liberation-era support – diplomatic backing for Eritrea’s independence bid and financial assistance for Winnie Mandela – to create new markets for its exports and to help boost African development.

BLUE NOTES

South Africa shines

The 2010 World Cup is South Africa’s turn in the global spotlight. Africa’s biggest economy is hosting the world and notching up another success for the continent despite some carping in the ...

Read more

GUINEA | CHINA | AUSTRALIA

Building an improbable railway

There are two big problems with the new deal between the China International Fund and the small Australian mining company Bellzone announced in Conakry on 24 May to mine iron ore in the expansive Kalia concessions. Firstly, there is little sign for now that the joint venture could raise the several billions needed to exploit the concession and build the railway. Secondly, the trans-Guinea railway route through the Fouta Djallon mountains looks financially problematic, given the political risk associated with the project, despite the potential value of the iron ore reserves in the Kalia I and II concessions.



Want to keep up with Asia's growing political, commercial and diplomatic involvement in Africa – not just China's, but India, Japan, South Korea and the rest of Asia, too?

Patrick Smith Then sign up today to our FREE EMAIL ALERT service and you'll be one of the first to know what's going on. 

You get the latest Africa-Asia Confidential headlines delivered direct to your email inbox every month, plus a FREE COPY of 'The Editor's Choice' – 23 pages of the very best recent articles from Africa-Asia Confidential.

NB: 'The Editor's Choice' is in PDF format. So you can download it in an instant – just as soon as you're registered with us. Complete your details below, and you'll soon be reading our first-class coverage of Africa/Asia developments.

confidentially speaking

The Africa Confidential blog

Go to the blog

Latest post

The regional fight intensifies after Kano slaughter




Who's Who

Biographies of over 3,000 noteworthy and influential people from Africa and Asia

Read more

Issue archive

Search our online archive

ArchiveAlternatively, contact us to find out about access to more than 50 years of the world's best fortnightly newsletter on African politics.

Looking for a specific issue of Africa-Asia Confidential?

 FREE sample copy of Africa-Asia Confidential

Free copy Africa-Asia Confidential is also available in hard copy as a monthly, A4 newsletter. We'll happily send you a complimentary copy to help you evaluate our service.

Order now

Payment cards