Talk of a ‘new type of partnership’ was overblown, but Beijing pledged $20 bn. and took first steps toward improving corporate and environmental regulations
With a crucial leadership handover at the end of the year and growing domestic economic concerns, Beijing hosted the Fifth Forum on China-Africa Cooperation on 19-20 July with the usual dash of multibillion-dollar promises. Foreign and finance ministers from more than 50 African countries attended, but only a handful of heads of state and government were present, notably South Africa’s President
Jacob Zuma, Côte d’Ivoire’s President
Alassane Dramane Ouattara and Kenya’s Prime Minister
Raila Odinga. However, FOCAC V won a different sort of feather in its cap in the presence of the United Nations Secretary General,
Ban Ki-moon.
In July, the International Monetary Fund and World Bank cut growth estimates for China and its African trading partners. The IMF forecast that China’s gross domestic product would...
Pressure mounts again on the treaty that allows funds to transit untaxed through Mauritius and into India’s markets
Mauritius and India are gearing up for another confrontation over the 1983 Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement. The DTAA allows Indian investors to avoid paying tax by funnelling their...